Autism-World

Q: My son has never stimmed. He is 5 1/2 now and suddenly loves to run circles around people or just in a room when excited about something. I assume this is his way of stimming. Should I encourage him to stop doing this or allow him to do it? It doesn’t happen everyday or every time he is excited. Maybe twice a week.

Answer:

Unless it is a danger to himself or others or impedes him from learning I would leave it alone. Stims serve a purpose for everyone. Because the body constantly seeks homeostasis, humans will adopt behaviors to help achieve that. It could be twirling your hair on a finger, foot or pencil tapping, etc.

Wait and watch. If it becomes dangerous such as in crowd places, near a cliff or something he could fall from then have a Plan B.

Write down when and where he does this and what preceded it. Perhaps you can get a Dizzy Disc for him. I got one for Ryan and he loves it.

Often times, stims will come and go as needed. Ryan used to spin a lot and then it became jumping on his small indoor trampoline.

The danger in trying to stop a stim is that it most likely will get replaced and maybe by something way worse.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 13th, 2007 at 12:38 am and is filed under Ask and answer.