Is stimming/repetitive behaviour in adults always a sign of ASD?

[NewYearNewToads]

Or do some NT adults do it as well?

By stimming and repetitive behaviour I am referring to things like clapping, hand flapping, repeatedly throwing things in the air and catching them to calm yourself, etc (those are actually things I do )

I know that it's one of the symptoms of ASD and one of the things mentioned in the diagnostic criteria. I know when I got my diagnosis of ASD I was certainly asked about it a fair bit however is it a thing NT adults do?

I know someone who is thinking about going to the GP to ask about getting referred for an assessment however she is in the should I, should I not bother stage and isn't really 100% sure if she meets all the criteria to get a diagnosis.

One thing that does stand out to me is the fact she does stim and does it to help soothe herself when she's stressed or upset. I would say this would indicate she's probably not NT but then I thought I have no clue whether some NT adults do it or not .

So if an adult had stims and things they needed to do over and over to calm themselves would you say there was a good chance they weren't NT?

I would say yes but I would be interested to read more.

[NewYearNewToads]

I've actually realised it might seem a bid odd posting this here as no doubt most people on this topic won't be NT.

I might post this elsewhere later but want to get some views first.

[hiddenhome2]

From what I understand, most people stim to a certain extent, even if it's just something like tapping the fingers or pencil or tapping a foot against the floor.

I love throwing a ball repeatedly in the air too, I never thought of that as being a stim.

[MrsLogicFromViz]

Absolutely, I think everyone self-soothes to a certain extent, it's just a bit more apparent in ASC individuals.

[NewYearNewToads]

hidden I think that would be classed as repetitive behaviour rather than a stim...then again I'm not sure what the difference is?

As a child I would often repeatedly throw a tennis ball in the air and catch it. I also had a basketball that I would bounce over and over every day for hours when I finished school. I must have annoyed the neighbours with that one.

[NewYearNewToads]

So what's the difference between an NT stim and an ASD stim?

[hiddenhome2]

I don't know, I only know the reason that I do it.

[MaximilianNero]

I agree with Polter. I think it's a lot to do with frequency, intensity, control and why you do it.

People sit tapping their feet and shaking their ankle under their desks, rocking chairs and swinging seats outside are still quite popular (I think). I have friends who always swivel their computer chairs from side to side without really realising they're doing it, and so on and on. Intense emotions often cause stimming. Excited people can hand flap and shocked, frightened or grieving people can rock. It's normal human behaviour.

But there does come a point where I might think 'hmm' if someone described it to me. I mean, to distinguish me from my NT friends and their swivelling chairs and chewed pencil tops, I'm forever making very odd grimacing expressions (every day, usually when I'm excited) without fully realising I'm doing it, properly screwing my face and shoulders up, and I'll often clench a lot of other muscles at the same time, so sometimes I'll find myself with my whole upper body contorted. I rock backwards and forwards every day, but have done it violently enough to accidently smack my head very hard against walls and my bed frame, and break bed slats. I pace (very common in the general population) obsessively for hours a day but suddenly find myself leaping in the air with limbs in an odd position, have smacked lights loose doing that. And that's only the most obvious physical ones, I could make a very long list of things I do. I stim an enormous amount, and it's not JUST an automatic response to emotions, and a stress coping mechanism but I make repetitive movements for hours a day because it's uncomfortable NOT to do so - it's like I can't fully feel my body unless it's in motion and/or muscles are clenched, and then I know where it is. I can't fully control it/suppress it even when I'm not feeling any strong emotions, I can't stop doing it and frankly wouldn't want to.

I don't think, if given a description of all my stims, many people would think that this is 'normal', and tbh many people if (when) they really saw/see me rocking and grimacing, would be/have been incredibly uncomfortable with it because it looks so strange, or even a bit worried/frightened by it.

So basically, to answer, not every autistic person stims an enormous amount, most (nearly all) NT people do it to some extent, but some stims are unusual among NT people, and there's a point on a scale of frequency and intensity where it may well become a sign of an underlying issue - not necessarily ASD, you could have a sensory processing disorder alone, or another neurodevelopmental disorder. The point at which we all think something is unusual and then a sign of an underlying issue, versus noticeable but basically 'normal', will vary somewhat!