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A new word for Stimming

I usually just say " excuse me whilst I twitch" and then I proceed to enjoy the heck out of myself, flapping, flicking, bouncing up and down and humming. I get odd looks sometimes, but the relief is greater than their disapproval. I like the sound of 'meeping', though. Hee, "Sorry I must meep now." Awesome.
 
What about fidgeting? It's a common word thats already around and in use and people know what it means. Either way I don't see whats wrong with the word stim, but if you want to use something else, why not use fidget?
 
In my life, it's massive huge ENERGY.......
depends on how it manifests......
(agree, Spiller (and other posters), valid points, could be agitations, like , negative hyper fidget or positive hyper happy.)

what word people use to define the behaviors? ( I love all the suggestions!!!!!) ( I LOVE the Dog pic! too! (outburst) sorry, I JUST LOVE DOGS ! OH my gosh!) um.
um. mmm. hmmm.

I do not know this word stimming much. It sounds odd. Average people might not understand, further alienating Aspies? I'd very much vote for any other term here. Just my humble thoughts.

Thanks!

Oh my Goodness dogs = exercise, wow, really HELPS, Me,..... anyone else try that? yes, it's A LOT of exercise...... but it helps! kind of! I mean, It's not medication, it's not therapy, per se, but it really does, improve ...something.... in my life.....
 
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NlGHTgirl said:
Oh my Goodness, exercise, wow, really HELPS, Me,..... anyone else try that? yes, it's A LOT of exercise...... but it helps! It's not medication, it's not therapy, per se, but it really does, help.....
Click to expand...

Yes, that was my mainstay early on. I didn't know back then why I needed it, was kind of obsessive about it, but it made me feel better mentally as well as physically. But over time, perhaps thru overuse, and injury, the vehicle became an old junker and real exercise isn't possible anymore. But I can do walks, and do so most everyday. I am very fortunate to live embedded in a nature preserve along a small river. Getting dogs, is a good motivator for doing it every day. They really need it too and let me know. And that seems to achieve at least a minimum physical and mental balance. I love dogs too. All dogs. Even neighbor Samson the psychotic boxer. But I need to stop at 4. :eek:
 
Stemming is like the wastegate on a turbocharger. When boost pressure is too high, the wastegate pops open to dump the excess and protect the engine. Could we call it popping, in reference to the pop-off valve in a wastegate?
 
I like vexing ;)

Nagging, fidgeting, annoying, twiddling, fiddling, meddling, roosting, soothing, or just
'simply moving'

;)
 
I still vote for popping! Pull up a definition for wastegate & you'll get my drift ( or just ask Raynor!).
 
I don't mind the word stimming. However, I do agree too much research is done from an NT perspective, we need to get high functioning people with autism to do the research.
 
Popping does have an abrupt sound to it, though. Sometimes stimming is a sign of happiness, not justca way to deal with stress
 
I find this interesting because I stealth-fidget. My desk always has something tactile on it, like right now it is a cow-shaped eraser, a palm-sized glass pyramid, and I have been thinking of getting something fuzzy.

I have always been drawn to glass and crystals, I have worry stones in my purse.

And I have a bouncing leg. Either one. And I noticed, taking a recent class, that I do hand patterns. But it's subtle.
 
Silly putty used to help me. In school, I wasnt allowed to use it because "it would distract me". But when I was homeschooled, I could use it and I ended up getting scholarships to college and my college gpa was 4.0
 
I actually just joined the site because I was searching for this exact conversation. I just this week realized that I've been speaking stimming behaviours my whole life and have paid for it with anxiety and having terrible difficulty staying in a room with other people, which has made school, work, and activism very difficult and anxiety-provoking.

But this realization, while a relief, also brings a problem, and that is that I find the word "stimming" to carry a derogatory feeling.

So I googled, "I hate the word stimming" and this was the best result.

Reading through the responses, none clicked for me, but then I say with it and thought a bit. I thought about the positive feelings that come from it, and right away I landed on the word, "grounding". While I know this won't resonate for everyone, and it's also a bit ambiguous (doesn't describe the element of movement that's involved), it really fits for me.

When I do it in a crowded room, the "ants in my pants" feeling that makes me want to be anywhere but there abates or disappears and I can be so much more present.
 
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