My son is in to this nail bitting thing and due to it he has no nails left at all! When we are gone he has a folder with numbers and letters which he can trace that has to go every where with us for him to do. He also is completly into playstaion, but only one game and he doesn't even really play it. It's an off road 4 wheeler game and you can change the color and style of the 4 wheeler and the driver along with the name and number on the racing shirt. I figured the nail bitting thing and the tracing could be stims.
But here are my main questions:
1. What can be considered a stim?
2. Can more than one stim occur at a time?
The definition of a stim is:
STIM- Short for 'self-stimulation', a term for behaviours whose sole purpose appears to be to stimulate ones self. Manu people with Autism report that some 'self-stims' may serve a regulatory function for them (ie. calming, increasing concentration, or shutting out an overwhelming sound).
With this definition the playstaion could be a stim. Right? See when he plays playstaion he zones completly out of this world. I swear he's in the game him self. I was just wanting some input on this.
If you have any ideas or suggestions Please let me know. I don't know what to think and don't really understand stims at all. I think he's had some in the past, but they were all short lived. These three seem to keep going on and no end is in view.
Thank You
I dont have an anwer either but good question. I am always curious about stims. It seems my son does do "classic" stims but not all the time and not for long periods of time. Like hand flapping for only 30 seconds once a week, or rocking back and forth on his feet maybe 1 minute once a day. Stuff like that. It is a stim if its not all the time or a lot?My granddaughter, almost 9 HF autism, gets so involved in her movies, or the computer, nothing else matters. She does do the hand flapping when she gets excited. She just started chewing her nails this school year, in the 3rd grade, but with the behaviors that have started at school and at home this year, we think it is from stress - at school. Good questions.I was just catching up on reading posts, I don't have time to answer this one right now, but I think you asked some good questions, so I'm bumping it. I know others will have plenty of advice! it could be - junior butes his nails and fingers till they bleed and always has to have something in his hands even when he sleeps - I wish I could offer you more but I'm in a smiliar situation - good luck!
My son is a hand flapper when he gets excited or when he is really involved in something that moves, but now I wonder if this is his only stim because he just recently has started to chew his fingers and toes and lips until they bleed. I never knew that this might be a form of stimming.
The way it was explained to me is a stim is something the child does several/many times a day, over and over. Rocking back and forth for 1 min. once a day most likely would not be a stim, but if the child rocks for 90 min. of the day, maybe when he is stressed or super tired, would probably be considered a stim.
So something repetative that happens for a period of time one or more times a day is a stim. But don't quote me on this, I am new to the world of Autism so I am by no means an expert lol
I don't have any experience with oral stims, but stimming is a recent topic elsewhere in the forum. Here is what I posted there earlier today:
My 8 year old son was diagnosed with atypical autism a little over a year ago, and there has been a lot to learn. My latest project is to figure out the stimming thing. This article was helpful to me and includes a chart of various types of stims (visual, tactile, etc):
http://www.tsbvi.edu/Outreach/seehear/archive/mannerism.html #Chart
My son seems to have 3 types of stims. Auditory (including making high pitched noises), proprioceptive (snuggling, doing karate-type moves), and tactile (stroking my hair has replaced grabbing ears).
I haven't figure it all out yet, but he seems to stim to relax/release pent up energy when stressed or overexcited. This morning he was stimming and I asked him why. He said it was because his brother gets to stay home while he himself has to go to school -- that is, he seems to have been stimming to block out a thought he was struggling with.
It's a good idea but since gum is hard to digest, have you tried chewy candies? Like gummy bears? Those take a while to chew, expecially if they are the larger ones and it might help. Junior's teacher made him a necklace of foam figures that he can put in his mouth and chew - it has helped alot! when one gets too chewed, we can cut it off and he moves on to the next one and it doesn't come apart into pieces, it actually stays on!
I'll see if I can find out which foam it was that she used and I'll let you know
Krystal-
I thought I could get him to start chewing gum. He chews for a while, then forgets & swallows it. I guess I could keep trying. I suppose it may keep him orally stimulated if that's what he needs.
Thanks!
My son is 6 so I would like to teach him to chew the gum rather than the necklace. I could try a chewy candy but I hate to see the results of putting a lot of sugar in him! He still chews on his hands with gloves on...in fact he likes to get them really wet & then proceeds to suck on them. UGH!!!
Thanks a lot for the suggestions.
Christy,
I know what you mean about the wet gloves! Ben chews so much that the sleeves to his shirts and and coats are disgusting! It makes it very hard to get him ready to go somewhere, by the time we get out the door he needs a change of clothes. I will be sooo glad when this passes! Suggestions????
The only other thing I can think of is using something that tastes bad, like the methods to stop thumb sucking. But like I said earlier, I'm nervous that if I go with an aggressive method to stop the hands in his mouth am I setting myself up for another stim? Something else-worse?!My son started chewing on his hands since he's started Kindergarten-not fingernails, but actually has both hands in his mouth when he's excited or anxious or concentrating. I want to address it, but I'm afraid if I start trying to by reinforcement or another behavior method, it will come out in another way. Will he start to flap his hands or do something else more attention-getting? That's why I have left it alone so far, but I HATE it. His hands are always slobbery when he touches things or people. And I can't imagine the things that are going into his mouth.
Will it eventually go away? Should I continue to just ignore it?
Christy - the issue is that it will most likely manifest itself in another stim - but sometimes its in a stim that is unnoticeable to the naked eye - for example, when Junior stopped banging his head, he stimmed his head by rubbing it every so often (his hair is really really short and he loves the way it feels) not many people take notice of it but I know its their but it is less painful than banging his head (yet he still does the nail/ finger biting - sugar has worked on his fingers at school for this - he hates sweets)
Good luck!