I have an odd oral stimming ever since birth. I don't have autism I have down syndrome I am aware of the behavior yet I am unaware anytime stimming occurs I call this a stimming trance. The longest stimming duration is 3 hours and yet over 23 years I haven't figured out how to verbally communicate I can hear everything around me I am nonverbally responding back.
@@hakuro8618 I did have 18 years of speech therapy. I can verbally communicate mainly is the duration of oral stimming and since the stimming behavior is oral makes it frustrating to communicate.
@@ultramiddle4991 I do not simply come out it duration of 3 hours unless I touch my throat I get my stim tools. This is one of my stims that is 3 hours
When I’m in public I focus on finding a place on my body I can rhythmically move without it showing; one toe, my tongue, etc. Always there is a song or a rhythm drumming itself in my mind -always.
I experience letters and shapes in my head...all the time..and trace them with my finger, discretely, over and over. They are letters and shapes I've seen recently in my environment. I think your stim and mine might be some form of echolalia?
My micro stims I would say are: - Eyes dart everywhere when I’m thinking. - Listening to a mostly non-vocal song/playlist focusing on the beats. - in extension also tapping my fingers to either the beat or if it replays in my head from time to time. - my fingers just going slightly rogue on themselves. It’s hard to really tell what is or isn’t as some one new to the world of stimming, but ever since I began my diagnosis journey I’ve paid a lot more attention to my behavior.
I can relate to all of that myself, especially the music one. If I'm by myself, my eyes don't dart around though. I don't really see when I'm deep in thought, and I think I dart my eyes around when people are around and I'm trying to think to look a bit less weird.
I tap my fingers against my thumb, usually just one hand but if I'm particularly anxious, I will do it with both hands. I also hum, not songs, just what appears to be random noise to outsiders but is actually an accompaniment to the music in my head or to the repetitive sounds of a machine at work. I also grind/ click my teeth together. I like the sound I feel in my head when my teeth meet. And yes, I feel the sound. It's pretty cool
I chew the inside of my lips, I put my big toe on top of my middle toe and and apply pressure, I will rub things against my lips like a pen or straw or something, and i out pressure on my nailbeds by using my thumb to push down on my finger nails. Most of my stims are odd and covert, although once I started encouraging myself to rock and flap and jump I became happier overall. I think growing up undiagnosed I just masked really hard and didn't let myself stim in more obvious ways. Thanks for the video!
Wowww! I do most of those things! Mainly the fingers and toes thing. I never realized it was actually stimming until a few months back. Kinda thought I was the only one that did that
Way to be self aware! I was trying to think of covert stims I do and couldn’t think of any. I do almost all of the ones you listed. Before now I was only aware of my overt ones, like incessantly scratching and rubbing my head.
I listened to a CD of Indian meditation music for years to do my meditation. One time when I had to go into an MRI and I realized I could play the music in my head by myself. I would immediately slow down my breathing & start meditating. Now I do this when I am anxious. If I am at the doctor’s office getting ready for a procedure I do not like I can relax myself
In college I listened to a lot of old punk and one day a friend was driving me to the airport, and I asked if I could turn the music up…he said there wasn’t anything playing, I was just straight up playing the full Clash album in my head lol
my most common stim is excessive popping of joints(id say knuckles, but i started popping other bones throughout my body over the years, in case 10 pops isnt enough stimming), i also play air drums on my legs if theres music in the background, and leg shaking
I do the same.. rather used too. But I do knees, ankles, elbows, neck and back, shoulders etc... and with loud cracks, I've woken people with ankle cracks.
In my younger years it was the leg shake (1st and 2nd grade teachers had the mystery note for the principal or the blackboard erasures needed to be pounded on the outside wall if we started to disturb the class) 3rd grade teacher wouldn't allow us to stim as such so knuckle then toe popping became my stim. Toes I could just bend them and get a pop, it was muffled by my shoes so she couldn't pin point me as the culprit. Then there was Recurrent Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (at the time doctors just called it growing pains) where I could pop all my joints except my knees - they were just too bloody painful and inflamed.
I think my most common stims are skin picking/biting, squishing my second toe really hard again the floor (as I feel like it has some sort of pressure inside it that needs releasing) and scratching myself
I’m diagnosed with generalized and social anxiety disorder, but I probably have ASD. I really appreciate this video and reading about other people’s experiences. I didn’t realize that so many little things I do are probably stims. At school, I would always tap my fingers on the desk or twirl my pencil in my hands. I sometimes have moments of “blinking a lot” or blinking hard. I have always had weird things with my hands where I close and open them repeatedly and readjust my fingers.
I also have been told that I struggle with social anxiety, do you mind if you share your symptoms? Because I never relate to others that have ASD. But also just out of curiosity
Hi Daniel! Here are some of my stims Flicking my fingers, flapping my hands (stiff flapping and loose flapping). Clenching and opening my hands repeatedly, rocking my head side to side or back and forth chewing on my cheeks, wiggling my toes to a beat, drumming on surfaces, and other non-distinct movements with my hands. I also whistle and sing A LOT. I often find words that I enjoy saying and will repeat them to myself. One stim relevant to your video is that sometimes I will try to "chase" a single blade of a ceiling fan with my eyes while its spinning really fast.
I tried shaking my eyes like that just now, and... HOW?!?! That's impressive dude! My most common stim is singing, but that's pretty easy for anybody to notice. Subtler ones are wiggling my toes inside my shoes and repeating lists in my head. That one started in Middle School with reciting my classes to mentally check what homework I needed to do, then evolved into random things like people named Bruce.
I’ve never thought of singing as a stim, but now I’m rethinking that. When I’m alone, I sing constantly! Whether it is to actual music, acapella or just making up dumb songs 😂
I frequently sing, whistle, or hum throughout the day. In addition to that, I like to joke that my brain is a jukebox set to “random” as I constantly have music going on in my head, which then prompts the singing/whistling. It is a jukebox set to “random” because anything can trigger a song, even just a word or phrase, or nothing at all, and it can jump wildly around between genres and eras with no real rhyme or reason. Especially when something random from my childhood pops into my brain - like the one time a theme song from a little cartoon that I couldn’t even remember what it was about, but I sure as heck had the song randomly pop into my head! I’ve since figured out the show I know it from (with help), but stuff like that leaves me wondering where then heck that came from? 😂 And of course that theme song is now playing on my mental jukebox. 😁 Most of the time, the songs are prompted from something I hear or think about, either right then or in the few days prior.
@@cosievee Yup! Same! I say my brain is an I-pod on shuffle. Same idea, different technology. Generational difference, perhaps? Or maybe you're just cooler than me, lol.
I play with a fabric crease in my pant leg. I also curl my toes rapidly instead of shaking my leg if I’m in a social situation where leg bouncing would be inappropriate.
Man I wish I could control the leg bouncing. I usually don’t even realize I’m doing it until someone points it out. Most often when things start shaking about like the water glass in Jurassic Park.
Biting my lips both inside/outside , running the seams of my clothes underneath my fingernails and touching each finger to my thumb..I have been doing these things as long as I can remember.
My son has had so many stims and verbal tics over the years, humming, throat clearing, sniffing, blinking hard, pulling at his top and chewing his top are some I can remember. At the moment he bites his nails vigorously and his anxiety is extremely high due to school so has started randomly lifting his top. He only does it at home though (master masker).
@lexifremouw8285 With my son he is autistic as well as having anxiety so it's always been called stimming since he was diagnosed. With tics I believe there are involuntary and do nothing to calm the person down? Stimming is also repetitive movement but more for self soothing. He has more control over stimming than tics.
I actually forced myself not to stem in public unless I'm at really really anxious because I was bullied so much in school that I just try to hide it from people sometimes even at home I do because I don't want people thinking that I'm trying to get sympathy or pity or anything like that by doing stuff that's one of the reasons I love having a rocking chair because rocking then is perfectly natural and so nobody thinks anything of it I know when I go someplace if I'm stressed like in a thrift store they have a rocking chair I will sit in that rocking chair and it will make me feel better it just is like the biggest thing that helps me the most. I recently got me a amethyst worry stone and a tiger eye hematite round stone that I use for rubbing and that really helps me a lot other than that I don't have anything I don't think is really kind of different as far as steaming goes I usually don't flap my hands I've got to be pretty stressed out for that to happen doesn't happen very often but I don't think I have anything that's kind of out of the usual for stimming
Yea I was in the same situation …. I’d be repeatedly clicking a pen that’s retractable in 5th grade till some random girls had the guts to tell me to hush 🤫 …. But they where using bad words … I’m just saying the more formal version of what they said . I’m much older and I’m a bit amazed as to how many people buy fidget toys in America … like first fidget spinners where a thing , then theses bubbles wrap popper toys that I bought for myself on my birthday in 2021 and nowadays you’ve got companies like Elmer’s glue making slime
My weird stims are vocal stims. I sometimes end up this weird dog-like noise when I'm frustrated like "Orowrowrow" smth like that. I also claw my fingers in a throbbing motion as well.
The smallest stim (of the many) I have, is smoothing my eyebrows. I'm just tidying them, right? Nope, they were already tidy, I just needed the sensory stim of touching my brow. They can get itchy anyway so I doubt anybody would think its odd. What's unusual perhaps is how often I do this. I'm doing it a lot more while writing about it cause I'm now far too conscious of my brow haha
I'm not diagnosed but after watching a few of your videos and my sister being diagnosed with ADHD, I think I just might bring it up to my doctor. Some micro stims that I have are curling my toes, clicking my nails together, and rubbing my teeth with my tongue. Another one that is a little more noticable is this chirping sounds I make with my tongue. My mom says it sounds like crickets.
I like to twirl my hair until it knots up, then enjoy the sensation of sliding my hand over my now "bumpy" hair. Then, I'll pull the knots apart with my fingernails, and enjoy the sensation of soft smooth hair under the palm of my hand. At times, during my childhood, I'd do it so often and subconsciously that my fingernails would be completely worn down, my hair oily and matted by midday, and a few bald spots would appear on my head. I still do it at age 22. Another weird one is tickling the roof of my mouth with the tip of my toungue, then furiously scratching it with the middle of my toungue. If I'm in public, I'll revert to sticking each fingernail in turn under my thumb nails.
As I started reading the comments, I was thinking "what are some things that I do but know or suspect most of the people don't do" and thought about how I tickle the roof of my mouth and then scratch it with my tongue . Now I see there are others out there who have discovered the secret of self-tickling.
My self-stimulating behaviors vary. When I am alone I rock back and forth. In public or home I shake my hands. This is when I'm experiencing an anxiety attack or something stressful. However, stimming is a positive to, like dancing non stop and singing. Even I sometimes flap my hands and arms when I'm running. In those moments I cherish my ways of expressing myself. Thanks, Dan that explains a lot about me personally. For stimming.
Being AFAB I was socialized to hide stims pretty intensely. I have a bunch of weird ones because of that. I have EDS and roll my stretchy skin between my fingers (on the back of my hands, my neck, the webbing between my fingers especially). I stretch my toes out and curl them on top of each other, I also hyperextend my joints too which feels good at the time but makes me sore later. I chew my cheeks and lips like crazy but that's part OCD part stim. I think the "weirdest" stim (not subtle though) is laying on my bed, tucking my arms in and rolling back and forth. It feels great, like swinging, but soft and controlled.
@@Rollwithit699 AFAB is “assigned female at birth”. Someone doesn’t necessarily have to be a woman to be AFAB, they could just as easily be a man or non-binary :)
I hadn't noticed that I do something similar, tapping each fingertip against my thumbtip in sequence, until my husband pointed it out when I got my splint rings and started tapping them against each other, too. He said I'd been doing it for years and he'd assumed I knew that I was doing it. I figured that I was doing it in an unconscious attempt to ease my sore finger joints, but saw a youtube short mention stimming today, googled it, and here I am thinking maybe I have ADHD after all!
@@Rollwithit699 i am yeah, but not everyone who's AFAB is. i use that language to cover my bases since there's plenty of people raised AFAB who turn out to be Not That anymore, but they still had the same upbringing and expectations/restrictions as me. hope that helps 👍
Do you think girls are more likely to micro stim? It’s cracking the knuckles, grinding my teeth or gritting them-popping my joints like others have said on here. Skin picking is called excoriation disorder and it’s related to my OCD. My youngest daughter does the eye thing. In fact, she showed it to me recently and we made a video of it which we watched again just yesterday! She thinks it’s a talent that the rest of us with autism don’t have. It’s true, we can’t do that. But we all have some sort of constant thing we do. 2nd daughter banged her head as an infant for a short while but micro movements are hard to know sometimes because you have either always done them or you assume it’s part of your ADHD hyperactivity where something is always moving on you. Anyone else needed to get fillings in your front teeth or some filing because you’re grinding or gritting them so hard?
I do two weird things with my mouth/jaw/ears. One is a clench of my jaw that makes like muffle sound in my ears (quiet thunder roll). And the other is like clicking my ear drum in and out. I'm sure I do both to block outside stimulation. I also chew my tongue, bit my lips & inside of my cheeks - I'm sure it is from forcing myself to not macro-stim for years. Now (age 45) I am allowing myself to macro-stim and it really does reduce my internal stress levels. I have learnt to do this by actively encouraging my friends lad to stim over the last 10years - he is now 15yrs, and loves to play board games - I think it is great when I see him bouncing and flapping as it shows how engaged, happy and content to be in my company - our families love our board game time 👍😁❤️
I have done various kinds of stimming though out my life, but never knew what it was called until recently. As a young child I would twitch my toes because, being inside my shoes, no one could see them. It was when I was a teenager that I started rocking back and forth. As I mentioned in my video, I liked to talk when I was young, so maybe talking was actually a form of stimming.
Sounds similar to me, I’ve switched up my stimming to be things I can hide in public like clenching my teeth, squeezing my fists in my pockets, and toes. I also didn’t understand what they were until recently!
Never considered this before. Since my early teens, I will either 'pong' my eyes on a ceiling, or move them in an infinity symbol ... throughout the day almost always while I am trying to calm down from the day.
Ooh, I use the infinity symbol a lot too, only with breathing or tracing with my fingers. Sometimes I change it up and do cool cursive characters instead.
im a guitar player so my most common stim (other than punching my head) is playing air guitar. not like full on rocking out but my right hand is always simulation the picking motion.
I was diagnosed with Asperger's eighteen years ago, at age 44. The only stimming I'm aware of doing (and I've done it for decades) is rubbing my index or middle fingertip along the cuticle of my thumb. Like your eye shaking, I can do this without being noticed, and had never thought of it as stimming. Unlike your eye shaking, I don't appear to be "staring into space" when I do it. I'm still not certain it would be considered stimming, since I don't believe I use it as stress relief or avoidance -- it's just something I find myself doing from time to time.
I have loads of stealth stims depending on the situation. I teach secondary school, so I am watched all day. My favorite stim though is making bubbles between my tongue and lower lip. I have even learnt do it with my mouth closed. It is very relaxing.
I touch my hair a lot and I do it differently and in specific places when I'm in different moods. Also I just randomly say things just out of context. Sometimes when a song is in my head ill not even realise I'm whistling to it or humming and when I listen to music I tap to the beat with my fingers and feet. Another small one is if I have an itch on my arm or something sometimes I'll gently bite the itch
I've always liked fidgeting with or rubbing sweaty hands on the fabric inside pant pockets helpful when I need to hide stimming (such as during a job interview), but I've learned hands in pockets is somehow considered rude in a professional setting..? So maybe that was part of why I was overlooked in many interviews over the years when I was really trying before my DX & people accused me of not really trying & just being lazy on the job hunting front for a good portion of my adult life?
I rub my feet agains eachother. My left foot behind the right leg/foot. Not 24/7. But sometimes, especially in the evening, and I feel physically uneasy if I stop myself from doing it. I also can’t stop picking my skin on my face, but I don’t know if that is stimming. All my life I and my family have tried to stop me from doing it, and I wish I could, but I can’t. That is very annoying.
I keep moving my abdomen muscles like exhaling out pretty fast and that sometimes makes sound . When i was a kid i used to tightly blink eyes which i was called out a lot for so probably without realising i switched to that exhaling and that sometimes makes sound which others again calls me out for . I don't know if its stimming or not but it happens when i have nothing to do or when i feel stressed .
since i was baby i do a stim that I have never seen anyone doing it. I don't know how to explain it on english but is like rolling up things like scarves, handkerchief, belts, measuring tapes, underwear, etc... and I recently discovered that having the motor skills to do it with one hand is not easy and many can't do it like I do because I asked to people to try it out and it was like imposible for them.
@@TheAspieWorld Nice to see you replaying, im a sub to you on other accounts. I started this ASD journey a couple years ago, cheers from Venezuela ✌keep creating good content
My senior citizen exercise class practices doing the motion you describe! We use stretchy resistance bands, but for this, we just rol them up using one hand, then the other. It is good for keeping dexterity.
You have just described the exact sensation I have done for years that I could never explain nor was it ever noticed because I did it discreetly when talking to people. It has become even more severe lately because of dealing with so many customers at work that I just can’t keep looking at them after a while.
39, diagnosed with ASD, ADHD, GAD, MDD. I have a lot of letters, okay! A couple of my big stims are constantly picking (especially cuticles) and chewing my tongue on the right side. One of my micro stims is highly visible, but it looks like something very neurotypical. I rub my neck muscles and traps until the dead skin forms tons of tiny balls and falls off. People always think I’m just giving myself a neck massage. They can’t tell what I’m really trying to accomplish. 😁 As a kid I had a stim of pressing new, or unique looking textures to my lips to feel them. Thankfully, I stopped that when I learned how dirty everything is! Now I just bite my lower lip.
So, I'm actually not sure if this is a stim but my son will kind of squinch his face up throughout the day when he gets like an input of things from sounds, to light, to visual movements. We tested him for seizures years ago because I thought that was what it was, but tests indicated he was not having mini seizures, however, no one can confirm if that is a stim, or some other sort of thing (what, idk). Many drs and therapists have seen it, none seem concerned, but no one has said for sure-that's a stim or not, but again, he does it often throughout the day and it always seems when there is something going on that he's processing/thinking about.
@@KAT-dg6el Thanks for that information, my main concern is not really him stopping it, I just want to make sure that he's not in any pain or anything like that really (which doesn't appear to be the case, but he has such low tone, sometimes his pain threshold is so very different (very painful to not feeling things at all)).
When I'm listening to someone talking to me, generally if I'm sitting, I tend to use my foot or hand or finger as a pointer and draw imaginary circles or squares around them.
I turn my heels out and rock back and forth on them - that's the best description I can give lol. Other times, especially when I'm cooking and waiting for something, I have a stim I call the crane - I stand on one foot and pull up the other leg and I hit it against the side of the leg I'm standing on - also hard to describe if you haven't seen it lol. I also had stims as a child that I stopped or replaced with other stims.
The main stim I use when stressed is I get a small amount of my hair (it's past my shoulders) and basically tickle under my chin, along my cheekbone and over my eye. I know it sounds weird but it calms me and slows my mind. I have ADHD and awaiting assessment for ASD. I do have other stims......shaking my knee and running the seams of my tops under my nails.
I hum incessantly in stressful situations, I also sway or rock constantly, standing or seated. When music is playing I usually hum or sing along to it, doing the harmonies not present in the song, even if someone is talking to me. Somehow, it helps me focus.
I have hyperlexia...I trace the outlines of letters and shapes using the tiniest movements of my index finger. It's almost constant, as long as a hand is free to do it.
My grandson twirls, swirls long pieces of papers, strings, long cloths etc Can anyone please give some ideas how we can steer this into something useful, some crafts etc thanks
I’ve naturally only ever micro-stimmed b/c being SEEN by others has always been uncomfortable. I circle my thumbnail repetitively with my index finger in public, rub my toes back and forth when at home, and a lot of the same as other commenters like knuckle-cracking. It’s a ton of fun when my 2 kids and I are all stimming at the same time but in our own unique ways. You gotta laugh!
Didn’t even realize I did this until my Dad was riding with me one day. I was driving and he asked why I kept braking. It’s very subtle. I guess most people keep even pressure on the gas, but I speed up slightly, brake a tiny bit, speed up, brake…
Hard to describe them but I can describe one of them, I wiggle my toes a specific way and people don’t know because they can’t see inside my shoes. I have a whole bunch of stims but most annoy others and I can’t do them around very many people especially if they don’t know me.
Hi Dan ! Excuse my rubbish grammar but I’ll be chewing on a stick of gum. Not a soul notices . The only downside is that I do need buy many packs of chewing gum. It’s gotten me in a hyper focused mindset during exams and it’s oddly soothing .
Hello - most of my stims are micro or not readily visible. First I rock to and fro but just by tensing and relaxing the muscles in my neck - only one person has noticed and mentioned this. I also run the nail of my left finger on the first knuckle of the next finger causing a thickening of the skin. Then I twiddle my toes in my boots (only wear boots so that they enclose my feet and make me feel more comfortable). These are the ones I have noticed - I wonder if I have any more.
I’m not diagnosed but I’ve recently realised that I have a lot. Mostly it’s feeling my eyelashes/ eyebrows/ ears repeatedly, stroking my skin repeatedly, feeling the edges of objects repeatedly, foot jiggling, skin picking, playing with my fingers. Also clacking my teeth to a tune in my head (did this for a while because I thought no one could hear it lol). Whispering song lyrics. And fidgeting with just about any object near me. More macro ones I probably jump or change my posture a lot when standing. If you are reading this Dan, dwi o Ynys Môn!
I think that all of my stims can be seen from the outside, so I wouldn't know if I use micro stimming. Even though I do move my eyes around when I think. But people always seem to notice this, and ask me about it. I explain mostly that I need to follow things in my head by creating a picture in the room, which I then obeserve and so therefore my eyes flip back and forth. My usual stimmings are: singing, biting my lips, rubbing my thumb and index finger together to create a sound/noise (when it does not work because I sweat or have sticky fingers, I need to go wash them), squishing my arm/leg fat or pulling the skin up a little (not that it hurts, but strong enough so I can properly feel it), rhythmically tab with my fingers on my body or on an object of my liking, and probably many more that I am not aware of yet, or just forgot to mention. Is it just me or do others of you also like wearing surgical masks? Then I can focus on showing emotions only through my eyes, and the lip biting for instance can't be observed which makes me calmer, as I am always worrying what people think of me when I do certain things, like stimming behaviours...
Shaking my leg - I found out now that this could be a stim. I once was in a job interview and unknowingly caused the employer and other candidates that they were experiencing an earth tremor. I was causing it by my knee hitting the low table when my foot was tapping. I had to confess that it wasn’t an earthquake.
I sometimes lightly tap my upper and lower teeth together in a rapid rhythmic pattern. It’s similar to the hoofbeats of a horse in a fast gallop. While I can hear the tapping beat, and feel the light vibrations, the outside observer will only see the subtle movements of my jaw. I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember.
I do have this mikro stimms too omg 😂 i blink in different speets, i also just move my knee musle a litte like the kneecap is bouncing and i roll my toung inside in diverent directions 😂
Holy crap, never thought of that as a stim. I have done this since I was a little kid. I remember showing it off to my friends at some point in elementary school and not getting anywhere near the reaction I was expecting lol. A "micro" stim I've recently realized that I do A LOT is pressing my tongue to the roof of my mouth and/or rubbing the roof of my mouth it. I've noticed that the pressing tends to happen when i'm nervous/anxious and the rubbing is when I'm excited. I will also clentch my hands into a sorta half fist where the tips of my fingers are touching low on my palm, almost my wrist. Then I will clench one finger at a time until I hit the pinky then release one at a time. It rolls the tendons causing this neat little rolling cracking feeling.
Lately I've been filling up my mouth with air and just holding it like that for a while, looking like I'm about to spit out a mouth full of something. At the grocery store, studying, whatever, I just get a bubble. I don't know how it started.
I do a lot on a small scale, because things like shaking my legs or arms tires my limbs out more. Biting, licking my lips, cheek. Pushing my teeth together and sort of gnawing on my teeth. Constantly playing with my fingers, rubbing them together. Cracking my joints. Rubbing the imperfections on my skin or oil on my nose. Combing through my eyebrows, eyelashes with my fingers. And the biggest one, being rocking back and forth, probably the longest running one I've done all my life.
Thanks to this video I know why I sometimes dart my eyes around as fast as I can lol When I was younger stim behaviours got weeded out by my peer group but oddly tapping rhythms was fine enough. As an adult now I have a very specific sequence of rhythms I go through when I begin to stim. Oddly I have difficulty replicating them intentionally but when I do them automatically they’re identical every time
I have a few stims but some that are discreet are: I tense my muscles up in my arms and legs when they're relaxed. I tense at my joints too. I also tighten my bottom lip against my teeth inside and also sometimes tense my cheeks inside too! My main stim though is tapping my fingers which is pretty obvious and rubbing/pulling at my hair at the front of my head! ❤
I’m an ambulatory wheelchair user and when I’m in my wheelchair I just sit in a wheelie position a lot, both holding still and at times with a bit of movement. For me it’s stimming as it gives me something to fidget with and offers me both physical and mental comfort when I’m out in public spaces and sit in a queue or sit and wait for something or just in an aisle of the grocery store etc. To the outsider it’s not very obvious (as far as I know) that I’m stimming. But then on the other hand even I didn’t know I was doing it until the other week, when I (at age 36, almost 37) realized that I’m autistic. There are many little things I do, but my wheelchair balancing is probably the most “unique”
Wow. I often do the eye-shake thing - usually when there's an incoming physical movement happening... i.e. if there's a big shiver coming, I can channel it into my eyes instead. I had no idea other people did this.
the way i stim the most and i do it super often is rocking back and forth. i’ve just stopped bothering suppressing it because most the time somebody else has already noticed i’m doing it before i catch myself in time to stop while i’m a work or in a store or something lol. a less noticeable stim i do is cracking my knuckles over and over again sometimes until it hurts too bad to keep doing it when i’m super anxious. getting evaluated in a couple days!
I manipulate my fingernails. When I was a kid I bit my fingernails, but trained myself to stop that, and I replaced it with manual manipulation, rubbing, lifting the corners of my nails, etc. I never realized what made me do that until I figured out I am an Aspie. I used to do some knuckle popping, but I'm old now and have arthritis. I stopped that because it hurts.
I have Autism and my micro stimming is wearing baggy clothes and playing with them. I also micro stim by laying on my bed because I love the texture or feel to them.
You don’t like clothes which is too tight either.. I know what you mean.. personally I not into baggy clothes it’s just not suit me but I do like some of the styles.. I ❤️ style how different people can wearing clothes and some looks like a million in some lack back clothes and others looks like out of place and style in a suit.. it’s funny how different it can be..
One that I remember since childhood is when I'm in a car, there are small poles along the highway at every 100m and I would press my toes to the floor and relax them again at the rhythm of every 100m pole. There's no way to notice this unless you would be me (or maybe when I'd be barefoot and with my feet on the dashboard you would maybe notice a subtle rhythm in my feet).
I have these head tremors, when I get stressed or anxious, I didn't realise it was actually a form of stimming, I've been to the neurologist about it, and they said they don't know why I'm doing it...thanks, at least you do!
Usually i whould shake my legs, somties slow sometimes faster . Of course i fiddleon my hair, like all day(thats why i often braid my hair and tuck it away for work with a bandana, headscarf ect.)But occasionally i rubb with the nail of my thumb over the left side of the tip of my middle finger. I do this mostly when i am stressed and/or in a very uncomfortable situation.
2 года назад
I shake one of my leg like I were with a hula hoop, I also shake hands. I move both eyes from side to side... I do other this but I don't remember
I haven't been officially diagnosed with autism, but i have been with adhd (and i often suspect i have both, especially since one of my siblings is autistic), but i've always clicked my teeth together. I'm not opening my mouth at all when i do it, its more like side-to-side or front-to-back motions, and it typically happens without me even noticing at first.
I do the same shaking leg like you showed and tap my feet on ground and people get so annoyed thinking that im doing intentionally i dont even realize im doing it but it calms me down
I’ll tap my teeth together. Not so hard that it grinds them or causes dental issues or anything. Just gently, in some variable rhythm. I’ll also spell out words, sometimes repetitively, with my fingers in ASL. It looks like I’m fidgeting.
I put my hand on my chin and mouth and hold my wrist with the opposite hand and apply pressure I do it without notice. My family and close friends have seen me do it all my life It feels like I get a burst of energy or an urge right before it and I have to do it it last about 5 seconds then it’s gone I don’t believe I have done it in front of strangers. But I have wondered if I have.
I rhythmically grind my teeth (softly) and wiggle my toes (left, right, left, right etc) to the timing of my teeth grinding. Can be done anywhere, any time without affecting what you're doing and no-one notices it.
i dart my eyes back and forth and up to the ceiling (which can get annoying bc sometimes i’m trying to watch a show and i can’t stop doing it), i blink really hard/a lot, i raise my eyebrows, play with my double jointed thumb, etc… also never knew this eye thing was a stim i’ve been trying to figure it out for so long thank you!!! i’m not diagnosed with asd but with adhd in adulthood
I’m an aspie, my adult son has Tourette’s. He was diagnosed at 5 years old. We both have tics but he has more of them and cannot possibly hide them. His are obvious and repetitive and he has a great deal of trouble trying to sleep because of his tic’s. ASD and Tourette’s are related, and I think many autistic people have some tic’s but the diagnostic criteria that differentiates random tic’s and actual Tourette’s is the thing.
I haven’t been diagnosed with autism, but I’ve always wanted to know about something. Since I was little, I’ve turned onto my stomach and pounded my head against my pillow when I’m going to sleep. The more stressful my day, the longer and harder I do it. (It doesn’t hurt-pillow.) If I try not to do it, I get reaallly antsy and squirmy. Is this stimming? I kinda feel like a freak.
I have clinical OCD and Auditory Processing Disorder. I am educating myself because I think I might have ASD. I have so many weird behaviors that I think are considered stims. So, when I get nervous, I have a tendency to use vocal quirks to move thru anxiety (awkward humming, beat boxing, la la la's... My family thinks it is hilarious.). I often use sound cancelling headphones at home when my surroundings are to much to handle. I am a serious lip biter, to the point of cheek bruising, but I literally do it thru my whole day. I also have a very particular spot on the back of my head where I feel like my hair is the softest. In this place, I will pet and twirl my hair for comfort and focus. Not sure if this is what you were looking for. I would love to hear your thoughts. Thx. xx
I doubt that it’s something different than most but I go through my fingers with my thumb from pointy finger to pinkie and back through again. Typically I rock side to side and snap but when I was in the er with my mom I was pacing exactly 8 steps and going through my fingers each step. However when I was younger I competed in gymnastics and I would get stressed before a tumbling pad on floor, even in practice so I would pop my toes constantly before I did a pass. My coaches tried everything to get me out of this habit but it never worked so finally they just choreographed it into all my routines.
I wonder, would having bits of song loop in your head count as stimming? It's usually just fragmented bits that I find relaxing most times, other times its more of an earworm that I must listen to another 30 times before it may or may not get it out of my system.
AirType everything I hear. I do it discreetly and nobody usually knows I do it. Most times I’m still my foot shakes fast. Sometimes I’m unaware I’m doing it until someone points it out to me.
What about staring? Not at someone or something but like almost a catatonic staring off into space. Is this a type of stimming? Or, is this the opposite? It usually happens while sitting completely still. What else could this be a symptom of?
YOU A LITERALLY THE FIRST PERSON IVE EVER MET THAT EITHER DOES THAT TOO OR DOESN’T THINK ITS CREEPY OR DISGUSTING for some reason I do it whenever I get too overstimulated or overwhelmed and don’t know why
ALSO I literally stim in SOME way EVERY day ALL day I’m extremely anxious from the time I wake up till the time I go to bed, I’m always rubbing on my skin like my hands, shoulders or my knees MY FAVORITE IS RUBBING THIS CERTAIN TYPE OF FABRIC BETWEEN MY FINGERS I’m not sure what it’s called but it calms me down and helps me sleep and the WORST ONE of them all every since I can remember I’ve chewed the inside of my cheeks as long as I was awake
My whole life I've been moving my yaw from left to right with my teeth just touching. It's hard to explain, it's hard to see from the outside. This is really just one of my stims or maybe tics?! It's still hard sometimes to keep them apart
I don't know if I have autism or not (I am 53) I do have extreme childhood trauma. Whenever we have to stand in spot I have to rock side to side. I rock sitting down when my physical pain gets to high and I scratch my scalp in spots as I am trying to fall asleep. Maybe I am. It was hard to write that
When I'm extremely nervous, even walking is not enough movement to get a stimming effect. What I do is tap my thumb and pinky together. Unless someone really focuses on my hand, it's hard to notice.
I call those my invisible stims. I have quiteba few that i know of. I pull air in-between my lips and teeth so it's a cool stream of air across the tongue when I'm calm or reading or concentrating, and I repeatedly push my thumbs across each finger tip to feel the pressure when I'm feeling overwhelmed. Or quietly click my thumb nail and pointer or middle finger nail. I also suction my mouth and it causes a cracking in my ears but not that anyone else hears. I also fidget with a squishy hair elastic around my wrist. Noone notices it.
My son does this! He was diagnosed with autism in his late 20s. I didn't know this was stimming. He always sneezes when he stops. I believe I'm also on the spectrum but at 57 I can't be bothered getting tested. My favourite stim is toe and foot circling.
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I have an odd oral stimming ever since birth. I don't have autism I have down syndrome I am aware of the behavior yet I am unaware anytime stimming occurs I call this a stimming trance. The longest stimming duration is 3 hours and yet over 23 years I haven't figured out how to verbally communicate I can hear everything around me I am nonverbally responding back.
Speech therapy may help you if you can't verbally communicate. Slow and steady wins the race.
@@hakuro8618 I did have 18 years of speech therapy. I can verbally communicate mainly is the duration of oral stimming and since the stimming behavior is oral makes it frustrating to communicate.
Bailey Heaton. It sounds like you might have a different type of stim than people with Autism due to the duration of your stims.
Do you simply come out of it and become verbal again? Is that how you know you have experienced a stimming trance-by the loss of time?
@@ultramiddle4991 I do not simply come out it duration of 3 hours unless I touch my throat I get my stim tools.
This is one of my stims that is 3 hours
When I’m in public I focus on finding a place on my body I can rhythmically move without it showing; one toe, my tongue, etc. Always there is a song or a rhythm drumming itself in my mind -always.
I experience letters and shapes in my head...all the time..and trace them with my finger, discretely, over and over. They are letters and shapes I've seen recently in my environment. I think your stim and mine might be some form of echolalia?
drumming with my teeth
@@Walooeegie yes yes yes. I recently noticed myself doing that, too. I need to stand in front of a mirror to see if that movement shows on the outside
I tap my fingers against my thumb to the music in my head. Makes me feel better and nobody ever notices since my hand is usually down by my side
My micro stims I would say are:
- Eyes dart everywhere when I’m thinking.
- Listening to a mostly non-vocal song/playlist focusing on the beats.
- in extension also tapping my fingers to either the beat or if it replays in my head from time to time.
- my fingers just going slightly rogue on themselves.
It’s hard to really tell what is or isn’t as some one new to the world of stimming, but ever since I began my diagnosis journey I’ve paid a lot more attention to my behavior.
I can relate to all of that myself, especially the music one. If I'm by myself, my eyes don't dart around though. I don't really see when I'm deep in thought, and I think I dart my eyes around when people are around and I'm trying to think to look a bit less weird.
I tap my fingers against my thumb, usually just one hand but if I'm particularly anxious, I will do it with both hands. I also hum, not songs, just what appears to be random noise to outsiders but is actually an accompaniment to the music in my head or to the repetitive sounds of a machine at work. I also grind/ click my teeth together. I like the sound I feel in my head when my teeth meet. And yes, I feel the sound. It's pretty cool
Just going slightly rogue! Love it! Exactly!
I chew the inside of my lips, I put my big toe on top of my middle toe and and apply pressure, I will rub things against my lips like a pen or straw or something, and i out pressure on my nailbeds by using my thumb to push down on my finger nails. Most of my stims are odd and covert, although once I started encouraging myself to rock and flap and jump I became happier overall. I think growing up undiagnosed I just masked really hard and didn't let myself stim in more obvious ways. Thanks for the video!
I am not diagnosed with autism but ad(h)d and I do the thing with my big toe and my thumb too
I do all of those things but I was masking too before I was diagnosed and didn’t know I was stimming
Wowww! I do most of those things! Mainly the fingers and toes thing. I never realized it was actually stimming until a few months back. Kinda thought I was the only one that did that
@@KevinChinn88 I also thought I was the only one! Turns out we are not alone.
Way to be self aware! I was trying to think of covert stims I do and couldn’t think of any. I do almost all of the ones you listed. Before now I was only aware of my overt ones, like incessantly scratching and rubbing my head.
I listened to a CD of Indian meditation music for years to do my meditation. One time when I had to go into an MRI and I realized I could play the music in my head by myself. I would immediately slow down my breathing & start meditating. Now I do this when I am anxious. If I am at the doctor’s office getting ready for a procedure I do not like I can relax myself
In college I listened to a lot of old punk and one day a friend was driving me to the airport, and I asked if I could turn the music up…he said there wasn’t anything playing, I was just straight up playing the full Clash album in my head lol
my most common stim is excessive popping of joints(id say knuckles, but i started popping other bones throughout my body over the years, in case 10 pops isnt enough stimming), i also play air drums on my legs if theres music in the background, and leg shaking
Snap - but I also have chronic joint pain from Ehlers Danlos Syndrome so I'm sure half of it is as pain relief.
My husband does the knuckle thing to.
I do the same.. rather used too. But I do knees, ankles, elbows, neck and back, shoulders etc... and with loud cracks, I've woken people with ankle cracks.
My autistic son does thos too. He does fingers toes and neck. I do neck and toes lol
In my younger years it was the leg shake (1st and 2nd grade teachers had the mystery note for the principal or the blackboard erasures needed to be pounded on the outside wall if we started to disturb the class) 3rd grade teacher wouldn't allow us to stim as such so knuckle then toe popping became my stim. Toes I could just bend them and get a pop, it was muffled by my shoes so she couldn't pin point me as the culprit. Then there was Recurrent Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (at the time doctors just called it growing pains) where I could pop all my joints except my knees - they were just too bloody painful and inflamed.
I think my most common stims are skin picking/biting, squishing my second toe really hard again the floor (as I feel like it has some sort of pressure inside it that needs releasing) and scratching myself
i contract different muscles of my body, in legs, chest, arms, etc. I also touch corners of different surfaces.
I’m diagnosed with generalized and social anxiety disorder, but I probably have ASD. I really appreciate this video and reading about other people’s experiences. I didn’t realize that so many little things I do are probably stims. At school, I would always tap my fingers on the desk or twirl my pencil in my hands. I sometimes have moments of “blinking a lot” or blinking hard. I have always had weird things with my hands where I close and open them repeatedly and readjust my fingers.
I also have been told that I struggle with social anxiety, do you mind if you share your symptoms? Because I never relate to others that have ASD. But also just out of curiosity
Hi Daniel! Here are some of my stims
Flicking my fingers, flapping my hands (stiff flapping and loose flapping). Clenching and opening my hands repeatedly, rocking my head side to side or back and forth chewing on my cheeks, wiggling my toes to a beat, drumming on surfaces, and other non-distinct movements with my hands.
I also whistle and sing A LOT. I often find words that I enjoy saying and will repeat them to myself.
One stim relevant to your video is that sometimes I will try to "chase" a single blade of a ceiling fan with my eyes while its spinning really fast.
I tried shaking my eyes like that just now, and... HOW?!?! That's impressive dude!
My most common stim is singing, but that's pretty easy for anybody to notice. Subtler ones are wiggling my toes inside my shoes and repeating lists in my head. That one started in Middle School with reciting my classes to mentally check what homework I needed to do, then evolved into random things like people named Bruce.
I’ve never thought of singing as a stim, but now I’m rethinking that. When I’m alone, I sing constantly! Whether it is to actual music, acapella or just making up dumb songs 😂
I frequently sing, whistle, or hum throughout the day. In addition to that, I like to joke that my brain is a jukebox set to “random” as I constantly have music going on in my head, which then prompts the singing/whistling. It is a jukebox set to “random” because anything can trigger a song, even just a word or phrase, or nothing at all, and it can jump wildly around between genres and eras with no real rhyme or reason. Especially when something random from my childhood pops into my brain - like the one time a theme song from a little cartoon that I couldn’t even remember what it was about, but I sure as heck had the song randomly pop into my head! I’ve since figured out the show I know it from (with help), but stuff like that leaves me wondering where then heck that came from? 😂 And of course that theme song is now playing on my mental jukebox. 😁 Most of the time, the songs are prompted from something I hear or think about, either right then or in the few days prior.
@@cosievee Yup! Same! I say my brain is an I-pod on shuffle. Same idea, different technology. Generational difference, perhaps? Or maybe you're just cooler than me, lol.
I play with a fabric crease in my pant leg. I also curl my toes rapidly instead of shaking my leg if I’m in a social situation where leg bouncing would be inappropriate.
Me too!
Man I wish I could control the leg bouncing. I usually don’t even realize I’m doing it until someone points it out. Most often when things start shaking about like the water glass in Jurassic Park.
How about having to compulsively click/grind your teeth or flex your glutes and claves?
Biting my lips both inside/outside , running the seams of my clothes underneath my fingernails and touching each finger to my thumb..I have been doing these things as long as I can remember.
I do the finger thing as well.
My son has had so many stims and verbal tics over the years, humming, throat clearing, sniffing, blinking hard, pulling at his top and chewing his top are some I can remember. At the moment he bites his nails vigorously and his anxiety is extremely high due to school so has started randomly lifting his top. He only does it at home though (master masker).
It’s called Anxiety tics? Not true but when my anxiety is really high I jerk my head for some reason and it HURTS and it burns too 😭 hate it so much
@lexifremouw8285 With my son he is autistic as well as having anxiety so it's always been called stimming since he was diagnosed.
With tics I believe there are involuntary and do nothing to calm the person down? Stimming is also repetitive movement but more for self soothing. He has more control over stimming than tics.
I actually forced myself not to stem in public unless I'm at really really anxious because I was bullied so much in school that I just try to hide it from people sometimes even at home I do because I don't want people thinking that I'm trying to get sympathy or pity or anything like that by doing stuff that's one of the reasons I love having a rocking chair because rocking then is perfectly natural and so nobody thinks anything of it I know when I go someplace if I'm stressed like in a thrift store they have a rocking chair I will sit in that rocking chair and it will make me feel better it just is like the biggest thing that helps me the most. I recently got me a amethyst worry stone and a tiger eye hematite round stone that I use for rubbing and that really helps me a lot other than that I don't have anything I don't think is really kind of different as far as steaming goes I usually don't flap my hands I've got to be pretty stressed out for that to happen doesn't happen very often but I don't think I have anything that's kind of out of the usual for stimming
same with me I get bullied so much in school and I'm anxious, stressed in public.
My husband is always asking me where my feely stone is so I can use that instead of picking.
Yea I was in the same situation …. I’d be repeatedly clicking a pen that’s retractable in 5th grade till some random girls had the guts to tell me to hush 🤫 …. But they where using bad words … I’m just saying the more formal version of what they said . I’m much older and I’m a bit amazed as to how many people buy fidget toys in America … like first fidget spinners where a thing , then theses bubbles wrap popper toys that I bought for myself on my birthday in 2021 and nowadays you’ve got companies like Elmer’s glue making slime
Rita Hodges. I'm pretty sure that stims can't be controlled, they are involuntary, if we had control over wheather or not we stim than people woul
Rita Hodges.
If we had control over stims than Autism wouldn't not stim at all.
My weird stims are vocal stims. I sometimes end up this weird dog-like noise when I'm frustrated like "Orowrowrow" smth like that. I also claw my fingers in a throbbing motion as well.
Sounds like Yoshi getting hurt
@@HaohmaruHL nah yoshi getting hurt is more like "AWAWAWAWAWAH"
The smallest stim (of the many) I have, is smoothing my eyebrows. I'm just tidying them, right? Nope, they were already tidy, I just needed the sensory stim of touching my brow. They can get itchy anyway so I doubt anybody would think its odd. What's unusual perhaps is how often I do this. I'm doing it a lot more while writing about it cause I'm now far too conscious of my brow haha
I do this too cause it feel relaxing to me.
I
My husband does the same but with his eyelashes.
I can relate to this but I rub them too much and make them patchy
I'm not diagnosed but after watching a few of your videos and my sister being diagnosed with ADHD, I think I just might bring it up to my doctor. Some micro stims that I have are curling my toes, clicking my nails together, and rubbing my teeth with my tongue. Another one that is a little more noticable is this chirping sounds I make with my tongue. My mom says it sounds like crickets.
I like to twirl my hair until it knots up, then enjoy the sensation of sliding my hand over my now "bumpy" hair. Then, I'll pull the knots apart with my fingernails, and enjoy the sensation of soft smooth hair under the palm of my hand.
At times, during my childhood, I'd do it so often and subconsciously that my fingernails would be completely worn down, my hair oily and matted by midday, and a few bald spots would appear on my head. I still do it at age 22.
Another weird one is tickling the roof of my mouth with the tip of my toungue, then furiously scratching it with the middle of my toungue.
If I'm in public, I'll revert to sticking each fingernail in turn under my thumb nails.
As I started reading the comments, I was thinking "what are some things that I do but know or suspect most of the people don't do" and thought about how I tickle the roof of my mouth and then scratch it with my tongue . Now I see there are others out there who have discovered the secret of self-tickling.
My self-stimulating behaviors vary. When I am alone I rock back and forth. In public or home I shake my hands. This is when I'm experiencing an anxiety attack or something stressful. However, stimming is a positive to, like dancing non stop and singing. Even I sometimes flap my hands and arms when I'm running. In those moments I cherish my ways of expressing myself. Thanks, Dan that explains a lot about me personally. For stimming.
Being AFAB I was socialized to hide stims pretty intensely. I have a bunch of weird ones because of that. I have EDS and roll my stretchy skin between my fingers (on the back of my hands, my neck, the webbing between my fingers especially). I stretch my toes out and curl them on top of each other, I also hyperextend my joints too which feels good at the time but makes me sore later. I chew my cheeks and lips like crazy but that's part OCD part stim. I think the "weirdest" stim (not subtle though) is laying on my bed, tucking my arms in and rolling back and forth. It feels great, like swinging, but soft and controlled.
So you're just saying you are a woman?
@@Rollwithit699 AFAB is “assigned female at birth”. Someone doesn’t necessarily have to be a woman to be AFAB, they could just as easily be a man or non-binary :)
@@THIRTYNINEX You're either a baby girl or baby boy. That's man or woman, it's very basic biology. I don't "identify" as a brainwashed woke person.
I hadn't noticed that I do something similar, tapping each fingertip against my thumbtip in sequence, until my husband pointed it out when I got my splint rings and started tapping them against each other, too. He said I'd been doing it for years and he'd assumed I knew that I was doing it. I figured that I was doing it in an unconscious attempt to ease my sore finger joints, but saw a youtube short mention stimming today, googled it, and here I am thinking maybe I have ADHD after all!
@@Rollwithit699 i am yeah, but not everyone who's AFAB is. i use that language to cover my bases since there's plenty of people raised AFAB who turn out to be Not That anymore, but they still had the same upbringing and expectations/restrictions as me. hope that helps 👍
Do you think girls are more likely to micro stim? It’s cracking the knuckles, grinding my teeth or gritting them-popping my joints like others have said on here. Skin picking is called excoriation disorder and it’s related to my OCD. My youngest daughter does the eye thing. In fact, she showed it to me recently and we made a video of it which we watched again just yesterday! She thinks it’s a talent that the rest of us with autism don’t have. It’s true, we can’t do that. But we all have some sort of constant thing we do. 2nd daughter banged her head as an infant for a short while but micro movements are hard to know sometimes because you have either always done them or you assume it’s part of your ADHD hyperactivity where something is always moving on you. Anyone else needed to get fillings in your front teeth or some filing because you’re grinding or gritting them so hard?
yes to breaking front teeth. got the damaged fixed, then chomped off the fillings. finally got a night guard. had no idea I was doing that
I do two weird things with my mouth/jaw/ears. One is a clench of my jaw that makes like muffle sound in my ears (quiet thunder roll). And the other is like clicking my ear drum in and out. I'm sure I do both to block outside stimulation. I also chew my tongue, bit my lips & inside of my cheeks - I'm sure it is from forcing myself to not macro-stim for years. Now (age 45) I am allowing myself to macro-stim and it really does reduce my internal stress levels. I have learnt to do this by actively encouraging my friends lad to stim over the last 10years - he is now 15yrs, and loves to play board games - I think it is great when I see him bouncing and flapping as it shows how engaged, happy and content to be in my company - our families love our board game time 👍😁❤️
Wait. I’m not the only one who makes that thunder roll sound? I’ve asked people about that but they just look at me weird
I have done various kinds of stimming though out my life, but never knew what it was called until recently. As a young child I would twitch my toes because, being inside my shoes, no one could see them. It was when I was a teenager that I started rocking back and forth. As I mentioned in my video, I liked to talk when I was young, so maybe talking was actually a form of stimming.
Sounds similar to me, I’ve switched up my stimming to be things I can hide in public like clenching my teeth, squeezing my fists in my pockets, and toes. I also didn’t understand what they were until recently!
Picking at cuticles
When I was younger and I would draw or concentrate I would poke my tongue out slightly to the side of my mouth
Never considered this before. Since my early teens, I will either 'pong' my eyes on a ceiling, or move them in an infinity symbol ... throughout the day almost always while I am trying to calm down from the day.
Ooh, I use the infinity symbol a lot too, only with breathing or tracing with my fingers. Sometimes I change it up and do cool cursive characters instead.
im a guitar player so my most common stim (other than punching my head) is playing air guitar. not like full on rocking out but my right hand is always simulation the picking motion.
I was diagnosed with Asperger's eighteen years ago, at age 44. The only stimming I'm aware of doing (and I've done it for decades) is rubbing my index or middle fingertip along the cuticle of my thumb. Like your eye shaking, I can do this without being noticed, and had never thought of it as stimming. Unlike your eye shaking, I don't appear to be "staring into space" when I do it. I'm still not certain it would be considered stimming, since I don't believe I use it as stress relief or avoidance -- it's just something I find myself doing from time to time.
I have loads of stealth stims depending on the situation. I teach secondary school, so I am watched all day. My favorite stim though is making bubbles between my tongue and lower lip. I have even learnt do it with my mouth closed. It is very relaxing.
I touch my hair a lot and I do it differently and in specific places when I'm in different moods. Also I just randomly say things just out of context. Sometimes when a song is in my head ill not even realise I'm whistling to it or humming and when I listen to music I tap to the beat with my fingers and feet. Another small one is if I have an itch on my arm or something sometimes I'll gently bite the itch
I've always liked fidgeting with or rubbing sweaty hands on the fabric inside pant pockets helpful when I need to hide stimming (such as during a job interview), but I've learned hands in pockets is somehow considered rude in a professional setting..? So maybe that was part of why I was overlooked in many interviews over the years when I was really trying before my DX & people accused me of not really trying & just being lazy on the job hunting front for a good portion of my adult life?
I rub my feet agains eachother. My left foot behind the right leg/foot. Not 24/7. But sometimes, especially in the evening, and I feel physically uneasy if I stop myself from doing it. I also can’t stop picking my skin on my face, but I don’t know if that is stimming. All my life I and my family have tried to stop me from doing it, and I wish I could, but I can’t. That is very annoying.
Since the age of 3 I would aggressively shake my leg and it took me until my aspergers diagnosis to find out that it was stimming
I keep moving my abdomen muscles like exhaling out pretty fast and that sometimes makes sound . When i was a kid i used to tightly blink eyes which i was called out a lot for so probably without realising i switched to that exhaling and that sometimes makes sound which others again calls me out for . I don't know if its stimming or not but it happens when i have nothing to do or when i feel stressed .
since i was baby i do a stim that I have never seen anyone doing it. I don't know how to explain it on english but is like rolling up things like scarves, handkerchief, belts, measuring tapes, underwear, etc... and I recently discovered that having the motor skills to do it with one hand is not easy and many can't do it like I do because I asked to people to try it out and it was like imposible for them.
Oh I get what you mean! Interesting. I have terrible find motor skills so I couldn’t do that haha 😅
@@TheAspieWorld Nice to see you replaying, im a sub to you on other accounts. I started this ASD journey a couple years ago, cheers from Venezuela ✌keep creating good content
My senior citizen exercise class practices doing the motion you describe! We use stretchy resistance bands, but for this, we just rol them up using one hand, then the other. It is good for keeping dexterity.
You have just described the exact sensation I have done for years that I could never explain nor was it ever noticed because I did it discreetly when talking to people. It has become even more severe lately because of dealing with so many customers at work that I just can’t keep looking at them after a while.
Chewing the inside of my lower lip. It's quite subtle but I do it all the time when there's too much bright light.
39, diagnosed with ASD, ADHD, GAD, MDD. I have a lot of letters, okay!
A couple of my big stims are constantly picking (especially cuticles) and chewing my tongue on the right side. One of my micro stims is highly visible, but it looks like something very neurotypical. I rub my neck muscles and traps until the dead skin forms tons of tiny balls and falls off. People always think I’m just giving myself a neck massage. They can’t tell what I’m really trying to accomplish. 😁
As a kid I had a stim of pressing new, or unique looking textures to my lips to feel them. Thankfully, I stopped that when I learned how dirty everything is! Now I just bite my lower lip.
So, I'm actually not sure if this is a stim but my son will kind of squinch his face up throughout the day when he gets like an input of things from sounds, to light, to visual movements. We tested him for seizures years ago because I thought that was what it was, but tests indicated he was not having mini seizures, however, no one can confirm if that is a stim, or some other sort of thing (what, idk). Many drs and therapists have seen it, none seem concerned, but no one has said for sure-that's a stim or not, but again, he does it often throughout the day and it always seems when there is something going on that he's processing/thinking about.
@@KAT-dg6el Thanks for that information, my main concern is not really him stopping it, I just want to make sure that he's not in any pain or anything like that really (which doesn't appear to be the case, but he has such low tone, sometimes his pain threshold is so very different (very painful to not feeling things at all)).
Stroking my arms/legs. If there is any rough place I will pick it until it bleeds, slowly heals and disappears. I look a mess.
I'm not diagnosed, but I very often crack my fingers. Like mostly when I'm not at home. I drive my co-workers mad because I do it like so frequently.
When I'm listening to someone talking to me, generally if I'm sitting, I tend to use my foot or hand or finger as a pointer and draw imaginary circles or squares around them.
Rubbing rough surfaces around me that make vibrations or actually feel interesting.
This! I do this so often🤗
I turn my heels out and rock back and forth on them - that's the best description I can give lol. Other times, especially when I'm cooking and waiting for something, I have a stim I call the crane - I stand on one foot and pull up the other leg and I hit it against the side of the leg I'm standing on - also hard to describe if you haven't seen it lol. I also had stims as a child that I stopped or replaced with other stims.
The main stim I use when stressed is I get a small amount of my hair (it's past my shoulders) and basically tickle under my chin, along my cheekbone and over my eye. I know it sounds weird but it calms me and slows my mind. I have ADHD and awaiting assessment for ASD. I do have other stims......shaking my knee and running the seams of my tops under my nails.
I hum incessantly in stressful situations, I also sway or rock constantly, standing or seated. When music is playing I usually hum or sing along to it, doing the harmonies not present in the song, even if someone is talking to me. Somehow, it helps me focus.
I have hyperlexia...I trace the outlines of letters and shapes using the tiniest movements of my index finger. It's almost constant, as long as a hand is free to do it.
My grandson twirls, swirls long pieces of papers, strings, long cloths etc Can anyone please give some ideas how we can steer this into something useful, some crafts etc thanks
I’ve naturally only ever micro-stimmed b/c being SEEN by others has always been uncomfortable. I circle my thumbnail repetitively with my index finger in public, rub my toes back and forth when at home, and a lot of the same as other commenters like knuckle-cracking. It’s a ton of fun when my 2 kids and I are all stimming at the same time but in our own unique ways. You gotta laugh!
I do the same
I'm not a knuckle-cracker but I do the other two - more discreet, I think.
I do the rubbing my thumb nail thing as well.
Didn’t even realize I did this until my Dad was riding with me one day. I was driving and he asked why I kept braking. It’s very subtle. I guess most people keep even pressure on the gas, but I speed up slightly, brake a tiny bit, speed up, brake…
I make noises in my head in specific patterns and have for as long as I can remember
Hard to describe them but I can describe one of them, I wiggle my toes a specific way and people don’t know because they can’t see inside my shoes. I have a whole bunch of stims but most annoy others and I can’t do them around very many people especially if they don’t know me.
Hi Dan ! Excuse my rubbish grammar but I’ll be chewing on a stick of gum. Not a soul notices . The only downside is that I do need buy many packs of chewing gum. It’s gotten me in a hyper focused mindset during exams and it’s oddly soothing .
I smell things, tap my tongue against my teeth, pop fingers/back. I count things.
Hello - most of my stims are micro or not readily visible. First I rock to and fro but just by tensing and relaxing the muscles in my neck - only one person has noticed and mentioned this. I also run the nail of my left finger on the first knuckle of the next finger causing a thickening of the skin. Then I twiddle my toes in my boots (only wear boots so that they enclose my feet and make me feel more comfortable). These are the ones I have noticed - I wonder if I have any more.
I’m not diagnosed but I’ve recently realised that I have a lot. Mostly it’s feeling my eyelashes/ eyebrows/ ears repeatedly, stroking my skin repeatedly, feeling the edges of objects repeatedly, foot jiggling, skin picking, playing with my fingers. Also clacking my teeth to a tune in my head (did this for a while because I thought no one could hear it lol). Whispering song lyrics. And fidgeting with just about any object near me. More macro ones I probably jump or change my posture a lot when standing. If you are reading this Dan, dwi o Ynys Môn!
I think that all of my stims can be seen from the outside, so I wouldn't know if I use micro stimming.
Even though I do move my eyes around when I think. But people always seem to notice this, and ask me about it. I explain mostly that I need to follow things in my head by creating a picture in the room, which I then obeserve and so therefore my eyes flip back and forth.
My usual stimmings are: singing, biting my lips, rubbing my thumb and index finger together to create a sound/noise (when it does not work because I sweat or have sticky fingers, I need to go wash them), squishing my arm/leg fat or pulling the skin up a little (not that it hurts, but strong enough so I can properly feel it), rhythmically tab with my fingers on my body or on an object of my liking, and probably many more that I am not aware of yet, or just forgot to mention.
Is it just me or do others of you also like wearing surgical masks?
Then I can focus on showing emotions only through my eyes, and the lip biting for instance can't be observed which makes me calmer, as I am always worrying what people think of me when I do certain things, like stimming behaviours...
Shaking my leg - I found out now that this could be a stim. I once was in a job interview and unknowingly caused the employer and other candidates that they were experiencing an earth tremor. I was causing it by my knee hitting the low table when my foot was tapping. I had to confess that it wasn’t an earthquake.
I sometimes lightly tap my upper and lower teeth together in a rapid rhythmic pattern. It’s similar to the hoofbeats of a horse in a fast gallop. While I can hear the tapping beat, and feel the light vibrations, the outside observer will only see the subtle movements of my jaw. I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember.
I do this too! To a song beat in my head
@@alexandracowley6956 Oh, cool! I sometimes do it to the rhythm of a song, too. Usually when I have one stuck in my head.
I do have this mikro stimms too omg 😂 i blink in different speets, i also just move my knee musle a litte like the kneecap is bouncing and i roll my toung inside in diverent directions 😂
Holy crap, never thought of that as a stim. I have done this since I was a little kid. I remember showing it off to my friends at some point in elementary school and not getting anywhere near the reaction I was expecting lol.
A "micro" stim I've recently realized that I do A LOT is pressing my tongue to the roof of my mouth and/or rubbing the roof of my mouth it. I've noticed that the pressing tends to happen when i'm nervous/anxious and the rubbing is when I'm excited.
I will also clentch my hands into a sorta half fist where the tips of my fingers are touching low on my palm, almost my wrist. Then I will clench one finger at a time until I hit the pinky then release one at a time. It rolls the tendons causing this neat little rolling cracking feeling.
Lately I've been filling up my mouth with air and just holding it like that for a while, looking like I'm about to spit out a mouth full of something. At the grocery store, studying, whatever, I just get a bubble. I don't know how it started.
I do a lot on a small scale, because things like shaking my legs or arms tires my limbs out more. Biting, licking my lips, cheek. Pushing my teeth together and sort of gnawing on my teeth. Constantly playing with my fingers, rubbing them together. Cracking my joints. Rubbing the imperfections on my skin or oil on my nose. Combing through my eyebrows, eyelashes with my fingers. And the biggest one, being rocking back and forth, probably the longest running one I've done all my life.
Thanks to this video I know why I sometimes dart my eyes around as fast as I can lol
When I was younger stim behaviours got weeded out by my peer group but oddly tapping rhythms was fine enough. As an adult now I have a very specific sequence of rhythms I go through when I begin to stim. Oddly I have difficulty replicating them intentionally but when I do them automatically they’re identical every time
I have a few stims but some that are discreet are: I tense my muscles up in my arms and legs when they're relaxed. I tense at my joints too. I also tighten my bottom lip against my teeth inside and also sometimes tense my cheeks inside too! My main stim though is tapping my fingers which is pretty obvious and rubbing/pulling at my hair at the front of my head! ❤
I’m an ambulatory wheelchair user and when I’m in my wheelchair I just sit in a wheelie position a lot, both holding still and at times with a bit of movement. For me it’s stimming as it gives me something to fidget with and offers me both physical and mental comfort when I’m out in public spaces and sit in a queue or sit and wait for something or just in an aisle of the grocery store etc.
To the outsider it’s not very obvious (as far as I know) that I’m stimming. But then on the other hand even I didn’t know I was doing it until the other week, when I (at age 36, almost 37) realized that I’m autistic. There are many little things I do, but my wheelchair balancing is probably the most “unique”
Wow. I often do the eye-shake thing - usually when there's an incoming physical movement happening... i.e. if there's a big shiver coming, I can channel it into my eyes instead. I had no idea other people did this.
the way i stim the most and i do it super often is rocking back and forth. i’ve just stopped bothering suppressing it because most the time somebody else has already noticed i’m doing it before i catch myself in time to stop while i’m a work or in a store or something lol. a less noticeable stim i do is cracking my knuckles over and over again sometimes until it hurts too bad to keep doing it when i’m super anxious. getting evaluated in a couple days!
I manipulate my fingernails. When I was a kid I bit my fingernails, but trained myself to stop that, and I replaced it with manual manipulation, rubbing, lifting the corners of my nails, etc. I never realized what made me do that until I figured out I am an Aspie. I used to do some knuckle popping, but I'm old now and have arthritis. I stopped that because it hurts.
I have Autism and my micro stimming is wearing baggy clothes and playing with them. I also micro stim by laying on my bed because I love the texture or feel to them.
You don’t like clothes which is too tight either.. I know what you mean.. personally I not into baggy clothes it’s just not suit me but I do like some of the styles.. I ❤️ style how different people can wearing clothes and some looks like a million in some lack back clothes and others looks like out of place and style in a suit.. it’s funny how different it can be..
@@bacht4799 yep, life's like that.
One that I remember since childhood is when I'm in a car, there are small poles along the highway at every 100m and I would press my toes to the floor and relax them again at the rhythm of every 100m pole. There's no way to notice this unless you would be me (or maybe when I'd be barefoot and with my feet on the dashboard you would maybe notice a subtle rhythm in my feet).
I have these head tremors, when I get stressed or anxious, I didn't realise it was actually a form of stimming, I've been to the neurologist about it, and they said they don't know why I'm doing it...thanks, at least you do!
Usually i whould shake my legs, somties slow sometimes faster . Of course i fiddleon my hair, like all day(thats why i often braid my hair and tuck it away for work with a bandana, headscarf ect.)But occasionally i rubb with the nail of my thumb over the left side of the tip of my middle finger. I do this mostly when i am stressed and/or in a very uncomfortable situation.
I shake one of my leg like I were with a hula hoop, I also shake hands. I move both eyes from side to side... I do other this but I don't remember
I rock back and force and I used to have a vocal tick that resembled yodeling.
I haven't been officially diagnosed with autism, but i have been with adhd (and i often suspect i have both, especially since one of my siblings is autistic), but i've always clicked my teeth together. I'm not opening my mouth at all when i do it, its more like side-to-side or front-to-back motions, and it typically happens without me even noticing at first.
Honestly might adopt the eye shaking myself bc that feels *real* nice
I do the same shaking leg like you showed and tap my feet on ground and people get so annoyed thinking that im doing intentionally i dont even realize im doing it but it calms me down
I’ll tap my teeth together. Not so hard that it grinds them or causes dental issues or anything. Just gently, in some variable rhythm.
I’ll also spell out words, sometimes repetitively, with my fingers in ASL. It looks like I’m fidgeting.
I put my hand on my chin and mouth and hold my wrist with the opposite hand and apply pressure I do it without notice. My family and close friends have seen me do it all my life It feels like I get a burst of energy or an urge right before it and I have to do it it last about 5 seconds then it’s gone I don’t believe I have done it in front of strangers. But I have wondered if I have.
I rhythmically grind my teeth (softly) and wiggle my toes (left, right, left, right etc) to the timing of my teeth grinding. Can be done anywhere, any time without affecting what you're doing and no-one notices it.
i dart my eyes back and forth and up to the ceiling (which can get annoying bc sometimes i’m trying to watch a show and i can’t stop doing it), i blink really hard/a lot, i raise my eyebrows, play with my double jointed thumb, etc… also never knew this eye thing was a stim i’ve been trying to figure it out for so long thank you!!! i’m not diagnosed with asd but with adhd in adulthood
How can we differentiate between stereotypies and tics (Tourette)?????
I’m an aspie, my adult son has Tourette’s. He was diagnosed at 5 years old. We both have tics but he has more of them and cannot possibly hide them. His are obvious and repetitive and he has a great deal of trouble trying to sleep because of his tic’s. ASD and Tourette’s are related, and I think many autistic people have some tic’s but the diagnostic criteria that differentiates random tic’s and actual Tourette’s is the thing.
I haven’t been diagnosed with autism, but I’ve always wanted to know about something. Since I was little, I’ve turned onto my stomach and pounded my head against my pillow when I’m going to sleep. The more stressful my day, the longer and harder I do it. (It doesn’t hurt-pillow.) If I try not to do it, I get reaallly antsy and squirmy. Is this stimming? I kinda feel like a freak.
I overly blink, I think it was a way of masking the other stims when I was a kid.
I have clinical OCD and Auditory Processing Disorder. I am educating myself because I think I might have ASD. I have so many weird behaviors that I think are considered stims. So, when I get nervous, I have a tendency to use vocal quirks to move thru anxiety (awkward humming, beat boxing, la la la's... My family thinks it is hilarious.). I often use sound cancelling headphones at home when my surroundings are to much to handle. I am a serious lip biter, to the point of cheek bruising, but I literally do it thru my whole day. I also have a very particular spot on the back of my head where I feel like my hair is the softest. In this place, I will pet and twirl my hair for comfort and focus. Not sure if this is what you were looking for. I would love to hear your thoughts. Thx. xx
My usual stims are knuckle cracking and music 🎶 (mostly drumming and singing but I've gotten into guitar, bass, synth and cello recently)
I doubt that it’s something different than most but I go through my fingers with my thumb from pointy finger to pinkie and back through again. Typically I rock side to side and snap but when I was in the er with my mom I was pacing exactly 8 steps and going through my fingers each step. However when I was younger I competed in gymnastics and I would get stressed before a tumbling pad on floor, even in practice so I would pop my toes constantly before I did a pass. My coaches tried everything to get me out of this habit but it never worked so finally they just choreographed it into all my routines.
I wonder, would having bits of song loop in your head count as stimming? It's usually just fragmented bits that I find relaxing most times, other times its more of an earworm that I must listen to another 30 times before it may or may not get it out of my system.
AirType everything I hear. I do it discreetly and nobody usually knows I do it. Most times I’m still my foot shakes fast. Sometimes I’m unaware I’m doing it until someone points it out to me.
What about staring? Not at someone or something but like almost a catatonic staring off into space. Is this a type of stimming? Or, is this the opposite? It usually happens while sitting completely still. What else could this be a symptom of?
YOU A LITERALLY THE FIRST PERSON IVE EVER MET THAT EITHER DOES THAT TOO OR DOESN’T THINK ITS CREEPY OR DISGUSTING for some reason I do it whenever I get too overstimulated or overwhelmed and don’t know why
ALSO I literally stim in SOME way EVERY day ALL day I’m extremely anxious from the time I wake up till the time I go to bed, I’m always rubbing on my skin like my hands, shoulders or my knees MY FAVORITE IS RUBBING THIS CERTAIN TYPE OF FABRIC BETWEEN MY FINGERS I’m not sure what it’s called but it calms me down and helps me sleep and the WORST ONE of them all every since I can remember I’ve chewed the inside of my cheeks as long as I was awake
My whole life I've been moving my yaw from left to right with my teeth just touching. It's hard to explain, it's hard to see from the outside. This is really just one of my stims or maybe tics?! It's still hard sometimes to keep them apart
I shake my eyes, too. I also tap my fingers together, and toes wiggle near unconsciously unless I'm aware I'm doing it.
I don't know if I have autism or not (I am 53) I do have extreme childhood trauma. Whenever we have to stand in spot I have to rock side to side. I rock sitting down when my physical pain gets to high and I scratch my scalp in spots as I am trying to fall asleep. Maybe I am. It was hard to write that
When I'm extremely nervous, even walking is not enough movement to get a stimming effect. What I do is tap my thumb and pinky together. Unless someone really focuses on my hand, it's hard to notice.
I call those my invisible stims. I have quiteba few that i know of. I pull air in-between my lips and teeth so it's a cool stream of air across the tongue when I'm calm or reading or concentrating, and I repeatedly push my thumbs across each finger tip to feel the pressure when I'm feeling overwhelmed. Or quietly click my thumb nail and pointer or middle finger nail. I also suction my mouth and it causes a cracking in my ears but not that anyone else hears. I also fidget with a squishy hair elastic around my wrist. Noone notices it.
My son does this! He was diagnosed with autism in his late 20s. I didn't know this was stimming. He always sneezes when he stops. I believe I'm also on the spectrum but at 57 I can't be bothered getting tested. My favourite stim is toe and foot circling.