Examples of "stimming" behavior in HFA/Asperger's?

Post Reply New Topic

1. Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech (e.g., simple
motor stereotypies, lining up toys or flipping objects, echolalia, idiosyncratic
phrases).

This is the criteria from DSM 5, but it's not exhaustive.

It would be helpful to me to know some real-life examples of this criteria - either your own or someone elses... thanks in advance.

"Stimming" is simply any repetitive, non-tic action that a person does to either stimulate or calm themselves. My stims include finger strumming, tapping and drumming on objects, dashing (running and walking short distances without any apparent cause; this is often semi-voluntary in that I do not consciously decide to do it but I can stop doing it if I recognize it), twirling the necklace that I often wear, chewing on the teething pendant attached to said necklace, occasionally lightly hitting myself, and running my hands up and down the plastic blinds in my dormroom. I am not sure if the DSM description you provide includes stacking objects as a repetitive motor behavior, but I have been known to stack small condiment containers at restaurants (such as those little square boxes of jelly or butter or those little creamer cups) when I am bored.

As you may notice, many of these "stims" are not terribly different from the nervous or bored fidgets that almost everyone partakes it; it becomes symptomatic in the DSM sense when it is either when this is done to the negligence or determent of other tasks (for example, being so absorbed in stimming that one neglects to do their housework, schoolwork, career work, and/or self-care tasks) or when the action causes harm (such as punching oneself and banging one's head).

This article covers stimming in greater detail: http://life-with-aspergers.blogspot.com/2007/10/what-is-stimming-and-what-does-it-feel.html.

I am so glad you included this one! It is something I did a lot before I hit my forties. Now I still want to do so but it takes too much work to dash.

My stimming includes repeating words / phrases as I hear them on TV. I have had to work VERY hard to not do it at the movies even though I sit on the back row so I don't disturb others by my rocking stimming. I tend to rock a lot when I am at work or out eating. I also rock when standing up waiting in line.
I clench my toes all the time.

I usually walk around with my hands in fists or flexing them. If I am not concentrating on keeping my body looking normal when I am walking around at work my fingers and hands will sometimes spring out and point or make gestures for no reason. I HATE HATE HATE it when that happens. For example, I can be in the middle of working on solving a heavy problem and need a restroom break. My mind will be so absorbed in the problem that as I am walking back from the restroom and if I see someone in the break-room as I pass it my hand may shoot out and point at them or make some other odd gesture. UGGGG!! ! Then I have to stop my thinking and go talk to the person if they saw me because they thought I was saying "Hi" to them ! !!

I also tap my right index finger on things the way my knee jumps up and down if I am impatient. Sometimes I bang my head on something or hit myself in the head with my fist if I am overwhelmed.

There you go... now the truth is out there.

My son and I both rock, both when stressed and when at rest. He flaps his hands when he gets stressed, I repeatedly open and close my hands when I am stressed. He also lines up his cars, and talks in movie quotes or TV lines. Not sure if that counts or not.

Yeah, rocking and flapping are common all across the spectrum; you don't have to be nonverbal to enjoy those. Rocking especially helps me think.

Sometimes I tap my fingers in various patterns... I may also hold my hands in odd positions, or my body. Like right now I have got one foot up on the desk, at chest level, and the other is tiptoe on the floor, tilting my chair back. The toes on one foot are curled in, and I'm randomly contracting my calf muscles and the muscles on the sides of my torso.

Contracting single muscles without moving the limb is one of the more surreptitious stims I do. I learned it in sixth grade.

Hair twirling, finger flicking, rocking are all big ones. I'm glad Callista mentioned odd limb positions--often when I'm walking I'll hold my arm up to my chest or beside my breasts and just let the hand hang. The tension that occurs in my arm feels nice.

I'll also trace things I see on the wall or in passing with my eyes (whether it be letters, numbers, patterns, etc.). This stim is rather covert because the individual appears to merely be daydreaming.

Hey, I do that, I hadn't really thought of that as stimming. Also running short distances, and deliberately and repeatedly breaking my stride while walking, occasional finger clicking. Tensing and relaxing the back and shoulder on one side while keeping absolutely still. Tensing one hand to form a basket with the first and third fingers in line, and the second third and fourth fingers also in line. Deliberately adjusting the focus of my eyes. Freezing completely, even my chest and lungs, then unlocking suddenly.

My wife is often cross that I can't talk to her unless I'm holding an object.

I never really thought of any of this as stimming before.

i do not know if these count as stimming:

I rub a silky piece of material.
I like to press myself into the mattress when I get into bed (the pressure is soothing...I press down hard and wriggle)
I nail bite
I flick my fingers (sometimes)
I pace
I sing/repeat words/rock from side to side to music and/or dance
Smelling certain objects if I come across them (ie books, leather)
Picking at things like labels on bottles, place mats, paper objects.

I also have semi voluntary tics but those are a different thing.

I have an urge to repeatedly sniff and also make a grunting sound with my throat whilst moving my head. I don't get them often and they are usually easily concealed so I don't really mention them much.

Last edited by bumble on 05 Dec 2013, 2:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I have a family member who does this! I'll have to tell him he has "t-rex arms." The same family member also taps his fingers, repetitively touches the side of his neck, and sharpens knives. He used to play a guitar rift over and over for hours sometimes. I think over the years he's changed his stimming behaviors to things that aren't noticeable, like the guitar and knives. If you have an object it tends to mask the repetitive motion.

Another family member touches his face repetitively.

iMother is always slapping away my T Rex arms in public. Lots of people have noticed and pointed out to me my T Rex arms. I love my T Rex arms. They are also called Mr. Burns hands.

I keep myself from having t-rex hands by wearing clothes with pockets. One of the complaints I have about a lot of womens' clothing is that it often doesn't have pockets.

I have broken several pairs of thong sandals by wiggling them back and forth on my feet. I do ballet moves like rondes des jambs (only took ballet for a year when I was 7, but it really stuck with me). Sometimes I count if I'm extremely bored, just to reassure myself that time is actually passing.

The stimming I do is like this:

http://youtu.be/ctVaGY5VfJg?t=43m59s
http://youtu.be/GnjneGr-IbI?t=7m53s
http://youtu.be/YGSVM5dsH5U?t=9m54s
http://youtu.be/ctVaGY5VfJg?t=23m42s
http://youtu.be/ctVaGY5VfJg?t=23m55s
http://youtu.be/ctVaGY5VfJg?t=10m18s
http://youtu.be/ctVaGY5VfJg?t=4m36s

I rock and then flap my hands, so my stereotypy is quite embarrassing for me. It looks more intense than the videos I've posted. It's why I'm a bit concerned about it. I must look like a caricature of those old images of people in "insane asylums", or someone who is profoundly, intellectually disabled. Not to be offensive, but when I was younger I got made fun of because of that, and words like "ret*d" were thrown at me.

Last edited by Acedia on 06 Dec 2013, 9:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

I do a lot of different ones. I click my teeth, wring my hands, play with jewelry, run around my house, and wiggle and flex my fingers a lot. I do more, but I can't think of any right now.

There's a great big list of different stims here, if you wanna look at it. I thought it was interesting, and you can even submit your own.
http://thestimlist.com/

Stimming runs the gamut for different people as we all tend to have different preferences and tendencies. I am fairly textbook in that my stims are mainly rocking, hand flapping (while ducking my head), "droning" (humming a single note), and bouncing. However, I also experience full body tremors when exposed to irritating sounds. It seems to be different for different people, these are only stims I do.

Flapping my hands and arms when I'm excited or scared,
repetitive words and phrases (often),
have hand near mouth/rocking (sometimes)

Taking a pencil, stick or screwdriver and whipping up and down. In private only