Stimming Drives Me Crazy | Autism PDD

My son has done it alot more recently to. The newest stimming he does is grind his teeth and that drives everyone nuts. :( Hate that sound

Oh they have definitely decreased with age, maybe because of the sensory diet. It might fulfill the same needs as the stimming does and they love it.

Linda1156739295.3904398148My son, who is 5, is starting to stim more. His big thing is wiggling his fingers in front of his face. It drives me crazy. I ask him to stop and he says "sorry," which makes me feel bad, but he is starting to become more aware of it. Is there a certain age that they understand not to do this out in public? Anyone's child stim more when they were younger and now it's a little more controlled? His stimming is much worse than it used to be when he was 3 and 4. HelpI know how annoying stimming can be: my brother is the world's worst about it! But I also know that it has a purpose and serves to calm down the autistic brain and help screen out unwanted stimuli, which relieves stress. It seems to me that disciplinary measures should be saved for blatant acts of disrespect and behavior that could endanger the child (like hitting others or running away in a busy grocery store). You sound like a very patient parent, though, and as long as you are gentle with your "nos", it will probably be nondestructive and even effective at reducing the unwanted behaviors. The important thing to remember is that many children with ASD are super sensitive to perceived criticism and can lose their self-esteem as a result. There are varying viewpoints on stimming, so maybe a little "Google" research is in order...:) Take care!Sharlet stimms a lot, it serves a purpose for her and I let her do it as much
as she likes. Of course some stimms such as sexual stimms and some
others need to be avoided, thats where I think things like weighted pillows
and stim toys can help.

I really think if it's not hurting anyone it's ok with me. I don't see stimming
as a "symptom" I look at it as her unique body language, which we all have.
She probably thinks lots of NT body language looks silly or annoying too.

My son is 9, and he doesn't yet consider how his stimming looks (or sounds!) in public. I don't think the level of stimming has changed much, but it's his way of self-regulating -- dealing with overstimulation, etc. In periods of stress and challenge, we see more stimming.

Here's my favorite article on stimming, which includes a chart of stims under the various senses. Waving fingers in front of the face would be a visual stim.

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

You might also want to check out this checklist for sensory issues.

http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-processin g-disorder-checklist.html

Good luck with everything.

ya, around 9 or 10, for me i stopped doing the obvious stuff, around that time i began to realize, by myself, as my parents at the time, fully knowing what i do, but did not understand why as in the 80's and early 90's their was little information avalible to them, that these behaviors would be seen by other ppl and would reflect negativly on me, as far as school, friends, my parents and sister thinking im weird, so i stopped the finger movements, head shaking and whatnot. One thing I still do to this day, and will always do (and why I live alone, heh) is i rock myself to sleep, always have, every night, the longest ive gone without was in collage, and that took some getting used to (i obviously had a roommate) as soon as that was over, i cam home and went right back to it. I hit my head on the wall doing this many times during my lifetime, causing everyone on the house to wake up, my mom told me, and this was 3 years ago, i was 21, she said "u r a little old to be doing that..." clearly not understanding what it is.

My point is, their seems that no matter what their is always the desire, i just try to be private about it, in public, under stress, or what, the desire must be contained, but i come home to my empty place, and i can relax, and not worry about judgement, which when someone finally gets old enough to realize others can judge you, and effect u, thats when the behavior can be worked on (at least for me, obiously everyone is different).

[QUOTE=NorwayMom]

Here's my favorite article on stimming, which includes a chart of stims under the various senses. Waving fingers in front of the face would be a visual stim.

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

You might also want to check out this checklist for sensory issues.

http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-processin g-disorder-checklist.html

Good luck with everything.

[/QUOTE]

Thank you so much for these sites. I wrote this post to mainly vent, and now after reading a few responses has given me a new perspective. I need to realize he's doing this for a reason and try to tap into why he needs it and replace it with something more acceptable. My son loves schedules, so maybe if I have times during the day that he can do his stimming he might do it less at other times.

Thanks for everyone's responses. It's always nice to know I'm not alone and secondly to look at something he does in not such a harsh light.

I was told by a doctor that my children would eventually stop/control the behaviors once they started getting teased in school. I tried to help her stop(my son is not reachable in that way yet) but it caused her more stress and she started peeling skin off her fingers and toes. I just let them go, it doesn't bother me at all but my husband is having a hard time with it. I mostly tried for his sake.

For those adults with autism, would you have preferred to have found a way to stop or control the behaviors before peers noticed?

My son stims by running back and forth with vocal noises. It drives me
crazy too. My neurologist said to let him have the outlet to stim or he
could develop aggessive behaviors. I am in process of setting up a
program in ABA therapy for him to do it in constructive ways, as well as
appropriate times to do it.

My son also stims all the time so I know exactly what you are going through! It is so frustrating!!! He will be 4 in Dec. It seems that his stims are getting worse. Just when I think he is getting over one he starts up with a new one! He runs around the house back and forth making a strange noise, he lines all his toys up, he spends hours fixing his little figures into his Dora van unil they are PERFECT, he has to close all doors and now when he gets upset or over stimulated he makes a sound like he is going to vomit!!! Like you I pray that when he gets older he will be able to control them more!! I'm sure your son will learn to control them more as he gets older also- Good Luck!!!

My Heart39292.8086805556

Christine,

My son used to stim a lot (he would hump everything) and it was very embaressing. We did a sensory diet with him and he doesn't stim at all anymore. Maybe it's worth giving that a try? It's very easy to do and only short term.

Mysh

[QUOTE=Mysh]

Christine,

Mysh

[/QUOTE]

That's our next move. He loves constant movement so his OT is putting one together. Keeping my fingers crossed that it works.

I hear ya. My son Jack seems to go in cycles when it comes to stimming. His big thing was singing and playing "Blues Clues" to himself whenever he saw his reflection in a mirror. Sometimes we could redirect him easily, other times not so much. It seems to have died down for the moment, although at times he still does it. There were times, though, when he would stim for 30-40 minutes in the mirror, or no matter where you were, if he caught a reflection of himself, he would go off on the whole "Blues Clues" thing.

Spot

Caden has been stimming mega huge lately and it too is driving me crazy!!!!!!!!!!!! He just turned 4 in May. He jumps up and down, gallops, squeals really loudly, jumps up and down on the bed, turns lights on and off, flushes the toilet repeatedly all day long (and some times tries to flush his head in there too), unrolls toilet paper, dumping food, lining up utensils, and the list goes on. This weekend alone was horrible and he did ALL of those things.

I HOPE it stops soon. He just started summer school (went a full year prior) and he is getting more sensory stuff but it seems to be backfiring because ever since he started back, he's been stimming way more.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

My son is 7.5y and doesn't stim as much as when younger. He really hardly stims at all now!

I didn't know it was a stim when he was 3-5y. He did finger twisting. He would also run around tables making some weird noises. He did flap alot but only while watching exciting xbox games. That didn't even start until about 5.5-6y. He has slowed down on that and is now "jumping" in place---only while playing xbox. I think 1 time this past school year, did he flap when we went to private speech----they changed the waiting room around and he must have gotten anxious about it.

But recently--I'm noticing less noticeable stims. His eyes are doing weird blinking stuff. But then I wonder if it's allergies.

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