Autisitic vs Non-autistic Motor Stereotypies

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Halligeninseln
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29 Apr 2012, 4:18 pm

League_Girl wrote:
That is why we have specialists, they know what to separate and what causes what. I am not sure if things I do is actually autistic stimming or if it's just OCD or anxiety or ADD or actually normal.

I pace, drives people crazy. I rock back and forth and my body movements drives my husband crazy. But I can control it but when I am at home or by myself, I choose not to control it. Pacing has been hard for me to control because I be doing it again and not even realize it.

I know everyone paces but when I do it, it drives people crazy. Most people click pens or tab pencils but when autistics do it, it's a problem somehow.

As a child I would wring my wrists and it was noted as it being autism. I still do it apparently because my husband has pointed it out to me. That was the only thing my mother told me in 6th grade I did as a child but I have seen it in the home movies my dad took and it seemed normal so why the fuss about it? I did it in crowded and noisy places. Mom told me it was something I did to keep calm. I also recall I would be looking around as if I like to explore and see everything. But really how does wringing you wrists an impairment? It doesn't hurt you or effect anyone else. I can see how pacing and rocking be an impairment because it can be loud and distracts people. I also don't see how hand flapping is an impairment either and how does it effect people or themselves? They make it an impairment because it's nor normal just like wringing wrists isn't normal. Anything in the minority is a condition. But yet this was also called an OCD thing in autism by one of my therapists. She said it was a obsessive compulsive thing people on the autism spectrum do. I suspect my psychiatrist said the same thing.

I stim when bored or anxious or nervous or excited or stressed out and sometimes I do it for no reason. I know lot of people stim when they are nervous or anxious. That be doodling or tapping their fingers or pens or constantly checking their watches or phones. But yet I have noticed when autistic people do normal stims, It's still a problem so I wonder if it has to do with how it's being done. Just like an aspie can be obsessed with something that is a normal interest but yet people are still bothered by it from them because of how they do it. Just like how people didn't like my Titanic interest in middle school despite the fact that tons of teen girls were obsessed with it then and crazy over the movie. One of my aspie friends got flak in school for his obsession with Star Trek and sports despite the fact those were also popular and still is.

I tend to hide my stims when I am around people because I get too embarrassed so I have to hold it in. Yet another reason why I don't think I'd meet the ASD criteria because if I can control it, I won't meet that part then. If I just try hard enough, I can do it. But stress will make it harder.

But yet when you have an ASD diagnoses and you are stimming, doctors will just automatically assume it's due to your autism. That goes for with normal people too who know you and your diagnoses.

My ex who was aspie, the "stims" he did I suspect were actually normal. I mean lot of people do things with their phones or keys or anything when upset or bored or when waiting, etc and if what the autistic person is doing isn't an impairment with their stims because it doesn't cause a problem for others, they don't have that autistic trait. In fact my ex hated my body movements like when I jump up and down or when I rock or pace. Ironic isn't it? He even said people look at me funny. I dunno if he was making that up to make me feel bad but I didn't care what people thought.

I don't recall my aspie mate stimming either. He did pace but he also had ADHD and had a hard time sitting still. Not all autistic people have this characteristic. But yet he met everything in the criteria according to his mother. Maybe he just happened to not be doing them when I was around and I don't see many stimming going on at my autism groups. Things they do there seem normal to me.


Nobody stimmed at my AS self-help group either and the things they did seemed normal, too. A propos pacing I notice that most people stand reasonably still when they are waiting for a train or something. Usually I'm the only one pacing up and down to go into my own world. But generally I was trained in childhood not to do my really autistic-looking behaviours like waving a piece of thread in front of my eyes for the whole day and staring at it, so I just did it in my room.



XFilesGeek
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29 Apr 2012, 10:17 pm

Halligeninseln wrote:
XFilesGeek wrote:
Very few things annoy me more than when people say, "Everybody stims!" or claim that stimming is exactly the same thing as tapping your pencil on a desk or bouncing your leg.

"Stimming" is what happens when your repetitive movements exceed what is considered "normal" for your developmental level and the culture in which you live.

I have extensive repetitive movements, and they're not "voluntary." At times, they're downright annoying.

As for the difference between Stereotypic Movement Disorder and autism, one has autism and one does not. It's like how you can have Sensory Processing Disorder without having autism.


My repetitive movements exceed what is considered normal for my developmental level and the culture in which I live. I don't think it's normal as a teenager, adult or mature adult to just sit there for hours waving objects in front of your eyes to stimulate your visual sense and go into your own world, or to spend hours playing with water as an adult. I think most people would be freaked out by it, which is the reason I only talk about it here on WP. My movements are not like sneezing, so in that sense they are voluntary, but if I don't do them I get more and more stressed out until I do do them. When I have been around people for a while I need to withdraw to perform one of these "behaviours" in order to release the pressure on my brain, but it isn't literally involuntary because I can just stay in a stressed out, irritable state instead. You distinguish between Stereotypic Movement Disorder and autism. I genuinely do not know if what I have just described is just Stereotypic Movement Disorder. I thought it was.


That sounds about right.

I stim to relieve "pressure" too.

I think STMD is only diagnosed in the absence of ASDs, so if you've already been DXed with an ASD, you probably wouldn't be DXed with STMD.


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