Everyone engages in stimming behaviors. Normally, these behaviors are not a cause for concern and sometimes they can even be helpful. However, autistic stimming behaviors are more noticeable and can result in injuries in chidren.
In this guide, we provide the answer to a common question we get asked: “What is stimming?” We will also discuss how to reduce stimming in your child.
What Is Stimming?
Stimming is also referred to as self-stimulatory behaviors (SSBs). It’s behavior that we all engage in, without giving it much thought. For instance, stimming can include the following:
- Tapping your fingers on the table while waiting for something
- Jiggling your feet when getting impatient
- Biting your nails when you’re engrossed in thought
- Cracking your knuckles
Stims are often repetitive behaviors or motions that we like to do because they help to distract or keep us calm and relaxed. In a way, it’s self-soothing with our bodies.
What is Stimming In Autistic Children?
Stims are generally socially acceptable as long as they are not too excessive or strange. However, people with autism tend to exhibit unusual and extreme stims, such as jumping up and down or making the same sound repeatedly.
This is not bad in and of itself, but sometimes autistic stimming can be harmful. It’s because of this that parents of autistic children may wonder how to stop stimming. They often get worried when they notice child stimming behaviors like banging hands, head, or legs against objects, hair pulling, or nail biting until there’s bleeding.
Why Does Stimming Happen?
It’s important to emphasize that there’s nothing wrong with stimming. So although some parents may ask about how to stop stimming, what they really want to know is how to reduce stimming behaviors that can harm or which are disruptive to the child’s development.
The truth is it’s not about how to stop stimming because it’s ingrained behavior that serves a purpose. In autistic children, stimming can be beneficial for the following reasons:
- Calms and relaxes. When a person experiences sensory overload, the feeling can be overwhelming and stimming allows them to feel calm and relaxed. It can be very difficult for an autistic child to process excess sensory input and stimming helps them cope.
- Distracts from pain. Some stimming behaviors can help distract from pain. The person will be so engaged in the activity that they no longer notice the pain.
- Helps to manage bursts of emotion. Some emotions like joy, excessive excitement, and extreme anger can intensify stimming. This helps the person to cope with overwhelming bursts of emotion.
- Get attention. When someone with autism struggles to express themselves, they may resort to stimming to get the attention the need or to get their feeling across.
Five Management Techniques for Stimming
While child stimming can be beneficial, some behaviors have a negative impact on your child’s health, learning, and social relationships. The behaviors may also be disruptive to others. Fortunately, it’s possible to reduce stimming behaviors. Here are five management techniques that can help.
Understand What Triggers Stimming
The first step to discovering how to reduce stimming is to understand what triggers the behavior in the first place. Common reasons why child stimming happens includes: loud noises, bright lights, strong emotions, and disruptive changes in routine.
Be observant each time your child starts to stim so you can figure out the emotion behind each trigger. Once you spot the triggers that lead to harmful stimming, eliminating them can help relieve your child’s stress.
Always ensure that your child has a calming environment and don’t try to punish them for acting a certain way. Instead, be gentle, provide encouragement, and offer rewards.
Find a Replacement Stim
Asking your child to stop stimming is asking them to do the impossible. Autistic stimming can be incredibly therapeutic to your child and if you try to forcefully stop a harmful stimming behavior, it will be replaced by another similar stim.
Therefore, it’s best to encourage your child to engage in safe stimming by finding a replacement stim. For instance, if your child likes to flap their hands in a disruptive manner, you could give them a fidget spinner to play with instead.
Or if they like to spin around in circles until they get dizzy, you could buy them a swivel chair that they can safely spin on.
Try Speech and ABA Therapy
Some stimming behavior is simply your child trying to communicate with you. In that case, speech therapy can help as it teaches your child to express themselves with words instead of stims. When your child is able to explain how they feel, they will no longer feel the need to act a certain way to get your attention.
Similarly, ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) therapy helps to root out stimming triggers and encourage safe stimming. With regular speech and ABA therapy sessions, you can eventually reduce harmful stims and teach your child better management techniques.
Encourage Your Child to Engage in Physical Activity
Children love to engage in exercise, especially when it’s something they enjoy. Why is physical activity important for kids? Keeping the exercise fun helps to distract your child from sensory overload and it also provides them with a coping technique that keeps them focused.
Exercise can also be beneficial at reducing the effect of stressful sessions, so be sure to plan some exercise sessions with your child on a daily basis. Instead of a single, long exercise session, you can split the activities into different sessions throughout the day. Helpful activities include jumping up and down or playing games.
Talk to a Medical Professional
If you’re worried about your child’s stimming behaviors, we recommend talking to a medical professional to find out the reasons behind these behaviors. In some instances, stimming is not always related to sensory processing. The issue could be health-related, such as when a child bangs their head because they suffer from excruciating migraines.
If a parent automatically assumes that the child is stimming because they are autistic, it means the child will not get the diagnosis they need to get treated properly. Seeking medical advice helps you confirm the root cause behind the stims and how best to address them.
Get Help With Stimming from Worldwide Pediatrics
At Worldwide Pediatrics, we not only provide general pediatric care, but you can also come to us for developmental screenings and appropriate delay treatments regardless of your child’s age.
We understand that your child is unique and if you’re worried about your child’s harmful stimming behaviors, we can help you make the necessary adjustments to support your child.
Our practice has extensive experience with helping many parents raise happy and healthy children. Contact us to request an appointment, today.
