Is stimming a "normal" aspie practice?

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Yes. I sway in the lab. My excuse: The radio is on! At home I rock back and forth sometimes and I am only sometimes aware.....don't tell.

I do this, too. I try not to do it when other people are around, but if I am just too caught up in the process I can't help myself. (People DO think you're pyscho.)

I have a "weird" routine when I write, apparently, but it tends to get me stellar results so I don't really care what people think.

So I was writing a paper for my econ class (on property rights and the importance of a legal system that supports them) in the library. My laptop was set up, my iPod was plugged in to my nice stereo headphones, which were firmly planted on my ears, and I was rocking out to Handel's Water Music. And when I say "rocking out," I mean it; I was pacing back and forth, muttering to myself about Poletown while conducting an invisible orchestra. Usually, I write in my room to avoid embarassing myself, but it wasn't possible that day. [sarcasm]Amazingly enough, though, I had that corner of the library all to myself until I decided to go home.[/sarcasm] People would come in, take a look at me, and then find a table far away. I found out later from a friend who happened to be in the library that day that she had to tell people (a) I was a genius, (b) I was Autistic, and (c) I wasn't crazy, I was just different. She said it was the word "autism" that got them to stop being a**holes. (Apparently, there were small groups of people just staring.) It could have been a disaster.

Moral of the Story: If you've got to "be weird" in public, you've got to not care what others think, and it always helps to have a friend to cover your back.

(I got a decent grade on the paper. It wasn't my best work since 13 pages isn't enough to cover what I consider to be the decline and fall of Western Civilization, but oh well. That shall be my magnum opus.)

Note: When I say "genius," I mean she said it to explain my quirky behavior, and that when coupled with "autism" got people to back off. I mean, I technically am a genius, but IQ tests just kind of measure one's ability to take IQ tests IMHO.)

I'm definitely Aspie, but I don't stim. I meet the criteria for Aspergers in other ways, including not being able to get a job through the interview process alone.

How about chucking another one into the mix, or at least pointing to a first cousin of this behaviour? It seems that some people are wired to fidget more, as an instinctive calorie burning device:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/19 ... 080449.htm

"Fidgeting, Moving Around Key To Why Some Don't Gain Weight"

"They labeled this factor NEAT (for non-exercise activity thermogenesis).
"When people overeat, NEAT switches on in some people to 'waste' this excess energy,"

This may be a different example of repetitive otherwise non-purposeful movement that does produce an internal benefit via change of chemistry.

I stim, although I only do it when I'm alone. I usually flip the finger and say '**** you!' to no one, and I like to do random dances and make strange expressions and gestures.

At home I tend to wrap my arms around my stomach and rock gently, but at school, where I guess I get anxious and agitated I often have extensive monologues with myself and I almost always suck and bite the top of my pen. And I find sort of conducting along with music relaxing. I can tell you now, it looks RIDICULOUS

I've been used to pacing longer than I can remember myself. It excites me, makes me more energetic and helps get my thoughts going. I'm used to doing it when I'm imagining something, and when I'm thinking about my writing - then I'll usually launch an intentional inner monologue (my thinking is normally wordless), which may grow into whispered words or even talking loudly to myself. Sometimes I'll start making weird postures and movements, or gesturing as if I were actually talking to somebody. I'm usually only partly aware of it - there are moments when I realize I'm talking to myself or posturing, and that if someone saw it they'd think I'm crazy or something, but then I carry on and forget all about it.

The pacing is almost involuntary. When I need to think something over, I automatically jump up and walk across the room, or start doing random things just to keep myself in motion.

Then there are those small things I usually don't notice, like wiggling toes or rubbing them together, wringing or rubbing fingers, rubbing my hand against the fabric of my pants, rocking on my toes etc. But I've never considered these nor my need for motion as "stims".

I'm also fond of colorful and shiny things, and collect clocks that have colored flowing liquid instead of sand, and figurines made of colored glass. I seem to have some kind of need to look at such things once in a while, and it makes me very happy, somehow. But again, when I learned that this can also be considered stimming, I was veru surprised. I thought it was natural, and connected it to my frequent hypomanic moods more than anything else.

I tend to stim when I am nervous or bored. Usually rocking, tapping foot, rubbing something or making weird sounds.

Thanks for all your answers to my question, it was really interesting reading them all.

I guess I don't stim because I'm not an overly tactile person. Or maybe I used to and have grown out of it - who knows.

Thanks again

YIKES! Yesterday, I caught myself clapping.(At least it wasn't like I normally clap, which is MUCH louder) SCARY! It makes me wonder what else I'm likely to do. You didn't know you did the hand flapping?

Steve

My list includes teeth grinding; talking to m yself; pacing; rubbing my fingers together, starting with the pinky moving out to the index one (habitual); leg bouncing (this has lessened as I age); rubbing/touching my face/ears; fidgeting; oral fixation; tapping' pen clicking/twirling; playing with things like fringe or yarn.

These are not constant motions, and I just started taking note of them over the last two years, as that's when I started realizing all my little idiosyncracies held meaning. Before that, I didn't realize I was doing them. Observing them helped me seek help cuz I Googled some of the things I do and they came up in relation to AS.

And I'm middleaged! I took an online quiz in the name of science. At the end of it, I was offered another survey on stimming. I figured I don't stim, but even that would help the researchers. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I have something like 20 out of 30 stims. Pretty surprising.

NTs sing and whistle for fun, but when we do it, it's stimming. Who knew? Same with chewing on the end of a pen or pencil, doodling, or tapping your foot. NTs do all these things, but they don't stim.

NTs even talk to themselves on occasion, especially after becoming parents of teens.

I stim all the time. Lots of different things. All 5 senses - they're all sensitive.

Last year I surprised myself clapping hands while thinking, then later on internet I casually found out about autism. I am 26. It happened only once.

I do various 'stimmy' things. Recently I have started to rub my ear in social situations. I don't realise I 'm doing it until later when my ear is sore and bleeding.

Is for me... 2-3 hours per day. From ages 9- about 14 I stemmed by intensely
bouncing a basketball for hours at a time, or running up and down steps. Since then I stem by bouncing a small plastic ball off my bedroom wall. Stemming is the only way for me to enter my dream world of different cities and places. I can think about them w/o stemming, but I can't "be in them"