Stimming, therapeutic for autistic people

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firemonkey
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25 Jun 2019, 2:09 pm

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Rhythmic, repetitive behaviors are a hallmark of autism. Hand-flapping, spinning in circles, body rocking, vocalizations such as grunting and muttering, and other habits can be disquieting to people unfamiliar with them. Scientists and clinicians have long puzzled over what these behaviors mean — and how to respond to them.

For many years, experts thought repetitive movements resulted from deprivation or even trauma, and that they hindered learning. Psychologist Ole Ivar Lovaas, an early autism specialist, reportedly referred to them as “garbage behavior.”1 He made suppressing these habits a priority. Lovaas and his followers electrically shocked, screamed at, shook and slapped autistic children2. Others prescribed antipsychotics and other stupefying drugs. Even in today’s sometimes gentler treatment paradigms, therapists often train children to have ‘quiet hands’ as opposed to freely flapping ones3.

But growing evidence suggests that repetitive behaviors have been misunderstood — and that they may in fact be incredibly useful.



https://www.spectrumnews.org/opinion/vi ... cceptance/



BTDT
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25 Jun 2019, 2:12 pm

I find it useful.



firemonkey
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25 Jun 2019, 3:10 pm

I'm not aware that I've ever stimmed.



eikonabridge
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25 Jun 2019, 10:50 pm

Let's change a bit the quote:

Quote:
Rhythmic, repetitive behaviors are a hallmark of children. Hand-flapping, spinning in circles, body rocking, vocalizations such as grunting and muttering, and other habits can be disquieting to adults around them. Scientists and clinicians have long puzzled over what these behaviors mean — and how to respond to them...

Except that, no one is puzzled about children's behaviors, let alone doing reseach on "how to respond to them." Children are also incredible sensitive to external stimuli. Don't believe me? Feed a spoonful of chili sauce to them and see how they react.

And that is the problem with today's approach to autism. People seem totally unable to disentangle underdevelopment from autism. People get confused between underdevelopment and autism. But the two have nothing to do with each other. When properly developed, autistic children grow out of those stimming and sensory issues, just like all other children. Autism does not cause any of the problems in a person's life. Underdevelopment does. Yet, we keep talking about underdevelopment issues as if they were autistic issues. Autism has become a favorite bogeyman. Everyone blames all their misfortune on autism, when autism has nothing to do with their misfortune. The most ridiculous one is to blame learning disability on autism. How convenient.

Mother Nature has had 4 billion years to do evolution. She is a lot smarter than us. If she makes children behave like children, it's because it's a natural step in their development. It only becomes a problem when children stop developing, and that's not Mother Nature's fault: that's our fault. The introduction of public school system into human society (and the desire of "economy of scale" thereof) is what is screwing up everything for autistic children. Parents have lost all their ability to do manual work and to communicate visual-manually, and only chase after neurotypical ideals such as communicating by talking. Modern society creates problems where there were none. I really can't stand watching parents doing nothing with their hands. Sometimes I think the only way to teach parents to communicate properly is by placing a piece of duct tape over their mouths.

Autistic people need no therapy. Autism is not a disease/disorder/defect/disability/detriment/deficiency. Autism is simply a difference. The only thing autistic people need is development, just like everyone else in the world. You develop an autistic person the neurotypical way, and the "cure" becomes the "disease."


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EzraS
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26 Jun 2019, 1:43 am

firemonkey wrote:
I'm not aware that I've ever stimmed.


A lot of the time those with autism are unaware they are stimming.

It's something that has to be pointed out to me for me to know about my stims. It is not something I do consciously or am aware of most of the time just like I am not aware of blinking and breathing most of the time.

The one exception is when I am very stressed or feeling ill, I will intentionally rock back and forth in a more exaggerated manner than usual.

Also stimming is not all that common in adults with aspergers type autism. Quite honestly I think there are those who find out about autism as adults, read about types of stimming, feel they should be stimming and then probably start stimming psychosomaticly.



firemonkey
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26 Jun 2019, 5:23 am

^ Thanks for your reply. I'm not thinking that I should stim, nor am I dismissing totally that I might stim but be unaware of doing it .



Mona Pereth
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26 Jun 2019, 1:57 pm

firemonkey wrote:
https://www.spectrumnews.org/opinion/viewpoint/stimming-therapeutic-autistic-people-deserves-acceptance/

This is still considered news -- in 2019? It is shocking to me that there are apparently a lot of professionals out there who STILL think the suppression of harmless stims is a good idea. How many decades has the autistic self-advocacy movement been objecting to this idea already?

The autistic rights movement needs to get bigger and better organized -- as does the autistic community as a whole. This is an intrinsic challenge for us but we need to figure out how to do it.


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AardvarkGoodSwimmer
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26 Jun 2019, 8:13 pm

Mona Pereth wrote:
This is still considered news -- in 2019? It is shocking to me that there are apparently a lot of professionals out there who STILL think the suppression of harmless stims is a good idea. . .

And this is why I say we need to borrow a page from the LGBTQ+ movement.

Step by medium step, we on the Spectrum need to gain skills and experience to lead and participate and contribute to our own organizations. Good-natured professionals can help out, but they don't get to run the show thank you very much! :D

And activism is not everyone's cup of tea, and that's perfectly okay.



AardvarkGoodSwimmer
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26 Jun 2019, 8:16 pm

We should point out that both baseball players and poker players stim. As well as Steph Curry in the NBA with his habit of chewing on his mouthguard.

And, hey, I'm all in favor drawing a distinction between public and private stimming. This is in keeping with my general approach of engagement with the world and other people, which is not the same as mindless conformity, at least it's not in my book.



eikonabridge
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26 Jun 2019, 11:14 pm

Mona Pereth wrote:
The autistic rights movement needs to get bigger and better organized -- as does the autistic community as a whole. This is an intrinsic challenge for us but we need to figure out how to do it.

Better organized would be great. But the problem is: there are three distinctive groups within the community, which most autists don't even want to acknowledge.

Image

It's a gigantic turn off for me to listen and interact with, say, ASAN people. The hold the disability view. Most of them think they are entitled to something from the society. They speak as if they represent all autistic people. Give me a break. They speak as if they understand autism. They don't.

It's OK to have a bigger umbrella for autistic people. BUT, please, do let people out there know that there are these three distinctive groups in the autism community. Do not pretend that the other two groups don't exist. Do not pretend to speak for everyone in the community. Always let people know that there are three groups, and that you can only speak for one group, but that you will make sure to raise awareness about all three groups.

Fair enough?


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Mona Pereth
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26 Jun 2019, 11:38 pm

eikonabridge wrote:
Better organized would be great. But the problem is: there are three distinctive groups within the community, which most autists don't even want to acknowledge.

Image

It's a gigantic turn off for me to listen and interact with, say, ASAN people. The hold the disability view. Most of them think they are entitled to something from the society. They speak as if they represent all autistic people. Give me a break.

It's OK to have a bigger umbrella for autistic people. BUT, please, do let people out there know that there are these three distinctive groups in the autism community. Do not pretend that the other two groups don't exist. Do not pretend to speak for everyone in the community. Always let people know that there are three groups, and that you can only speak for one group, but that you will make sure to raise awareness about all three groups.

Fair enough?

I actually believe in a combination of the ideas that you attribute to these three groups.

1) I reject the idea of autism as an illness, but there are common co-occurring conditions for which medication may be helpful. At the same time, I think medication should be approached very cautiously and used only as a last resort.

2) I wouldn't say that autism "is" a disability, but I would say that it entails disabilities to varying degrees for different autistic people. Many though not all of these disabilities are primarily social in origin and should accommodated. I also believe that we need to build our own subculture including autistic-friendly workplaces and autistic social spaces, with some help from sympathetic NT relatives.

3) I also believe, in line with what you call the "Meh!" view, that the education of autistic children should focus primarily on developing their strengths rather than remediating their weaknesses.

eikonabridge wrote:
They speak as if they understand autism. They don't.

What is your basis for claiming that you have a better understanding of autism (that is, autism in general, of which there are many different kinds -- not just the particular kind of autism that runs in your family)?


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