Support Your Autistic Child by Understanding Their Stimming

By Your Health Magazine

Raising an autistic child can be daunting, especially when you have to understand their unique quirks and behaviors. One of these is stimming, which is a kind of repetitive behavior that helps them navigate the world. As a parent, you can support your autistic child by learning more about what stimming is and finding ways to help them manage the behavior.

Let’s take a closer look at stimming and how you can help your child navigate it.

Understanding Stimming

Stimming, short for self-stimulation, is a repetitive physical movement or vocalization that everyone does. You might bite your nails when you’re nervous, play with your hair while chatting, tap your fingers or pencils on a desk while thinking, and more. So, everyone has a stim, even though it is commonly associated with autism.

Some call it autistic stereopathy or stereotypy. Autistic stimming is a way for children and teenagers to regulate their senses, energy levels, and emotions. It might be used to soothe themselves, express excitement, or simply enjoy the sensory input.

Stimming can involve hand and finger movements, body movements, visual stimulation, posturing, vocal stimulation, chewing or mouthing objects, listening to the same song or noise over and over, and repetitive behavior.

Common Motivations for Stimming

Although some stimming behavior seems mild, some parents might be worried that their autistic child’s stimming will eventually lead to self-harm or self-injury, like scratching, slapping, or banging their head against the floor. When you try to stop the stimming forcefully, you might face resistance instead. It’s important to know why your child is stimming and figure out how to help them.

Overstimulation

Children might use stimming when dealing with a sensory overload. By focusing on one behavior, they can feel balanced instead of overwhelmed by the different sensory inputs.

Under-Stimulation

Autistic children might also use stimming to provide themselves with sensory input if their senses are underactive.

Anxiety Reduction

Children might engage in stimming to calm their senses if they are feeling anxious. By focusing on one activity at a time, they’re less likely to feel anxious.

Self-Management

Children might stim to express frustration or anger or to make themselves feel more comfortable and relaxed. If the behavior is managed over the years, autistic teenagers use stimming to regulate their emotions later in life.

Pain Relief

Autistic children may even use stimming to reduce the overall sensation of pain. Surprisingly, some children may even bang their heads to reduce pain in other areas of their body.

Excitement

When your autistic child is excited, they might engage in stimming. They may also stim to express enthusiasm.

Underlying Medical Condition

In some cases, nonverbal autistic children can use stimming to show their pain or distress. If they have pain in a certain body part, they might repeatedly hold or gesture to that part. Consider getting a medical exam to rule out any painful conditions.

How to Help Your Autistic Child with Stimming

Now, you might be wondering, how can you help your child manage stimming, especially if it has the potential to do them physical harm? Some types of stimming also have the potential to interfere with a child’s interactions with other children and their learning.

Schedule a Medical Exam

First, rule out the possibility of the stimming being caused by physical distress. For instance, children might bang their heads if they have a migraine or rub their ears for an ear infection. A medical exam with your child’s doctor or pediatrician might provide you with more accurate answers.

Add Exercise to Their Routine

Research has shown that exercise can release endorphins, which can reduce the chances of uncontrolled or unhealthy stimming in your autistic child. Ensure that your child takes part in exercise every day.

Assess the Sensory Environment

Check your home’s sensory environment to see how it’s affecting your child. Overstimulation may require moving your child to a quiet room or removing some of their toys. If they are under-stimulated, increase the playtime hour and introduce new toys and textures.

Engage With Your Child

When your child is dealing with a stimming episode, don’t drop everything to try to reassure them. If anything, you can continue engaging with them, doing the activity that they like. The child might try to stim and play at the same time, but if the activity is one of their favorites, they may eventually drop the stimming and do the preferred activity instead.

Join the Stim

If your child’s stimming does not lead to self-injury, you can join the stim. Sometimes, stimming involves stacking objects or listening to a song, rocking back and forth, spinning an object, flicking switches, and more. Joining your child’s stimming activity could become a good way to communicate.

Provide Your Child With Full Support

Stimming is not always a problem and can help autistic individuals navigate the world. By understanding their motivations for stimming, like over- and under-stimulation, excitement, pain relief, and more, you can go a long way in helping them manage their stimming behavior and practice healthy coping mechanisms.