How do you stim?

[nike007]

Hello. I know it's not a requirement to have ASD, and stimming isn't listed under my criteria just because I didn't mention it to the psychologist who diagnosed me. But I will rock in a chair if I am bored mentally. I also like spinning at times. Like, my whole body spinning. I mainly stim when I'm bored, but I get urges at times to stim. These two things are the most ASD-like stims. I also shake my legs and bounce up and down in my seat.

 

[Cali Cat]

I used to do a lot more stimming when I was younger ... rocking, bouncing my legs rapidly, or crossing my legs and swinging one leg out, twirling strands of hair really tight, and then twirling the strand around my ear.

When I took up smoking, which was about age 17, I think that became my substitute for stimming. At least it cut down on the other behaviors.

Now, my most frequent stim is the hair twirling business when I'm either relaxing or bored. Otherwise, I smoke.

 

[Astroganga]

Rocking; I have looked at rocking chairs to buy many times but there has never been anywhere appropriate to put one at home, rapidly shaking one leg and tapping foot rapidly, stroking my ears and face when cold; and the bad ones picking spots and biting nails. Nowadays my main stim is playing with my phone. It is interested about the smoking thing because I took up smoking as a teen mainly as what I now know to be a stim. Thankfully I managed to quit a few months later.

 

[On the Inside]

I have quite a few stims, some I only do when sitting still, others I do all the time, unless I'm really engaged in something. Most of them are small, and I think, not very noticeable. My older sisters used to tease me about my stimming, so I learned to be stealthy with them. Mostly they involve my fingers, ears, hair and fabrics. Any more information and I'd blow my cover.

 

[EricD]

I like to flap my hands so my fingers strike my thumb and make a tapping sound. I rock slowly when bored, much faster when agitated. When really excited, I hop and spin, flapping all the while.

 

[SingaSong]

I rock when I am upset, anxious o or depressed. If there are other people around then it is very gentle, so only I know it's happening (and possibly my parents). If I am alone I am more likely to rock hard, as this is a time when I will allow myself to experience the pain and depression.

 

[Southern Discomfort]

These days it's smelling under my finger nails, try to stimulate my sense of smell because I'm hyposensitive to that, and also a bit of rocking every now and then. It used to be clenching my teeth when I was younger but I've been doing my best to stop that. I wasn't aware of the damage it was doing to my teeth at the time so I've sense stopped doing it.

 

[Coupe]

I usually stim with something in my hand, or with touch - I might manipulate a small toy or a Tangle toy, or some other small object, or I might stroke a stuffed animal or a flocked toy (such as a Calico Critter or one of those classic My Little Pony toys that were "So Soft" ). When I was younger, my stimming involved more movement, such as spinning or rocking back and forth (which I still kind of do), or repeating certain words over and over again.

 

[tree]

Here is a generator I made titled "stimmin' ."
http://www.generatorland.com/usergenerator.aspx?id=14019
Click the button "stims R us."

If there is a stim I didn't include and you want included,
tell me, and I will put it in.

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

I skip backwards and forwards across the room when happy or excited, click my fingers when agitated, wiggle my toes when unhappy, and bite my lip when stressed or anxious.

 

[Shanyn]

My main stims are cracking my knuckles, then my wrists (it kinda looks like my hands are doing sit-ups), picking at my eyebrows and tapping my two front teeth with my fingers (does anyone else do this?). I also frequently find myself doing little vocal things. Like, I will say a sentence, then I will say that sentence over and over each time putting emphasis on one different word. Is this a form of stimming?

 

[shinkansen]

Playing with my beard all day long !

 

[StephF]

Counting in binary with my fingers

 

[zurb]

I've posted this elsewhere before. I'd post a link to the other threads, but search is disabled in the app yet again....
The stimming check list

 

[wight]

Though I guess this falls under pressure or weight, I do this one exclusively at home. We have an island in the kitchen, I stand next to it and lay my chest on it. The weight of my body pressing against its cold hard surface feels calming with the added benefit of being able to feel my heart beating.

 

[4gottenLoreKali]

Playing with my hair, crossing one leg over another, cracking my knuckles, tapping my foot (everyone does this), twirling some strands in my pathetically short beard, sometimes biting my fingernails or cuticles if I'm feeling particularly antsy.

On a somewhat related note, I remember seeing this video about this cube gadget toy thing specifically designed for fidgeters. The creator said that fidgeting should be a more socially acceptable behavior and that their invention would help make it so. It had a joystick one one side, gear wheels on another, a clicking button on another... does anyone know what I'm talking about?

 

[toothless]

i rock constantly,i clap and flap my hands,i bite things including myself,i scratch myself,i hit my head,i bounce my leg [dont know if thats a medication thing or autism thing as ive been on meds my whole life],i vocal stim