Stimming and Medication | Autism PDD

I have a 5-1/2 year old boy with ASD who stims alot. We recently started him on resperidol which calms him down a bit but the stimming still continues. Has anyone tried another medication that controls the stimming. I met a lady who told me her son took a medication when he was young and his stimming went away. She couldn't remember the name of the med. We also tried a weighted vest which didn't work.

For example, if a child is in a room with the TV on, Mom's washing dishes in the other room, the room is painted red, the carpet is scratchy, they have a dog that sheds on the floor, two or more people are in the room talking, the computer is on, and the lights are on in the room. wouldn't that be enough to make a child with Autism stimm regardless of being on meds or not? I know that some individuals with Autism hear things louder even things that most people do not such as electronics and lights buzzing. Taking all that into consideration what most parents do at home in the den or wherever on a daily basis could be overstimulating for an individual with Autism. What do you think?

Being on neuroleptics decreased my stimming but didn't totally eliminate it. They decrease most activity except when causing akathisia. Problem is they did not decrease the overload, so I could go from not at all moving unusually, to screaming or curling up in a ball with no interim phases.

Decreasing stimming for its own sake isn't generally a good idea though. It's like amputating someone's tear ducts to prevent crying or cutting the facial nerves to prevent smiling, it misses the point.
gtto39346.8336458333

Welcome to the forum!

This article on stims might be of interest. It includes a chart of examples of stims associated with the various senses.

http://www.tsbvi.edu/Outreach/seehear/archive/mannerism.html #Chart

Can you tell us more about his stimming and what seems to trigger it? When does he stim least?

What is called "stimming" (which is actually a whole lot of things) is quite frequently a way of attempting to deal with input from our environment.

In that case, eliminating it because it doesn't seem to serve any function is sort of like cutting a cat's whiskers off because you don't understand what they do: It harms the cat but seems harmless to someone who doesn't have whiskers or doesn't understand what whiskers are for.
gtto, that is a great point! And may I add on the more humorous side, funny you should mention whiskers of a cat, as Billy has chopped our kitty's whiskers off. He was not being mean, honest. It was more of a "I wonder what will happen" thing, I think. Poor kitty. She is ok though...she stayed still so he could do it...there wasn't a scratch on him.

I strongly, and I do mean STRONGLY suggest that you DO NOT try to discourage your child from stimming. Unless the stimming is causing harm to himself or others(which is rarely the case). This is something that they HAVE TO DO. Discouraging "stimming" or what I like to refer to as "self regulating" will only cause more troulble than it is worth. You may eliminate one stimm, such as flapping only to be replaced by something else, and that something else may not be what you bargained for. Discouraging stimming often results in a unhappy, angry, stressful child. Also, what is the reason that you do not want your child to stimm? Is he hurting himself? hurting others? or its not something that you want him to do because he's loud, or draws attention to himself? Alot of times parents are more concerned ofter stimming than they should be. Medication is not the answer. If you are only using the meds in hopes of eliminating stimming then your wasting your money. My personal opinion on meds is that they should only be sought out for MEDICAL related issues, not behavioral, unless the behavior in question is harmful and all other options have been ruled out.

Stimming can actually and should be viewed as a positive not a negative. Stimming can provide you, the parent a way to connect with your child if you join in on it. You may actually learn better how to connect with your child by looking thru his eyes. Stimming can also be viewed as a signal, does your child stimm more or less when in certain situations? when its loud in the room? when there is alot of people? after eating? if there is a change in the routine? do you notice more stimming a week or so before a new word or behavior comes out?

There are alot of things that can cause stimming, and stimming is your childs way of "de-stressing" or adjusting. The more you discourage it, the more resistance you will get, the longer the child will stimm, and you may even find your child will begin to withdraw from you more because you are taking away something he/she likes and has to do.

IMO there are alot of other things that warrant intervention than stimming, its a prt of your child that you will need to adjust to. Often times as the child grows older, old stimms will discontinue and be replaced by new ones that may not be as attention grabbing or distracting to others, but one thing is for sure, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A STIMM. To discourage it is like trying to take away the air you breathe or the food you eat. Contrary to popular belief, your childs stimming does not mean he is brain damaged, regressing, or oblivious to the world around him. the opposite is quite true, your child is TOO aware of everything around him and therefore the stimming is a self regualting or self calming method in order for him to deal and adjust.

I have never found any medication that helps stimming.

The best thing to do is find the root of the thing that is stressing him out and redirect him to a more socially appropiate way to deal with his stress.