It's funny because I never really was for sure if things ds did were stims or not too. And recently (the last week or so) he's also lessened most of his what I believe are stims. I don't know if it was all a phase or if he's just having a good week or what. I'm leaning towards me going nuts lol.
But one stim he started about a week ago and still does constantly is an oral stim. He twirls and curls his tongue around in his mouth. Sometimes I think he's eating something and I rush over to fish it out and nothing there. He does this with mouth closed and open. Many people have asked about it so it's very obvious lol.
He also has repetitive play. He's been doing it less as I said, but I find him mostly doing it when he seems overwhelmed (today when we had company) or nervous or maybe even bored. He likes to horde balls in corners. He likes to mix them around and sweep them up with his hands. Ive seen him line them a few times. He also has a few beanie stuffed animals that he puts in things and takes them out right away. He also sets them on a table then immediately knocks them off. He used to engage in this behavior constantly.
He also has food stims. Or at least I think. Certain ways he eats things. Not sure if considered stims. Maybe just odd behavior. He likes to put food on his body then take it off and eat it. He has to eat french fries a certain way. Some things he just eats with no special way.
He also likes to spin sometimes when overwhelmed. That is more of a recent thing too and not real common yet. Anyhow, hope that gives you some idea.
Amber
Stimming can be any kind of behavior as long as it's repetitive. I had thought that Andy didn't stim, but I noticed that he likes to swing his leg or kick as he watches TV. He also fondles his penis (sorry if that's too graphic), and that's been a problem for YEARS!!! When I catch him doing this, I make him get up and wash his hands. It interrupts the behavior, but hasn't deterred him from doing it.
It's going to be a very LONG summer if I'm already seeing him doing this, and this is only the first week of summer vacation!
Kim
Stimming is not an entirely bad thing. Stimming should also NOT be totally taken away, as it is how lots of kids "wind down" or "relax" from a stressful day or situation. Stimming can be limited and redirected, but it can also be incorporated into a "reward". Julian jumps and hand flaps. He also lines up his hot wheels. Not so much anymore though. It has also been discovered that if a child stims, he is then better able to concentrate on the next task. Excessive stimming though can be redirected. And I've never heard that repetition on speech is stimming, that is referred to as echolalia. Something else to ponder. ;)
Rachelle
Jonah is my little jumper. He jumps and jumps and jumps, and I SWEAR this kid will make it to the olympics! He also does the tongue clicking thing, but has slowed down on that one. He plays with himself (penis) constantly, and we are working on that one. That is one I want to put an end to. He also screams, over and over, for no apparent reason. It is a terrible sound. He bangs his head and hits himself in the face. I don't know if this is a stim, but he sometimes drags his feet funny when he walks. He used to walk on his toes a lot. His brand spanking new one is ripping paper. He will rip any paper he can find into neat little strips long ways. (which is not fun when he is ripping an award the principal has just given him in front of the school.) I bet there are many more, if I wasn't so tired. I guess I didn't realize how many he had until I just wrote them all down. Jumping is by far his biggest stim though. He was jumping at 6 months old, and he didn't even walk truly until 19 months!Rachelle,
Echolalia and vocal stimming are two very different things and they both exist. My son has both. Adam's vocal stim's are sounds.....not words......that are repeatitive in nature. All of his doctors have stated that these are vocal stims and I have also read many documentations on this. Because he doesn't have any of the "typical stim's" that relate to the spectrum I always assumed that he didn't have any until I learned more about all the types of stimming and all of his doctors confirmed it.
Karrie
[QUOTE=Gavin's Mom]My son Gavin is 3 yrs old with very mild autism. His stimming is
mostly what my speech therapist told me is verbal stimming. He
repeats memorized phrases (usually from movies or songs) over and
over and over. He also makes humming and clicking noises in his
throat. He has recently started doing more hand flapping (which I
also HATE). My therapists have told me that any excessively
repetitive behavior or play can be considered stimming.
Hope this helps. I was confused by that term for a LONG time too.
karen[/QUOTE]
Does that mean my son's obession with Thomas the Tank Engine is really a stim? He has no others.
I don't know if the obsessions are really considered stims. I have hadI am new, so I may not get a lot of this right. Levi is not officially diagnosed yet and it is over a year before they have an opening at the behavioral center. The pediatrician and I both know he has an autistic spectrum diagnosis, but just not sure to what degree. Definitely high functioning or aspergers type.
Levi too started jumping for hours on end at about 6 months and still jumps a lot, but not as much. He has obsessions with SKIN in general that seem to be a type of stim. His favorite skin is his part in his diaper, but if he cannot get to that, he wants to just have his hand or foot up my sleeve, down my shirt, or puts his hand inside his own shirt.
He enjoys playing in his doo-doo or smashing bananas and gushing through his hands repetitively. Both are not enjoyable for MOM!
I am confused about the vocal part, but he does say certain words over and over like, "Okay" or "Let's go!"
Levi tears paper when he is bored and cannot sleep.
By the way Levi is 27 months.
MY son's vocal stims are sounds and not echolalia. He does have echolalia but the stims are different. One sounds like " ticka ticka" almost like a choo- choo train going down the track. He also hum's in a very odd pitch that is very repetative sounding. My son is also "obsessed" per say with spiderman. But most of his echolalia is from movies that spark his interest at the given time. Right now it is NEMO. We just got back from Michigan for the funeral of my Husbands Grandmother and during the service my son was standing on the pew and yelling "want to see my puppets??" from shark tale.....and then the kicker here was when he got on the floor and was staring at the ceiling and yelling "I SEE A LIGHT" "I SEE A LIGHT" from Nemo. LOL LOL WE will just say that no one will ever forget that funeral service...OR MY SON for that matter....LOL
But those are not his stims from what I am told....I was told that the other "sounds" that he makes repetatively are stimming. He is not transfixed when he uses his echolalia but when he vocally stim's he very much is.
Karrie
well I could be wrong but I believe the verbal stimming is repeating any word over and over and over again. Tyler is doing this now by constantly repeating a word that catches his ear and saying it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it and LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY and then repeating it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it again . Sometimes I can get his attention and stop him... but usually within minutes he goes right back to it!
Now Echolalia is a bit different because he will stand infront of a cartoon on TV and repeat word for word the entires cartoon as he hears it pacing back and forth infront of the TV... this may not be true echolalia.....
Echolalia is also where they answer you in a repeated phrase from something (like a favorite video) or it can be repeating a sentence or part of a sentence back to himself as he or someone else says it.
WOW! Vocal stimming? There is no end to stimming, huh? LOL Hey Karrie, glad to see ya back! Been wonderig about ya!
luv,
rachelle
Zachary's stims are.... spinning, banging or tapping his toys... and PICKING... the dang kid picks on everything... picked the wallpaper border right off his wall, when i don't have things for him to pick like stickers, he picks his fingers... so this one is espcially bad. He sometimes makes his fingers bleed with the picking. At first I thought this was self injurous activity... but then the Dr. explained that it was a stim. Zachary also headbangs and bodyslams... but that is more of meltdown behavior, He only does it when he's frustrated. Zach's obsession is animals, mostly elephants... LOVES them... I wouldn't consider those stims though....I consider the tapping he does WITH the elephants stimming. We are realizing that Zach is venturing into a new obsession.... Thomas the Tank also... but we aren't doing any collecting for that yet LOL. Karrie,