Is this a tic or stimming?

[patty]

I need your help!

 

As many of you know that my son had a sudden onset of head nodding tic. I have not seen the head tic but sometimes i notice he would turn his head from left to right and right to left a few times ( slowly and is not jerky )as if he is stretching his neck. And sometimes, i notice he would turn his head in a small circular motion (up and down) a few times as if he is excersing. All of these movements look purposeful. I don't see this most days, and if i do, sometimes once a day or 3X a day.

 

Is this a tic? or stimming?

 

And can someone explain to me what is stimming? As far as i know, my son seems to be developing just like the other kids his age. He is engaging, sensitive, responsive, thoughtful, intelligent...

 

Patty

[kim]

Patty,

 

I'm sure I confuse a lot of people with all of my references to autism research. Neither of my boys are autistic or mildly autistic. I think the only people who would even see ANYTHING out of the ordinary with my guys, would be the people on this forum. A parent of my oldest sons best friend (he spends tons of time at their house) had no idea, that my son even had a tic syndrome.

 

I didn't mention anything to my youngest sons teacher until the 3rd parent teacher conference this year. She had no idea either. When the subject came up, the only thing she said was sometimes she noticed his eyes would get big when she spoke to him one on one, like he was surprised. Then she went on to say, "I have had kids with tourette syndrome so, I know what real tics look like."

 

My sons don't have any problems with social skills or communication either.

 

My oldest son who has had the head shaking tic, does exactly what you are describing when he doesn't have the tic. I do it too. For me, it's just tension in my neck muscles. I have never had any tics. My son says it's the same thing for him. You might want to ask your son if his neck muscles feel tense, when he's doing that.

 

You can just search "stimming" if you want a good definition, but basically I would say that a stim is going to be pretty easily distinguishable from a tic. The jerky or abruptness of a tic is quite different from the way I have heard stimming described. Neither of my boys have ever done anything that I would consider a stim. Subconcious humming may be the closest thing to a stim, that I have seen. Not the humm hummm kind of vocal tic, but regular humming (does that make sense)?

[patty]

Thx Kim, i was hoping you would reply. I will look up stimming.

 

Kim, are you boys still taking Bonnie's supplements? If not, can you tell me what supplements you are using? Thx!

 

Patty

[Chemar]

i think it is also important to distinguish stimming from OCD induced tics and tic induced OCD

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I have been meaning to ask about this as well. My son started doing something a few months ago - that I would not describe as a tic, as it is fluid and not jerky. He moves his hand in front of his face - often with one finger up - so - kind of like pointing his index finger up then passing it in front of his face. I notice it but don't think anyone else would. I notice even when he is running, he will pass his hand over his face, to others it would look like he was just running normally - pumping his arms but every few strides one hand would pump higher and he would put it more in his sight line. He is doing track now - and I noticed that before he starts to run to do long jump - etc, he does this before he starts - again no one would notice but me. I had looked into stimming a few months ago - as he told me he did it because it makes his eyes feel good - like he is scratching them. When I copy what he does it does cause a little air to pass by the eyes. I decided to not freak about about it and let it be - not such a big deal and I am sure it will pass - he continues to be happy and healthy otherwise. Yesterday when watching him I started wondering if it is more an OCD thing - which he has not really had before. He has been ticcish for a number of weeks now - we did an increase of antibiotics that helped - he was sick with a cold, and allergy season is upon us - and I think he is having a growth spurt - all of which is probably putting his body out of whack.

 

Any input would be appreciated - has anyone else had this? Chemar - how do you distinguish stimming from OCD induced tics, and tic induced OCD? Does this sound like stimming to you or OCD - I just don't see it as a tic.

 

Thanks in advance

[Dedee]

Patty,

 

I really do not know anything about stimming. However, my son does what you are describing. When he is not on antibiotics, he has a head nodding tic. If he tried really hard, he could sometimes control them, but not often. When we went to see a neurologist who is supposed to be very specialized in childhood tic disorders (though she did not know alot about PANDAS), she told me that when he was moving his head around in what looked like a way to stretch his neck (he does not do this frequently), he is just hiding or controling the head nodding tic. She observed him do it a couple of times during the exam, along with a few other facial movements that looked pretty normal, but she considered tic "cover ups". She said it was a way that the kids make their tics sociably acceptable. So even when he is on antibiotics and there is no evidence of what I consider "tics", he still does this neck stretching thing occasionally and some facial grimaces. I did not put him on the medicine the neurologist suggested. These things do not bother my son or interfere with any part of his life, so I say what is the point. If it gets worse, we will cross that bridge then. I am interested to find out what you decide about if you think this is stimming with your child. Let us know.

 

Dedee

[Chemar]

"stimming" is a term used for self stimulatory behaviours where the motion or sound is bringing pleasure or relief

I know that some who deal with autism take offense at the word!

 

http://www.autismtoday.com/articles/What-Is-Stimming.htm

 

 

I honestly dont think what you are describing is "stimming"

[kim]

Chemar,

 

Thanks for pointing that out... about some being offended by the "stimming" phrase. It's funny, with all the reading I do on autism sites, I have never ran into that. Maybe because it's mostly parents posting about their children. They discuss stims, like we do tics.

 

Here is another article

 

Stereotypic (Self-Stimulatory) Behavior

[stimming]

Written by Stephen M. Edelson, Ph.D.

Center for the Study of Autism, Salem, Oregon

 

 

Stereotypy or self-stimulatory behavior refers to repetitive body movements or repetitive movement of objects. This behavior is common in many individuals with developmental disabilities; however, it appears to be more common in autism. In fact, if a person with another developmental disability exhibits a form of self-stimulatory behavior, often the person is also labelled as having autistic characteristics. Stereotypy can involve any one or all senses. We have listed the five major senses and some examples of stereotypy.

 

Sense Stereotypic Behaviors

Visual staring at lights, repetitive blinking, moving fingers in front of the eyes, hand-flapping

Auditory tapping ears, snapping fingers, making vocal sounds

Tactile rubbing the skin with one's hands or with another object, scratching

Vestibular rocking front to back, rocking side-to-side

Taste placing body parts or objects in one's mouth, licking objects

Smell smelling objects, sniffing people

 

Researchers have suggested various reasons for why a person may engage in stereotypic behaviors. One set of theories suggests that these behaviors provide the person with sensory stimulation (i.e., the person's sense is hyposensitive). Due to some dysfunctional system in the brain or periphery, the body craves stimulation; and thus, the person engages in these behaviors to excite or arouse the nervous system. One specific theory states that these behaviors release beta-endorphins in the body (endogeneous opiate-like substances) and provides the person with some form of internal pleasure.

 

Another set of theories states that these behaviors are exhibited to calm a person (i.e., the person's sense is hypersensitive). That is, the environment is too stimulating and the person is in a state of sensory-overload. As a result, the individual engages in these behaviors to block-out the over-stimulating environment; and his/her attention becomes focused inwardly.

 

Researchers have also shown that stereotypic behaviors interfere with attention and learning. Interestingly, these behaviors are often effective positive reinforcers if a person is allowed to engage in these behaviors after completing a task.

 

There are numerous ways to reduce or eliminate stereotypic behaviors, such as exercise as well as providing an individual with alternative, more socially-appropriate, forms of stimulation (e.g., chewing on a rubber tube rather than biting one's arm). Drugs are also used to reduce these behaviors; however, it is not clear whether the drugs actually reduce the behaviors directly (e.g., providing internal arousal) or indirectly (e.g., slowing down one's overall motor movement).

 

 

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Permission is granted to copy this document, at no charge and in its entirety, provided that the copies are not used for commercial advantage, that the source is cited and that the present copyright notice is included in all copies, so that the recipients of such copies are equally bound to abide by the present conditions. Prior written permission is required for any commercial use of this document, in whole or in part, and for any partial reproduction of the contents of this document exceeding 50 lines of up to 80 characters, or equivalent.

 

The purpose of this copyright is to protect your right to make free copies of this paper for your friends and colleagues, to prevent publishers from using it for commercial advantage, and to prevent ill-meaning people from altering the meaning of the document by changing or removing a few paragraphs.

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Chemar,

 

Was your response that you don't think it is stimming to all of us or just to the Deedee and Patty? Not sure if you missed my post?

I has read the info you posted before - Kim's post is interesting - as not just stimming to stimulate but to almost calm down when overstimulated. Either way what he is doing is pretty harmless and does not bother him nor us nor do others probably notice. Still would like your feedback as to if it seems OCD or stimming.

[Chemar]

Hi Alison

yes, i had missed your post...sorry....I read here real quickly when posting this morning....

 

I was actually replying to Patty's original question as to whether her son was showing stimming

 

I honestly dont know much about stimmimg per se as it is used re autism, but I sure do know about endorphins and OCDs/Tics that become each other and would likely be referred to as stimming by some???

The end result is that the person performing the action gets a "feel-good" reaction which either helps their condition or their emotions etc even tho to the observer it could even appear that the opposite should result as in actions causing pain and injury

 

 

From my understanding, and as per what Kim posted, stimming is either to calm hyper or to stimulate hypo....so that is also where I think some people dont like the term, as the desired reaction is either calming or stimulating depending on the individual.

 

here is what Wikipedia has to say

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stimming

[faith]

ad ccl,

I'll jump in on that one. This is interesting to me and I think I can explain it, because, no -- my son does not do that, but.........I do. (or rather I did this as a child, I distinctly remember, and my childhood friend does too--it was quite funny to us). I would put my thumb up in front of me (like in a thumbs up fashion) and sort of line it up with some point of vision in the distance. It was like I wanted to cover the vision point with my thumb, or line it up with some vertical line, like say, a telephone pole, and move my thumb down straight without waivering it. Like I was tracing a visual line with my thumb. And it had to be straight, not waivering, or i had to do it all over. Now that, to me, was a compulsion. A compulsion is something one needs "to do". I didn't do it all day long, just once in a while when the thought struck me. I have mentioned that I sometimes have little twitchy feelings, but mine are mostly compulsions, like I also will put down my coffee cup and have to tap, tap, tap the cup lightly on the table until I'm satisfied, usually 3-4 times. If my husband is around, he'll go "baby, stop tapping". . . . . . . Oh heavens, I HAVE OCD!

 

Stimming is like a repetitive thing like rocking back and forth or like autistic children might do some head banging against a wall. Stimming could also be like when someone sits with their legs crossed and shakes or swings the top leg repetitively, either up and down, or quickly at the ankle. I'm sure many of us do that without even realizing it.

 

So, yes, I believe that to be a little compulsion, not a tic or stim. Believe me, its no big deal.

 

Faith

and tap tap tap my mouse as I click on "reply"

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Thanks Faith and Chemar,

 

It was only recently I started thinking of it more as OCD and that does make more sense - he has also been sick (viral cold) - we are noticing an increase in this OCD type stuff than tics - so I wonder if as he is getting better the way the brain is affected when he is sick is changing a little and resulting in more OCD than the tics??? Whatever it is - as you say it is no big deal. Nothing like the tics we lived with early on in this journey.

Thanks for sharing.