stim

v. to self-stimulate; (specifically) among autistic people, to fixate on a comforting or compelling thing or action (such as rocking or humming); to perseverate. Also n., a (self-)stimulating thing or behavior. Subjects: English, Health, Colloquial

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Citations: 1987 Christopher Connell, Lee Mitgang (AP) (Oct. 27) “From Closet To Classroom: Schools And The Disabled Part Iii: Severely Handicapped—The Biggest Challenge”: Other students performed tasks to play with nail polish or perfume, or to spend a few minutes “stimming,” or self-stimulating, with a bucket of colored buttons. [1991 Usenet: misc.handicap (July 26) “(1 of 3) This Brain Has A Mouth”: We have hobbies. They self-stim.] 1991 Lana Hurt Washington Post (C5) (Aug. 11) “The Invisible Boy; A Skittish World Misses the True Beauty of Our Autistic Son”: We call these things “stims,” for self-stimulatory behavior. His need to obsess over things in ritualistic ways is not unlike the seeming need of young deaf or blind people to move their heads or sway. 1992 SJU Autism and Developmental Disablities List Usenet: bit.listserv.autism (June 12) “RE: Purple fur”: The common factor here is that the activities and interests that high-functioning autistic adults use to share their own pleasures and to relate to each other’s experiences are often the very activities that people try to eliminate in low-functioning autistic children: “stimming” on sensory fixations and perseverating on subject fixations. 1996 Katy Kelly USA Today (Dec. 20) “In 24-hour bustle, love is the constant” p. 17A: Mom’s 24 and also has a 5-year-old? Has she had any sort of counseling as to what it means to have a Down syndrome child? It’s crucial that she start now with what we call infant stim. We can teach her how to do it. 2000 Merina Hew New Straits Times (Singapore) (Feb. 9) “‘Normal’ on the outside” p. 1: Nick started to walk on his toes, trail his hands on walls and developed an obsession or “stimming on” (in the parlance of those who deal with the correction of autistic behaviour) arranging boxes in rows or in neat piles. 2001 Charlotte Moore Guardian (U.K.) (Aug. 29) “Autists do everything differently” p. 10: The clothes are the fifth set he’s had on this morning, because one of his “stims” (self-stimulatory behaviours) is to wet himself, just a little bit, and then change all his clothes. 2003 [Donna Duffey] Usenet: bit.listserv.down-syn (Feb. 11) “Re: Feedback, please! Stimming? Perseveration? By any other name?”: Not all kids that stim have autism. Most often stimming is sensory-related thing. Does your child receive sensory integration therapy at all? It’s been my experience that if you take away the stim object, they either become very frustrated (and undesirable behaviors result) or just find something else to stim. We use the Floortime method when stimming is interfering with Maddie’s learning or engagement. 2004 [sggaB the Slug] Usenet: alt.support.autism (Jan. 16) “Re: Autism and Rocking”: I have heard a few autistic people who are uncomfortable with the term stimming because most of their stims are involuntary. Personally I don’t see what the problem is even *when* it’s involuntary—I’m not totally convinced that my involuntary stimming isn’t fulfilling some *stimulatory* function, for one, and second, I just don’t see what the big deal is about calling it stimming. I also can stim more voluntarily. 2005 [natureloverchris] Usenet: alt.support.autism (Oct. 5) “Re: being my autistic self”: I stim almost all the time. I stim when happy, tired, excited, concentrating and overloaded. Part of being more myself is letting myself stim. if I’m not disrupting other people why should I have to stop? I don’t make loud stims in settings like that and by moving a bit away from people it was even less likely that I would “bother” people. 2006 Patrick Cady Eudora News (Kan.) (Mar. 9) “Mothers help put face to autism”: As she looked around, she saw some of the children shaking, others humming and showing other forms of “stimming” in the parlance of those suffering from autism.

Posted 14 Mar 06 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

Most people don’t know what a stim is, I know my mom doesn’t.

by ChristinaCSB 15 Sep 07, 0204 GMT