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Post by carolyn on Aug 15, 2005 9:26:38 GMT -5
All this talking about dual DX has me wondering how many of our kids self stim in some way. John will growl and chew on his thumb, sometimes I think he would do it for hours if we let him, but if he gets redirected he is fine. It's like he is bored but doesn't know what else to do. He also seems to do it when nervous- I don't think John is autistic, but does exhibit some unusual behaviors that are just quirky . Is this normal? He is 6.
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Post by momofrussell on Aug 15, 2005 10:11:27 GMT -5
Yes, I think it's "normal" ... what ever that is LOL. Lots of kids that have DS self stim but aren't Autistic.  And they do it at different times and for different reasons. Boredom is one of them. Also, when they self stim they are getting "high" or zoning out.. which some LOVE that feeling so they do it alot. I would say Russell does it because he loves to and when he is bored. That is why at school he needs a good structured environment and a teacher/aides that can identify and redirect when needed. A. |
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Post by Jessie on Aug 15, 2005 10:55:49 GMT -5
Jason would self-stim all day if we let him and he is not autistic. His way of self-stimming is to "flip" objects. He will get t-shirts or socks out of his drawer and will fling or flip them - usually when he is bored. Hard to describe in words exactly what he is doing. He loves toys that are long and "flingable", think rubber snakes, dinosaurs with long tails, floppy stuffed animals. It used to be towels . . . until he started living with me. A few times of not having a hand towel in the bathroom and step-momma had to lay down the law!!! LOL He would love it if we gave him a towel.
We do redirect him if we see him doing this. It does make him angry and aggressive to flip for too long. I suppose maybe that's just his natural reaction to the "high" that A. was describing.
Funny, at school they have talked to us on several occasions about his aggressiveness, etc., and one day I was in there and I noticed he was flipping something - they had made a special little handkerchief for him to flip!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr We didn't know they were letting him do this during his "downtime where he gets to choose his activity". I told his teacher about the connection with the aggressiveness, which she did NOT agree with - she thinks it's ok for kids to self-stim during certain times and with certain objects. We finally had to just say "NO!" you will not allow him to do that at school and I threw away the handkerchief.
He's so funny because when we go into his bedroom when we hear him flipping something, he immediately hides the object behind his back. If I just stand there and look at him, he will stand up, object securely behind his back, walk to his dresser and put either the sock or the t-shirt back in the drawer - never losing eye contact with me the entire time - he knows EXACTLY what is going on. Little sh*t!!!
On one hand I hate to take something from him that he obviously has a basic instinct to do, but it really does make him aggressive, so we have to control it.
Jessie
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Post by AnnieC on Aug 15, 2005 12:05:50 GMT -5
Raven self stims as well.....she loves to chew on her fingers & flip/chew on books  I don't think it is the self stimming that makes a child autistic....it is a combination of behaviors including self stimming, but also communication, lack of eye contact, etc. My typical child loves to line toys up, which is an autistic characteristic, but she is not autistic |
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Post by hannahph on Aug 15, 2005 12:29:33 GMT -5
Wow this is interesting, Hannah does this thing with her tounge and makes a kind of hissing noise, ALL the time. The noise drives us nuts! If you tell her to close her mouth it will stop for like two seconds and then she starts in again. She also does it when she is bored, tired etc. Especially in the car...we are going on vacation on thursday, five hour car ride and I should be ready to jump off a bridge. We just got a portable dvd player so hopefully this will help me keep my sanity. I never thought about this being a self stim thing but it makes sense. Hannah does not seem to have any other autistic tendancies but does have some quirks as far as things have to be a certain way but that's a whole new subject.
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Post by Cathy on Aug 15, 2005 14:29:01 GMT -5
ok... not sure if this self stimming or what .. Katie does not have dual DX, but she certainly loves to have her palms tickled. Especially when she is just waking up... or too tired. She will even grab my fingers and rub her palms... It is almost like it sedates her.
Another thing she does is licks her thumb and then paints with it. She will rub your hand, legs, the table, her toys... in her words "EEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW GWOOOOOOSSSSSSSS" One other thing is the dangling/banging. Anything that has a string or lace attached is dangled and any two objects that are new to her, get banged together? Not sure if these fall under self stim--- but they are definitely weird behavior.
Katie usually does these things when she is tired or... over stimulated.
Not sure if this is helping, it's just my observations...okay now tell me.. that these behaviors will go away!!!
Cathy
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Post by Valerie on Aug 15, 2005 15:22:07 GMT -5
I can't really think of any that he has at the moment, but he USED to be fascinated with string like objects. Shoestrings, electrical cords (it was AWFUL keeping him away from those!), toy snake. He's not that into it, now, but he does have a stuffed animal, a spider ;D, and sometimes when he's watching his videos he will hold it and play with the legs. So I guess it's still there, a little.
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Post by Deborah on Aug 15, 2005 16:33:41 GMT -5
Jennifer chews on her index fingers with her back teeth and makes a humming sound. Usually this happens when she is very tired or bored. We just redirect her attention elsewhere, unless she is tired..then it doesn't work as well.
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Post by ashleysmom on Aug 15, 2005 21:45:29 GMT -5
Ashley 2 1/2 has always chews on her hands and moans(nananayaya) at the same time when she is bored, punished or in her crib during sleep time and also when we don't get her out right away. We could never understand it. Self-stim?  |
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Post by CC on Aug 15, 2005 23:29:07 GMT -5
Thought this might be a good place to post this...
Self-stim behavior is essentially a behavior that is engaged in because it provides sensory feedback that is pleasurable. Everyone "stims" from time to time, and so the fact that a person with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) engages in self-stim behavior is not itself a problem. The "fidgeting" that people do while waiting in a doctor's office is a good example. Stims become a concern either because of the type of behavior involved, the intensity of the behavior, or because they interfere with other aspects of the person's life such as learning. Also, stims are often a signal that the individual is lacking other skills that should be taught.
Whether or not an individual with an ASD will stop a specific self-stim or reduce their self-stim behavior overall depends mostly on whether the underlying cause of the self-stim behavior is addressed. People (those with and without an ASD) engage in self-stim behavior for a number fo reasons. Self-stim behavior is commonly engaged in as a means for coping with stressful, frightening, or unpleasant situations, such as having a demand placed on them. In this case the way to reduce the self-stim behavior is to teach the individual the skills necessary for handling such situations more successfully, such as improving the individual's ability to use language. The other common reason that people engage in self-stim is simply because they lack more appropriate skills in the given context- basically, they don't know what else to do. For example, a child with an ASD might line up toys as a self-stim because they lack the play skills to play with the toys more appropriately. In these cases, the stim is a signal that the individual needs to be taught skills to use in these settings.
It is important to remember that stims are (usually) coping strategies that a person uses to address an underlying need. If the self-stim behavior is taken away or not allowed without addressing the underlying need, then the individual will develop other self-stim behaviors to meet that need. If you want a stim to go away, the most effective means is to teach the individual a different way to meet that underlying need that is more functional, less disruptive, or otherwise more desirable.
Something else to be aware of when addressing self-stim behavior is that engaging in these behaviors causes chemical changes in the brain, that can be addictive (the same way that drugs are addictive). This means that the longer an individual is allowed to engage in a self-stim, the harder it can be to re-direct their attention to something else. Likewise, the lomger a person is allowed to use a self-stim to cope rather being taught a more functional alternative behavior, the more entrenched the self-stim behavior tends to become and thus teaching an alternative behavior becomes more dificult.
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Post by Chris on Aug 16, 2005 6:31:56 GMT -5
Sarah loves to dangle things ~ socks, shoes, links, small dolls (by their hair). She was able to pull her socks off when she was very young. I think she was motivated because she wanted to dangle them so badly.
The behavior that bothers me the most happens when she is excited. She will sit in the floor with her arms and legs held straight out from her body and twist her head from side to side. I think it makes her dizzy. Last spring she also added nodding her head forward with great force.
Her newest self-stim is twirling around. First, she is very proud of her new acheivement and sceond, she loves that dizzy feeling.
I almost forgot this one, although I don't know if you consider it self-stim. She loves to walk or crawl around the house with a blanket or towel over her head so that she can't see where she is going. Ugh! She cries when she runs into walls and furniture but doesn't understand that it is because she can't see with a stupid blanket over her head.
She also chews on her thumb.
At the end of the school year, her teacher told me that she rarely played with toys or the other kids during free time because she sat in the middle of the room and did that twisting of the head thing. Most of the children in the room had autism and I am sure they wouldn't have been allowed to self-stim so much of the time. We decided not to place her back into that classroom for this year.
Chris
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Post by Kristen on Aug 16, 2005 11:27:38 GMT -5
Carter is definately not autistic, but when he is bored he will sit and moan and groan into infinity if you let him (and even when you try to stop him). I think if he could talk he would be saying Mooooooom I'm boooooooored buthe can't yet so he just moans and occasionally trhows himself around on the couch like oh life is sooo hard. Never does it on outings, when he is entertained, when he is into what he is doing, outside, at someone's house or in school or therapy, so it must be boredom. Or me.
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And they do it at different times and for different reasons. Boredom is one of them. Also, when they self stim they are getting "high" or zoning out.. which some LOVE that feeling so they do it alot. I would say Russell does it because he loves to and when he is bored. That is why at school he needs a good structured environment and a teacher/aides that can identify and redirect when needed.
