Published on 12, July, 2020
Currently, my son is 9 years old. He stimms Quite a bit, in fact. I let him do it, of course. I wonder if the autistic person's stimming stops at some point or Continue all of his life?
I have never rocked or flapped my hands, but as a child I would spin on the spot or run in tight circles. I don't do those things any more, not since I was probably about 12 yrs or so. I do still fiddle with mechanical objects, things that open and close, pivot or silde, especially if they click - ballpont pens, corkscrews, Swiss army penknives etc. I also jiggle my legs and feet when sitting. I think the need to stim remains, but the nature of stimming can change, especially movement towards more 'socially acceptable' stims.
Repetitions can be echoed with all the senses, such as when around a thought, it can be classified as 'obsession'. Birds perform the same sound on repeat and this can be classified as 'expression'. Actors memorise and learn performance through repetition as do dancers with choreography, these are classified as 'rehearsing'.
Does he stim while listening to music? Is he interested in the exploration of sound? Music producers listen to the same thing on repeat while creating a track and this is classified as 'mixing', while instrumentalists play one part on repeat or play the same songs for a year or their whole lives, classified as 'discipline' and 'performance'.
Art and Science can facilitate Autistic expression. Research analysis is based on repetition to obtain knowledge. Both fields might be an industry of some interest. As a parent, you can help him explore several ways to use his natural process. All specialisation requires repetition and drive.
Hi, I'm very new here, and I was only diagnosed with ASD pretty recently right on my 23 birthday basically, so I'm not an expert or anything, but from my personal experience re-contextualizing my whole life pretty much I don't think it ever stops. But it does tend to decrease over time or fluctuate depending on the day or how stressed you are and such.
Also according to all these self help websites and such that I'm checking out nowadays its perfectly normal behavior for someone with autism and should not be attempted to be reduced just for societal standards, only reduced if its self harming or some such (like me with head hitting for example). In regards to that as well, certain things such as stim toys can help turn a potentially "bad" stim into a better one, like me with an oral fixation I would bite the heck out of my fingers, especially when I'm stressed (like to the point of bleeding and stuff) but I got a chewy necklace thingy after i got diagnosed and wanted to spare my fingers so I could type faster for my dissertation and it helped a lot. Sorry if this isn't all that helpful or anything this is my first time writing on a forum to anyone ever honestly, because my doctor told me I need to try talking to people more and to join this forum in the first place.
Now I don't know where you live or anything, but I assume anywhere in the UK is fine, and I also don't know if you can get banned for posting links like some other places but
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/911249518/silicone-gemstone-crystal-shaped-chew?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=stim+toy&ref=sr_gallery-1-1&bes=1&col=1
this is the kind of thing I liked for chewing on until I broke it if you were interested, there are also plenty of similar things on Amazon for example. Good luck with everything and have a good day / life.