List your stims by your 5 senses.

[Lilacleia16]

Everyone "stims". Neurodivergents just do it more often and more repetitively.

Stims are important instincts and a hidden language.

List your stims regardless of which one you are. Then ask yourself, What are toys that would stimulate your favorite stims? Are they musical instruments or other normal objects?

A. Verbal stims:
1. Tap a pen
2. Swing my legs
3. Rock while standing from one leg to the other
4. Make groans or sighs a lot
5. Humming to myself til I got made fun of for it in school
6. Making bird noises very loudly like I am talking to the birds
7. Yelling at inanimate objects
8. Fake crying on purpose
9. Making baby voices
10. Listening to the ticking of a grandfather clock
11. Singing to myself or others
12. Listening to music all day
13. Covering my ears

B. Visual stims:
1. Pace and pivot for hours
2. Organize by size and color
3. Excited arms that look like a penguin
4. Dancing silly in the mirror
5. Staring at the ceiling fan
6. Walking in slow motion
7. Covering my eyes on the sides like a horse
8. Playing with a slinkie
9. Making spider fingers
10. Pretending to fly like an airplane or an angel in a dance move
11. Circling my wrists and seeing where my hands were.
12. A T-Rex arm
13. Moving my hair out of my face over and over

C. Smell stims:
1. Covering my nose with my knuckles for a long time

D. Taste stims:
1. Suck on my hair and chew it when it was long
2. Put my fingers on my lips to taste my fingers
3. Biting my lips
4. Chewing the inside of my cheeks until they bleed on accident
5. Flipping my tongue from cheek to cheek inside my mouth

E. Tactile stims:
1. Scratch my other hand
2. Wring my hands like a rag
3. Hold my hands tightly to stop stimming
4. Scratch my head
5. Open and spread my fingers
6. Clench my fists
7. Stretch my ankles
8. Stretch my back
9. Push up my nose with my palm
10. Push my teeth with my fingertips
11. Tap my fingers
12. Bang my head on the wall but only when I am having a complete meltdown
13. Rubbing my phone that is fur and bunny ears
14. Drumming my knees
15. Banging my back against a hard chair
16. Squeezing my toes then releasing
17. Cleaning out my nails
18. Picking my nose
19. Scratching my neck
20. Squeezing each fingertip with the other hand
21. Pulling my ring on and off
22. Choking myself with my necklace
23. Clapping
24. Pushing my forehead up
25. Tapping my feet like I'm running

 

[Misty Avich]

Scratch my head to see the dandruff flakes fall (I have dandruff due to stress. Also I don't do this when around others as it can be gross for others to watch)

Pull out loose hairs from my head (again this isn't appropriate to do in front of others, I used to do it a lot when I was a teenager because I went through a phase where I couldn't stand any loose strands of hair hanging loosely from the other hairs on my head. I'd often do this is class and the other kids would comment on it)

Squeeze my lips together

Bounce my leg

Tap my index finger on a table

Fiddle with the nearest small object

Needing to say something, resulting in saying pointless things that don't need to be said, but this might be more to do with hyperactivity

Biting my nails (I can't not do this)

Placing the top of a pen on my front teeth (only pens I have at home) because I like the feel of them sticking slightly to the plaque (yes I do clean my teeth but plaque still builds up on my front teeth during the day, or maybe it's just the enamel coating more than plaque)

Sometimes when I'm feeling depressed I get an urge to make my gum or lip bleed by picking it and placing little objects against it that will hurt it. I usually do this when feeling depressed, like it numbs the emotional pain I'm feeling

I've never rocked or flapped my hands as a stim (this stim seems common among autistic people for some reason). Even when I'm at my most anxious. In fact when I'm anxious I actually go still. Well, not to the point of really still, but just not needing to stim or anything. I just go all limp as I cry.