Sneak stims

[thejuice]

I go outside and shake and pretend it's because I'm cold

 

[Misty Avich]

I don't stim, apart from socially acceptable stims such as finger tapping. With someone with my anxious mind it's quite surprising that I don't do autistic stims like rocking, shaking or hand-flapping. But I just never have.

 

[AspieChris]

I probably have a hundred that I don’t even realize I’m doing. Mainly because I’ve become so good at hiding them and I don’t even see them anymore.

 

[Aspychata]

I am always moving, l thought it was just nervous energy. Maybe l do foot tapping, tapping my leg with my hands, screw with my hair, things you can get away with.

 

[thejuice]

I knew what I believed to be an autistic guy, that was always walking around town like a man on a mission. He was an artist and a nice guy when calm but he also shouted at cars and frightened people. Poisoning himself with anger. He was mentally ill on top of possible autism.

Walking could be a type of stim if you think about it, he obsessively walked and was a notorious figure around town.

 

[jsilver256]

My youngest just bounces constantly. Like, we joke that him watching TV is a full body workout because he’s just jumping up and down the entire time. He walks on tiptoes also. No hand flapping or stereotypical stims.

I bounce my legs a lot. When walking, I frequently hold my hands up, something I saw on a video as autistic behavior. I look around and yeah nobody else is holding hands up while walking.

 

[thejuice]

How high do you hold your hands?

 

[thejuice]

When I think no one's looking I do a bounce to my walk, like almost a strut. But I don't think I'm cool, it just feels nice.

 

[thejuice]

Another sneaky stim is opening and closing the palms of my hands rapidly whilst they hang by my side. It's a little more discreet than hand flapping.

 

[kriss72]

If we are talking about the less obvious stims, then I used to shift my weight between the toes and heal if I had to stand somewhere, I think I'm less shy and just do proper rocking now Moving my feet and legs under the table, rubbing them against each other, fidgeting with hair, rings, fingers, napkins, pens, whatever I can keep my hands discreetly busy with...

 

[vergil96]

Mine are not too sneaky, but socially acceptable

 

[jsilver256]

How high do you hold your hands?

Like this. I was blown away to learn this was a symptom of autism. But when I look around, nobody else is doing it.

 

[thejuice]

Thinking about it, my ex's autistic son did that.

 

[thejuice]

Bouncing on my my toes. Shifting weight from one foot to the other.

Chewing/ clicking pen

Clicking teeth

 

[AuAL]

Like this. I was blown away to learn this was a symptom of autism. But when I look around, nobody else is doing it.

After this was mentioned (in this or another thread) I was looking out for it and saw it a lot in female football (soccer) players. When they were off the ball - in dynamic play they were obviously using their arms for balance but, between play, I noticed more of this. Given it was in Australia, maybe it was less “TRex” hands and more “kangaroo paws”?

 

[AuAL]

I am away from home at the moment. For complicated reasons I ended up without bringing any of my kombologia with me. This is unsettling, and I realise how much I rely on them now. I still use my (quite unobtrusive?) finger stimming, but I find myself slipping back into tongue-teeth stimming, which weirded out my wife and I try to avoid.

 

[Vanden Plastic]

I knew what I believed to be an autistic guy, that was always walking around town like a man on a mission. He was an artist and a nice guy when calm but he also shouted at cars and frightened people. Poisoning himself with anger. He was mentally ill on top of possible autism.

Walking could be a type of stim if you think about it, he obsessively walked and was a notorious figure around town.

Tourette Syndrome, perhaps? There was a man in my neighborhood with TS, and he exhibited very similar characteristics to the fellow you're describing. The guy in my town had coprolalia, and it was very common to hear him coming down the road uttering a stream of obscenities, and this did spill over into his motions and gestures as well. Now that I am older and know more, I'm pretty sure that these tics actually weren't reflective of the type of person he was, or even representative of the mood he was in. This guy was also nice when he wasn't "ticcing".

 

[kriss72]

Like this. I was blown away to learn this was a symptom of autism. But when I look around, nobody else is doing it.

I'm doing those too, I didn't know it was an autism sign when I was younger, but I worked really hard to stop doing them. Now I don't care what people think and just hold my arms like that when it feels natural to me to do.

Btw. Any idea why this is an autistic trait?

 

[Neri]

I press my feet together, toe tap, finger tap, rub my fingers on my same hand finger nails, stroke my other arm or leg, stroke my forehead when I'm really stressed, press my teeth together, I pick my skin, rub my nose, sway, I smack my thigh when overly excited and agitated; just some of my more discreet stims. The thigh smacking is really just an in-home stim. I do clap, twitch, tap surfaces constantly, stroke, and teeth tap a lot.