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RightGalaxy
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09 Feb 2009, 9:45 am

My son used to flap his hands,wiggle his toes, and make infantile, excitement sounds all at the same time but he has slowed down a lot "almost" to stopping it entirely. I asked him why he does this but he cannot answer. He did this randomly without any upcoming, exciting event provoking it.
He often drifts to another place in his mind as he flaps and sounds too. This too he cannot account for. I know an adult librarian who holds a pen in order not to flap but I don't have the guts to ask her why she does this or if she can control it without holding the pen. I never flapped but I stopped mentally drifting when I cut out caffeine and refined sugars from my diet. When I drifted it was more like falling asleep and being awake at the same time. Are there any adults out there who still do this? Also can you tell me why you flap and where do "you" go when you mentally drift?



cyberscan
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09 Feb 2009, 10:00 am

People say that I flap quite often although I don't realize I am doing it. I 'drift" when I am mentally work on a problem or am doing some other type of mental task such as trying to figure out a design or how to do something.


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irishwhistle
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09 Feb 2009, 3:30 pm

What do you mean by "drift" exactly? I wander off on whatever thought suits my mind to follow, sometimes to my dismay. I have to pull myself back while driving sometimes, even muttering "Wake up" and "focus" in order to, well, focus. Is that what you mean? My husband says I think too much. I say everyone else should think more.

I don't remember ever flapping, except for the occasional fit of panic, but I have more other stims than I could count in a whole day, including (but not limited to) lip peeling (gross, my worst one), stropping my fingers along each other in sometimes complicated patterns, eye squints with various purposes and sometimes combined with head turning and holding my breath, gulping and making whistling sounds at the back of my throat, sitting with my feet up on something, touching my face or anything else that feels smooth (I also get uptight when I find a bump or rough place on the smooth place, hence the lip peeling and other damaging behavior). And I'm considered high-functioning, undiagnosed even. But it would be clear why I think I have AS, anyhow.

I haven't cut refined sugars but I don't ingest any kind of caffeine.

Not sure why you asked, though. I do have a rich imagination which I have been using to create story plots, possibly why I haven't been perceiving it as wandering lately. I wish I could use it to hold an intelligent conversation.


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Yocritier
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09 Feb 2009, 9:32 pm

RightGalaxy wrote:
My son used to flap his hands,wiggle his toes, and make infantile, excitement sounds all at the same time but he has slowed down a lot "almost" to stopping it entirely. I asked him why he does this but he cannot answer. He did this randomly without any upcoming, exciting event provoking it.
He often drifts to another place in his mind as he flaps and sounds too. This too he cannot account for. I know an adult librarian who holds a pen in order not to flap but I don't have the guts to ask her why she does this or if she can control it without holding the pen. I never flapped but I stopped mentally drifting when I cut out caffeine and refined sugars from my diet. When I drifted it was more like falling asleep and being awake at the same time. Are there any adults out there who still do this? Also can you tell me why you flap and where do "you" go when you mentally drift?


How old is your son now? My son is almost 3 and constantly eye stims. He would roll his eyes to the side and chase lines/patterns on the wall and floor. Was wondering if the stim would slow down with age. Thanks.



RightGalaxy
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10 Feb 2009, 10:32 am

Yocritier wrote:
RightGalaxy wrote:
My son used to flap his hands,wiggle his toes, and make infantile, excitement sounds all at the same time but he has slowed down a lot "almost" to stopping it entirely. I asked him why he does this but he cannot answer. He did this randomly without any upcoming, exciting event provoking it.
He often drifts to another place in his mind as he flaps and sounds too. This too he cannot account for. I know an adult librarian who holds a pen in order not to flap but I don't have the guts to ask her why she does this or if she can control it without holding the pen. I never flapped but I stopped mentally drifting when I cut out caffeine and refined sugars from my diet. When I drifted it was more like falling asleep and being awake at the same time. Are there any adults out there who still do this? Also can you tell me why you flap and where do "you" go when you mentally drift?


How old is your son now? My son is almost 3 and constantly eye stims. He would roll his eyes to the side and chase lines/patterns on the wall and floor. Was wondering if the stim would slow down with age. Thanks.


He's almost 10. Once in a blue moon, I catch him flapping but if I tell him, he gets really angry and comes at me screaming, "I am not flapping!" He had punched me in the arm once because of it. He cried afterwards and was VERY apologetic but I don't bother him about it anymore. The most frustrating thing is that I would love to know why he does this and where is his mind at this time? Maybe I don't understand what stim behavior "actually is"? Do you? Does it happen because of boredom? I'm trying to understand the biochem/science of Aspergers/Autism. I'm letting him just be himself but with guidance and some modification so he can "make it" in the world with very little damage to his psyche. I also worry about his temper and bad reaction to criticism. I'm glad he stands up for himself but I don't want him to snap out to where he gets into trouble.



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10 Feb 2009, 9:12 pm

RightGalaxy, I wish I had the answer too. We constantly remind him to stop whenever he stims, either a forceful 'no' or switch his attention to his toys, TV etc. I am worried mainly because of the dangers when he stims, he runs off without looking ahead of him (how can he?) and particularly dangerous nears roads. We feed him cod liver oil enriched with Vit A and D but it appears to little avail.

Sadly I don't believe even if we knew why he stims, we would be able to stop it by reasoning. It's like he's on narcotics or nicotine and can't help himself.

It makes me particularly sad as the stims prevent him from learning and misses out on opportunities.



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11 Feb 2009, 10:20 am

Stopping stimming altogether is fruitless and pointless.

Stimming is about stimulating the brain, it helps you think. It is just like exercise, bit more specialised. Different brains respond differently to different stimulus.

Stopping in places could be anything, possibly catatonic. I often experience 'nullness'. It is not something you can control.

I wise person once said: "Neurosis is also something that you should worry about" :wink:



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13 Feb 2009, 2:13 am

0_equals_true wrote:
Stopping stimming altogether is fruitless and pointless.

Stimming is about stimulating the brain, it helps you think. It is just like exercise, bit more specialised. Different brains respond differently to different stimulus.

Stopping in places could be anything, possibly catatonic. I often experience 'nullness'. It is not something you can control.

I wise person once said: "Neurosis is also something that you should worry about" :wink:


I don't find it fruitless or pointless to stop my child from stimming as he's walking down a long flight of stairs or nearby a busy road.



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13 Feb 2009, 5:12 am

Yocritier wrote:
0_equals_true wrote:
Stopping stimming altogether is fruitless and pointless.

Stimming is about stimulating the brain, it helps you think. It is just like exercise, bit more specialised. Different brains respond differently to different stimulus.

Stopping in places could be anything, possibly catatonic. I often experience 'nullness'. It is not something you can control.

I wise person once said: "Neurosis is also something that you should worry about" :wink:


I don't find it fruitless or pointless to stop my child from stimming as he's walking down a long flight of stairs or nearby a busy road.


Uh, he's doing more than stimming then. He's not focused. Usually I'm not able to stim and do those things. What kind of stimming is he doing? Flapping usually isn't that big a deal, and it's usually to focus or deal with stress. It can be affected by executive function issues, and that's when it's difficult to stop or start, but that includes non-stims. Most of my stims involve my feet, so I'm not on them when I stim, walking is a non issue.

I had to learn a routine to ease from one thing to another. For example, when I was writing essays for classes, I had to ease out of studying and taking notes and organizing. I had to do it in steps, like a ritual, so I felt done. I use a timer, because if I don't hours can go by. And if I'm stimming, same thing. I limit it. Otherwise, nothing gets done.

You could talk to your kid when he's calm and explain to him the importance of being able to switch from one thing to another. Make him a part of the process, and decide what are acceptable amounts of time are okay for certain things. If his stimming is a danger, explain to him that he has to change it, or save that stim for something else because he has to focus on what he's doing. If he has stims that aren't hurtful, even if they are odd to other people, let him do them. It's how he decompresses. It's neurological. Nothing else feels the same. But it seems like he needs to learn when it's okay to stim, and when it's not.

It does sound like those times I had to become a broken record dealing with the kids. I'm just glad they're grown. Good luck with your little guy.