Stimming is repetitive or unusual movements or noises.
Stimming seems to help some children to manage emotions and cope with overwhelming situations.
The four main reasons why an autistic person stims:
Self-expression: stimming is the natural body language of autistic people — the same way you might smile or frown to instinctively express your inner mood/feelings. In fact, stimming is something almost every animal (i.e. moving living creature, fundamentally in control of and aware of their body) does to a lesser degree (e.g. allistic people: tapping your fingers, swinging your leg, bouncing up and down in great excitement/happiness, rocking to self-soothe in great torment/despair, dancing to express your individual mood and ‘loosen up’; dogs: chasing their tail, barking endlessly, for apparently the smallest of reasons; cats: cuddling, even with stationary obje
Self-regulation: stimming means your brain switches activities from whatever stress is currently burdening it (e.g. too much external input, lack of sensory input, worries, internal pain, processing strong emotions) to focusing on your body and immediate surroundings. This, in turn, allows the brain to take a short rest and recover. Add enough of these short rests, and you can cut the burden down on your brain daily by half, if not more! Getting in touch with your body, stimming may also help you sense if there is something physically troubling happening in your body and your current physical state, and to take care of your body.
Being in the flow/zone: stimming allows an autistic person to focus harder and dive deeper into a subject they are studying, and to experience what people often refer to as ‘being in the zone’, or ‘feeling the flow’ — where our intuitive self takes automatic control, the object of study becomes our only focus, and our observation/learning is greatly enhanced. Autistic people often have great difficulties focusing on neurotypical subjects (just as neurotypical people have great difficulties focusing on autistic subjects). At such times, open stimming and connecting what you’re learning about with your ‘special interests’ (a double-boost in dopamine) can both enhance endurance (refreshing the brain in small bursts) and aid in learning (by putting the person in the best possible mindset for learning/doing, in the ‘zone’). Take care not to spend too long in the ‘zone’, however — your body needs proper nutrition and hydration, and plenty of sleep/rest, as well as physical exercise in the fresh air, to properly recover and to healthily keep going.
Opening up, connecting with surroundings: open (and unjudged) stimming provides a great sense of safety/grounding and puts the person in a great mood that allows them to connect with the world around them openly and in depth. You will notice that many healthy autistic people stim simply when sunshine hits and they are happy, when they are feeling in an adventurous mood and they have a desire to see the world.
