Stimming question , please help | Autism PDD

Also I am going to say... Zach's therapists and Dr.s have told me to NOT stop his stimming activities completly.... he needs them as a stress relief... it's like a pressure valve... when he gets over stimulated he spins, bangs or picks.  They said... "Let him do it for a minute or two, and then try to interact with him with the stim... like the spinning... when he starts to spin, I go get his sit and spin and I spin him on that and he stops spacing out. When He bangs... I try to get some eye contact and say "walking, walking, walking" (he usually bangs animals, so I pretend they are walking).... His ST told me to not let him get completly engrossed in the stimming or he might not come out of it for awhile... this has happend where Zach has been stimming for hours straight in a zone.   I don't scold Him or get upset... I just try to redirect him.... if you think about it... they aren't doing anything wrong.... it is just thier way of dealing with things. 

[QUOTE=Jakobsmom] When I'm chewing on a pencil, or tapping my leg while I'm sitting, I'm still able to have connections and an awareness of people and happenings around me. My brain is able to stim and gather info at the same time. Theirs isn't.    [/QUOTE]

Thats not true.  When Jeffrey is doing his stimming he is still taking in information.  It might not look like he is but he is.  Also when Jeffrey is doing his stimming he is very aware of his surroundings.  Now to say they don't want to communicate, well, some of these kids don't want to communicate anyway.  With Jeffrey you have three chances to ask him something.  And if he doesn't answer you by the third time forget it.

Tammy

Stims are a childs way to calm focus or concentrate.

They don't do it to annoy you. If you take away something a child stims on they will find a replacement stim.

Our dr said unless it is harmful or dangerous for their saftey let them do it.

It helps me to see that my son is HAPPY when stimming and therfore it doesnt bother or annoy me too much.

you could try putting calming activities in place every few hours for him to do that should help calm and regain focus for an hour or two most of the time. 

Also if the child had a really rough day at school the stimming helps them calm themselves down.  And not all stimming can be redirected.  Now as far as the book claims, that doesn't work.  Jeffrey does certain things at home that he doesn't do anywhere else.  And saying you could only do it in a certain room of the house, wouldn't that be punishing the child for the stimming behaviour?  And as Michelle said, if it isn't hurting himself or anyone, let him do it.

Tammy

Hello all. I haven't posted in a while but nice to be here. Junior Mint, who is 5 1/2 almost is a pretty high functioing NDD-POS chil. He does very well academically and is going to be in a mainstreem kindergarden next year. He does need help with social skills but is able to play and have fun with other children. One thing I notice a lot and it drives me nuts is his stimming on cars and trains. He will take some of his cars, put them on the kitchen table which is taller than most tables, almost at eye level and with one eye almost closed kinda roll them around. It looks pretty weird. He used to do it a lot with toys in front of his face and even pace up and down the fence with his head turned sideways. He doesn't do those things really anymore but he still does the stimming with the cars or buses or trains. When he was fist DX'd and this was more prevelent, the OT and teachers worked on re-directing him when he would do that so I imagine that is why he doesn't do it as much anymore. Now, when he does this now on the table I will say to him, "hey, stop the pacing" and you can see he gets upset, he will say "Don't say that" and look visible shaken, not to bad but definatly like he was scolded. If he hangs out in the hot tub he will also stim like that on balls floating around. Its not super intense as I imagine all the work pre-k and the tutor have done has curtailed it but is it bad for me to be scolding him and telling him to "stop stairing or stop pacing" ????

He will say, "but I want to pace" and I try and be nice and tell him to stop but it really looks weird, looks like it is not good for him and is basically driving me nuts when i look at him as I see it as a bad habit.

Is it just a way for him to relieve stress or should I keep working on trying to re-direct him when he does it. We find that he does it a decent amount when home and we let it go because we will be tired or off in the other room doing something. What should I do ??

what your son is doing is stimmng but an ot told me once that my son looked at things this way because they don't see things the same way as we do. have less peripheral vision. we do not stop my son from stimming completely but if he is stimming when he should be doing something else then he needs to be redirected. remember they are visual learners. he has pictures with words, ie hands down, he rubs his head a  lot when excited. if he should be working then there is a hands down picture at his work site. this reminds him over and over to keep hands down. also becomes very loud when excited and constantly making loud grunting noises. if out in community has a picture with a sign that says quiet, this reminds him over and over to keep his grunting quiet. it really does work.

seniormint--

That is my 2.5yo Zach exactly.  He loves to roll his trains-cars along the ottoman, really close to his face, staring at the wheels, sometime closing one eye.  I have noticed that he will look at things out of the periphery, and when we went to the zoo the other day, he went to the fence, not to look at the animal, but to run along the fence and watch it.  I have tried doing what he does, and it makes me a bit dizzy -- I guess the sensation he is going for!  At home, he does this more out of boredom, and perhaps not knowing how to play with other toys appropriately.  In his language group, he uses it to break from the group-activity to help calm himself (cope)- he tends to get overwhlemed in those situations.

Anyway, I have not given you any advice... I am just glad (and sorry) to hear that someone else's child does this type of activity, as I have not seen anyone else do it.  I let him do it at home for a little bit, but try to join in and play more appropriately with the cars -- race, make a ramp to do jumps, pretend to go to the store and get groceries etc.  I am no expert and just got a dx last month, so I am new to all this.

Good luck and keep us updated.  I think we are going to pursue some biomed treatments, so I will let you know if any of that reduces his stimming behavior.

Stef

One thing I notice a lot and it drives me nuts is his stimming on cars and trains. He will take some of his cars, put them on the kitchen table which is taller than most tables, almost at eye level and with one eye almost closed kinda roll them around.

My son who is 5, does this exact thing, although he just lays down on the floor to do it. I have twin boys, one has severe autism and is non-verbal. The son I am referring to, has never been diagnosed, mostly has speech disorder problems, but he has a few quirky, stimmy, behaviors.

When I ask my son when he is doing these strange things, why he is doing them, he acts embarassed also. I have found that my son does them more when he is stressed or bored. As long as he is not doing it to the exclusion of other things, I don't think it is a big problem. If my son seems to be doing it for a long time, I will suggest something else he likes to do, and that usually ends it.

Lol Stephanie just wait until the day when nothing works.  Like right now.  I just got on the computer and Jeffrey has his paper and wants on the computer now!!!!

Tammy