Stimming has been a much-discussed topic in my home, at school, and at doctors’ and therapists’ offices. In the early days of Zoe’s diagnosis, we were instructed by doctors and therapists that stimming was a behavior that needed to be eliminated if our child was to function in a “normal” world. Over time we came to realize that Zoe’s stimming, as long as it wasn’t physically harmful to her, was very comforting to her. And as controversial a decision as that may be, we don’t have a problem with allowing Zoe to stim.
For those who are not familiar with it, stimming is a term that means “self-stimulatory behaviors.” It’s the type of repetitive behaviors often seen in autistic children (though I read somewhere that as many as 10% of non-autistics also stim). Autistics may stim in a variety of different ways, including (but not limited) to:
• Tactile: squeezing, clapping, hair pulling
• Vestibular: rocking, spinning
• Proprioception: teeth grinding, pacing
• Auditory: humming, grunting, tapping
• Olfactory: smelling objects, smelling people
• Gustatory: licking, putting things in mouth
• Visual: lining up objects, hand flapping
My daughter likes tactile stimulation the most. Since she was a toddler, Zoe has enjoyed squeezing her hands together. She takes her right hand and squeezes her left thumb at the base of the finger—where the fleshy muscle lies at the palm of the hand. Occasionally she will also do some more vestibular-type stimming like rocking.
Our initial concerns were that Zoe was causing damage to her hands by this repetitive (and may I say forceful) hand-wringing. She was beginning to cause damage to her hands; we could see her wrist and fingers were starting to show signs of wear and tear. Not wanting to take her beloved stim away from her, we got her some therapeutic stim toys to help her. Now when she wants to stim, Zoe squeezes the toys instead of her hand; she gets the stimulation she craves without hurting her hands. Examples of therapeutic “stim-friendly” toys can be found here and here.
I sat down with Zoe to ask her why she enjoys stimming so much. Her response was, “Well, it feels good to my hands.” When I probed a bit deeper, she explained that many times she feels that her hands need to be touching something, not just hanging there on her arms. Zoe said that stimming helps her remain calm in stressful times, or in really loud places (which make her nervous). She also thanked us for buying her the squeeze toys she now uses, because “my hands used to hurt when I stimmed, but now they feel better.” Even though she was experiencing some pain, she was willing to live with the discomfort as long as she could continue getting the sensory stimulation she needed. Now she’s happy (and pain-free) and able to enjoy her stim, and we can feel more at ease about letting her enjoy it.
Melinda, you have concisely, clearly explained stimming. I’ll be referencing your post when explaining my boys’ “quirks” (as many people call them).
You and Zoe make the perfect team. I look forward to getting to know both of you.
Thanks for addressing this topic. It is so easy to accept all of the advice we get from professionals and other sources without really thinking through the issues and making our own decisions. How wonderful that Zoe can express her own thoughts on the subject as well!
Great post. We’ve taken a similar approach for the same reason – it is not only comforting / relaxing to our boys but it also helps them “stay in control” (ie. avoid meltdowns). So, as long as they’re not hurting themselves or anyone else we don’t make a big deal about it.
Thanks so much for this. Sometimes I feel guilty for letting Kayla stim, but as long as it’s not harmful (like chewing on sand — blech!) or interfering with her needing to be part of “the world” in school, I let her. We let her stim a lot at home because they try to restrict it at school. I figure she needs to wind down after a long day like the rest of us.
Great article! My six year son has autism and stims frequently. He used to flap his hands during most of the day, usually when he was excited or happy about something. We’ve since worked with him to bring the flapping down and now he grasps his hands in front of them and squeezes them together. The hand flapping was strengthening his peripheral vision, and his macular vision was suffering. Since the change, he’s better at making eye contact. It seems that the hand squeezing draws less attention as well, which can be a good thing at times.
We try to keep a good balance with the stimming. It can definitely cause problems at times, but it’s also necessary for him to relax and decompress. It’s a hard line to walk!
I love this article on self stimulation from the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, puts things in a whole new perspective!
Whoops forgot to put the link in
http://www.tsbvi.edu/Outreach/seehear/archive/mannerism.html
Great article, I registered and added a vote at Mixx. My son also craves tactile stimulation and deep pressure. Do you do floortime at all? I took the ICDL online conference a few weeks ago and the post conference on sensory processing disorders. Great stuff and videos.
I also bought two sensory DVDs I have to view and write on and just got yesterday in mail from my amazon order the answer book on sensory processing disorders.
I reviewed this dvd that is really good:
OT for children with autism – it is really good
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art56424.asp
I agree on that link and have had it in my article on self stimulatory behavior regarding my son
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art41323.asp
[...] keyboard is a wonderful way to improve her fine motor coordination. As I mentioned in my post about stimming, Zoe’s hands were beginning to suffer the ill-effects of harmful stimming. Playing her [...]
How fortunate for Zoe that she has such a warm and supportive family, and how fortunate for you that you have such an insiteful and articulate daughter. I think that she may benefit from the deep input that squeezing gives her hands throughout her whole body. The hands are the most highly innervated area, so that is where she is most aware of her discomfort. By providing her with pressure, squeezes, and hugs throughout her body throughout the day at regular intervals, you may preempt other needs. Good Luck!
i think my children stim and possibly the stuff ive done too. my daughter is always bouncing on anything, rocking her body on the arms of chairs etc, licking objects and putting almost whole hand in mouth, constantly singing or sing song talk, thats just some of it, yet im told she is progressing nicely, even though is showing asperger traits. (theres other stuff too) my boy is being assessed at the moment for aspergers and adhd, he loves to swing, needs music on a cd player or in headphones to help him sleep, cant keep still, always bouncing, noise making, hisses at people or kinda growls. needs deep pressure. me, i think i have the visual simming more, tracing things, love wtching loghts and sprarkly things, i do the scratching, rubbing, loud music to concentrate or focus me, i dunno, theres other stuff but dont know how inportant it is.
[...] Please note that I originally posted this back in July of 2008 over at 5 Minutes for Special Needs. I figured it would be a good idea to share it here (along with a couple of edits). You can find the original post here. [...]