Stimming manifestation list: which form does yours take? Please add to list

-Hair twirling and smoothing. Observation of the texture visually and through touch

-Trichotillomania and skin picking (? unsure if this is stimming or not)

-Foot and knee bobbing

-Tapping with fingers or objects

-Repeating useless phrases, sounds or parts of songs

  • I’ve had years of people telling me not to do things and to keep still so I try to keep all “unnecessary “ movement to an absolute minimum now. However I do have a very unruly right foot which really doesn’t want to be tamed. If I’m sitting with my feet on the floor it gets carried away with its own little dance routine, if my legs are crossed it likes to bob up and down. If I’m sitting with my feet tucked up or in bed my right foot is constantly rubbing against the surface of the seat or bed.

    Growing up it was nail biting. Then it was constantly pushing my cuticles back. Searching through my long hair for split ends and splitting them even further. Filing my nails (I detect a theme). Throwing my hands up when I get frustrated. Growling when I get angry or frustrated. Repeating and mimicking tv ads. Making pop pop sounds with my lips when thinking. Constantly talking to myself. Spinning my ring. Rolling a pen.

    I just always figured that was average behaviour but it seems not. I know other people have commented how off putting it can be so I guess it is. Funnily enough I find it off putting in others although I am completely fine with people who talk to themselves.

  • The three i've noticed so far are rubbing my hands together, flapping my hands by my side and saying my dogs name (Peter) out loud......all of these i only do in private 

  • Tangling my hair with my index finger, chewing my hair, rocking left and right, tapping my teeth with my nails and keeping eyes closed tight when feel stressed or very happy. 

  • Making and repeating sounds or phrases, using chewelry and listening to the same song on repeat. I also speak about myself in third person when I am happy, this is very much a stim!

  • I sway side to side on my office chair. Sometimes spin.

    Use thumb and forefinger to make a circle on each hand and link them together. Then pull the link until they part. Then repeat. This is when I'm nervous or stressed.

    Tapping thumb and forefinger together repeatedly. Like playing castanets. This I do when trying to think through something. 

    Rock forwards and backwards in a sitting position when I'm excited or in anticipation. Raising off the floor slightly.

    Silent clap when excited.

    Rock side to side for comfort. 

    Bounce on my toes.

    Have a few different noises, some for comfort and some if I'm happy. The happy ones can get a little loud.

    Naming something out loud if it surprises me, then repeating it 2 or 3 times.

  • As a child (and still now sometimes in times of stress)- this weird rocking on a chair. 

    Ripping up bits of paper or twirling and tearing tissues. 

    Doodling on pieces of paper, usually spirals and patterns 

    A somewhat disgusting one...: picking at spots/ squishing them (sorry ...) 

    Chewing gum 

    Sometimes I wonder if the repetitive motion of some exercise (like cycling) has a stimming element to it

    As a teenager I used to do this ringing "brrrrrrrrr" noise when I was nervous but in an excited way- My mum did it too, it was very good for stress relief. 

    Another weird one that I have done before: running my finger through peanut butter or nut butter or nutella and then licking it... there is something mesmerising about the texture of it and the feeling and then taste. Luckily I didn't share my jars with anyone else.... I tried to stop that one though as it has been problematic. 

    I probably do lots more but it's not so easy to notice. When it was first suggested I might be autistic I was thinking, well... I don't really stim... but actually I do quite a lot. 

  • I also have my own playlist - different ones for different moods kept for the end of every day. It helps to soothe and centre. 

    Internally I keep my mind busy... thought experiments, drawing ideas and theories together to keep my inner self grounded. Observations on things around me and their meaning/significance .

    Like Trogluddite, I tried beard and moustache twisting but gave that up on account of being a woman and therefore no beard... :( 

    .... or moustache 

  • I used to twirl my hair, and spin round in circles when younger, but have stopped those in favour of less obvious stims. Most often I tap my fingers on something, on my leg if in public because it makes hardly any noise. I also scratch my index finger with my thumb nail. I sometimes rock backwards and forwards, but usually only if there's no one else around. It doesn't always signify distress, more often concentration on a topic I'm finding a bit challenging. (I'm doing it now while typing this and trying to find the right words.)

    I also listen to the same piece of music over and over for days or weeks before suddenly tiring of it for no obvious reason and finding a new one, then doing the same with it. For me, it has the double comfort of familiarity, plus obscuring other, more distracting sounds.

  • I think its often noticed because you are doing something more than or more obviously than neuro-typical people do it. For example when i am excited I jump up and down and flap my hands, I just look like a child to my work colleagues and they think it is strange, also I nearly always foot tap and I always skip pavement tiles when having fun at work, my whole office just knows I am a bit odd. But yer its the things that stick out I think... everyone when they get anxious or excited has to do something to deal with the energy, but for some people smiling or playing with their hair a bit is enough, mine are almost constant to keep me regulated and when I get excited or anxious it gets more extreme.

  • I have quite a few, I guess different situations allow for different stims

    My most common are:
    - Foot tapping
    - Dancing randomly (work just has to get used to that lol)
    - Singing songs that always seem to be in my head (lion king, lord of the rings etc.)
    - Listening to one song on repeat for days/weeks
    - Playing with my fingers/stretching them, contorting them, wiggling them
    - Bouncing along paving stones or stone patterned things, going diagonal, or skipping 1 set each step things like that.
    - Scratch my skin when I get really stressed (found this strange scrunchy thing that feels awesome to play with)
    - Flapping my hands

  • I agree, I think the difference in labelling has two main factors.  One, that some of these behaviours, though not all, are deemed socially unacceptable or unusual in many situations. Secondly, a matter of degree - in the same way that our senses might be hyper-sensitive, our need to stim more noticeably may be largely because we feel more anxiety than the average person and have greater need to calm our senses, as it seems that neuro-typical people also engage in them more when they are anxious or overwhelmed.

  • If sitting, I tend to gently rock forward and back. If standing, I tend to shift my weight back and forth from one foot to the other. I find the rocking sensation soothing. I sucked my thumb until I was in school, then I started biting my nails and I have only relatively recently managed to stop doing that, though I often relapse and get back into the habit. Sometimes I suck the edge of my tongue and I eat crunchy foods just for the crunchiness and not for the taste.

    I don't know if listening to the same music over and over again is an ASD thing since I have known plenty of neurotypicals who listen to the same stupid songs over and over, and the radio tends to frequently play popular songs as well, so people must generally like that. I get really irritated when I have a song I don't particularly like or sequence of sounds running through my head repeatedly because I have heard them too often, but I do like to listen to good music (e.g. Beethoven's symphonies) many times in a row, and I can recall the music very accurately inside my head.

    I watch certain movies and TV shows repeatedly just because I really love the sound of the voice of one of the actors or the music. I don't know if reading the same books over and over is stimming either but I have read the Harry Potter series around 20 times, in three different languages (because I practically have the English words memorised, it really helps with learning other languages).

    I run my fingers along the edges of things. I like to feel soft fabric between my fingers, and I also run my fingers along the seams of my clothing. I often play with my hair, and sometimes I scratch my skin even if it doesn't itch, especially if there's a bump on my skin, in which case I often pick at it until it bleeds (now that I have fingernails).

    When I'm at home, I clap my feet (like clapping hands but with the feet). When I'm not doing that, I often tap my foot or bob my leg. When listening to music, I often conduct with my feet but only in private.

    Because I was diagnosed recently, I always thought I had an oral and manual fixation, which I satisfied by biting my nails, but I guess I was actually stimming. I do a lot of that stuff when I'm bored, and I often don't notice I'm doing it until someone looks at me funny. I don't even really know what hand-flapping is, but I don't think I do that.

    There are a lot of neurotypicals who do a lot of similar things. People often twirl their pen, play with their hair, tap their hands or feet, etc. Is it not called stimming when they do it, just like something we enjoy doing is a "special interest" whereas for others it's called a "hobby"? Personally, I don't really see the difference.

  • Mention of school reminds me of a couple of things that I occasionally did in the classroom when bored: firstly, rubbing my index finger up and down on a desk to produce warmth, and doing this so much I got a nice blister; and secondly rolling a ballpoint pen under my shoe back and forth along a hard floor - because the pen is hexagonal in cross-section, it produces a particular vibration.

    Now, these things were done for the sensation, but I got bored with them quickly and didn't repeat them more than once or twice. So I don't know if they'd really count. In fact, other than a few vocal mannerisms that I'm unaware of most of the time, nothing stim-like has been anything like lifelong. I'm thinking of myself as mostly typical in the sensory dimension (as per my RDOS graph).

  • Wow, I've done this for most of my life. Particular albums by particular artists that I would listen to over and over and over. So this is an ASD thing then? 

  • If I am particularly stressed, then I will tend to listen to particular songs/albums over and over again.  There are also certain albums I go back to on a regular basis to listen on repeat.

    I wonder if any studies have been done to look into the types of music that people enjoy listening to repeatedly?

  • Sometimes I will run my hands through the teeth of a comb.

    I have many a fond memory of doing this daily as a child - it drove my parents nuts!

  • That's a very good point, I hadn't considered those kind of sensory experiences when I answered earlier, but I think you are quite right, they are also a form of sensory seeking stimming.

    People have often though it strange that I have several books which I read over and over again, something which I have done since childhood.  Similarly there are passages of music which give me great contentment to hear repeated for extensive periods.

  • Stimming is a deeply personal thing. There are no limits to what a stim is. Some people could watch/listen samething again and again.

    As a child I use to watch Transformers Movie again and again https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092106/?ref_=nv_sr_1. I like story to it but it more music within it.

  • Ah-hah, I see other people toe scrunch. That was probably the first thing I wondered might be a stim because I knew I did it a lot and could identify it as something I've definitely done since I was a kid (because I have a distinct memory of being self conscious about it on an occasion at school). Also do foot and knee bobbing, rub my thumb and index finger together or my thumbnail repeatedly across the back of all my fingers, bounce on the balls of my feet, swivel my feet back and forth. Sometimes catch myself walking in small circles or tilting my head from side to side, but I do try not to do those especially not in public. Also repeat phrases and sounds but that's the one thing I usually only do when I'm by myself when I'm relaxed (rather than as a response to anxiety).