On stimming. What is a stim you might ask? A stim aka a stimulatory behaviour is one of the signs that doctors will look for in diagnosing for Autism and Aspergers Syndrome. You may have heard me mention them before, but today, Im going to tell you in detail how important they are. Stims are repetitive behaviours that we Autistics perform for personal comfort. They are involuntary and entirely necessary to personal functioning. When I was little the two most offensive words in my existence were stop fidgeting. I couldnt then, and I cant now. So, I became discreet so people would leave me alone. I didnt even know that this was what I had done, but I put great effort into finding a way to stim that nobody would be bothered by, that I became very discreet in my stimming. (Although, if you know what to look for, you can spot my stims, easily.) Some stims can be dangerous; banging ones head repeatedly into a wall or a desk. I did this in school. Often such stims instigate the hockey helmet aspect of autism. I used my fists to bang my head, but discovered that it alarmed others so much that I had to find other ways to release the pent up frustrations and annoyance that caused me to stim. Instead, I rub the spot between my two eyes. You know, the one that guru and yogi types call the third eye. I dont know why its so comforting, but if you ever see me rub that spot, know that I am REALLY stressed. Stop fidgeting. I bounce my foot. no really. I actually bounce it. When sitting or standing, my foot is on the ball and I just bounce. When I was little and couldnt reach the floor, Id swing my legs. Stop fidgeting. I tap my fingers. If you ever stop in my office/shop have a look at my keyboard. When I am not actually typing anything, I tap and rub the keys. So much so, that everyone hates having to use my computer because all the letters have worn off the home keys. Stop fidgeting. When I dont have a keyboard, I have a ring that I will spin with my fingers. I use my thumb to press against the ring and flick my finger, over and over. I dont even realize that Im doing it. Until I lost the ring. Horrors. I was walking through the One of a Kind show last week, on the way back to my booth and then I noticed. My stim ring was GONE! I was devastated. It was all I could think about all day. Luckily I had my stim bracelet on (its a set of silver five rings bound together by a set of 31 smaller rings.) So, I could take that into my hands and fiddle with it during the show. Unfortunately, it is a noisy stim, so, whereas it works really well in a noisy room like a show, it is not good for quiet rooms, meetings, etc. because the rings all rattle as I spin them. The good news is that I found the ring back in my room at the end of the second day. Stop fidgeting. I have buccal stims too. I chew gum, I eat sunflower seeds. Not because I care about the gum or the seeds but because if I havent got one or the other going on, I grind my teeth. I learned this week that there is a specific name for this sort of stim; Bruxism. When I was little, I would chew on my hair. The last time I chewed my hair was after I had been given large doses of castor oil (YUCK) to force my body to eliminate the hair ball that had accumulated in my stomach. (Im feeling nauseous just remembering it.) Interestingly, as a result of this stim, I have the most interesting occurrence in one of my molars. It has a large horizontal crack right across two of the roots of one of my rear molars. Both my dentist (who I saw yesterday) and I are fascinated by it. We have no idea how I got it, but there it is. Fortunately, its below the gum line, so it causes me no problems as long as I take really good care of my gums. Stop fidgeting. I hate those words with a passion. I ask that if you are the parent of a small child with autism, that rather than use THOSE words, you call attention to the stim as it is happening and help the child find a discreet way of stimming. And when they cant do that, have the patience to realize that the inability to stop fidgeting can create a meltdown situation. I hope you are enjoying this series on Autism through my eyes, this month. Leave a comment if youre inspired, and feel welcome to share. The more people who can understand what their autistic child is dealing with, the less parents will feel the need or desire to eradicate autism. We have some really stunning assets that often get hidden behind things like stims. #AutismAwareness
Posted on: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 15:11:00 +0000
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