NT Stimming

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Has anyone ever heard of NTs stimming?

My 11yr old sister has no ASD 'traits' other than that she flaps her hands when happy/excited/stressed/overwhelmed, and has done this her whole life. I've asked her why she does it and she says she can't help it, she just has an overwhelming urge to do it, and feels so much better when she does. Sounds like stimming to me. But I've never heard of a NT stimming before??

Any thoughts?

NTs stim, but most of their stims are seen as socially acceptable (or at least at most annoying and not pathological).

It's not even as if anyone who isn't autistic doesn't flap or whatever - they do. It's just a lot less common and I doubt most will do several as many autistic people do.

Sure, they stim, but their types of stimming are given different names, because NTs are the majority and so their habits are not considered abnormal. Things like drumming their fingers, chewing gum, foot tapping, drinking soda, masturbating - they are all forms of sensory stimulation, and thus stimming.

Maybe it's just a matter of degree. I am regularly moving in some way. About the only time I'm not moving my hands is when I am actually doing something like writing or drawing. My legs are frequently bouncing up and down when I sit. I pace when thinking or waiting, rock back and forth when "standing still".

NTs do all these thing at some point. My wife rocks when she is tired. Autistics just do it more and are often more annoying because of it.

Yes, NTs stim. The main difference is duration and visibility. NT stims tend to be visually small gestures (like tapping fingers or twiddling hair) and to be fairly short in duration. There is also a very small catalogue of "socially acceptable" stims that therefore don't get called stims and get called fidgeting instead.

What are they, just out of curiosity? I've even read on the Internet that some non-autistics rock. This really makes me question the difference.

Handflapping is normal for young children, and even for teenagers of the female sex.

My wife rocks when she is tired. It's not a frenetic, agitated thing. Just a gentle, calming motion. She is definitely not on the spectrum.

I saw two hipster guys yesterday handflapping in a coffee shop as some kind of a social transmission, and thought the world has gone crazy.

I think they actually aren't as much smaller than ours as you think. I think part of that is that you're so used to accepting them that they seem smaller even than they are. I know some of my stims are actually very small, to the point that most people probably don't know about them. But some that are of comparable "size" and visibility to NT stims get noticed more because of the fact that they're not typical.

It's probably not the type of stimming to calm down unless they are anxious.
It's usually referred to as fidgeting to them.