Aspergers - is this stimming?

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My son has started wobbling his jaw, especially when being defiant or not wanting to follow parental requests. He has also started a growling noise in his throat at similar times, but the noise also happens at other times too. Is this connected to ASD?

Stimming is usually repetetive and can often be related to times of stress so it could be.

Dd3 has a throat clearing stim which comes and goes, she literally clears her throat every 10-20 seconds all day. She also hums which apparently can be a stim.

I think anything which is repetetive and is not really an attempt at communication could be a stim.

I did wonder when I read your post if he was communicating frustration/anger when he does it. Dd3 growls when she is cross but I dont think of that as a stim. IYSWIM

Thanks for your reply. I do think it is stimming then. My DH was hoping it was not linked, as we are only in the early stages of realisation and no dx yet. Hanging onto anything, but realising more and more that things aren't going to be grown out of, so to speak.

I couldnt say whether what your ds is doing is stimming, especially without seeing him doing it.

Many children with Asd stim and many dont. Sorry I cant be of more help. Maybe someone else will come along after the school run who can be of more use.

Good luck

And children without ASD can stim too. Like rocking back on their chair, flicking pencils, kicking a ball against a wall over and over, or sucking their thumb/fingers.

It is definitely linked to times of stress, its when he's not happy with what we are saying to him. When things aren't going his way.

ineedmore what is the difference between stimming and tics? The throat clearing and humming could be tics? DS2 does those, but it's part of his Tourettes.

I have found with ds tics he doesn't even realise he is doing it. We have had the throat clearing, every few seconds.

His stimming seems to be motivated by sensory seeking. He seems to gain something from it.

Then we have the meowing or hissing at you, when he is not happy. I think because he cannot find the words to express himself or avoidance.

DS has this funny little part yawn, part tut thing which comes and goes.

It seems to be sensory seeking as I was talking to him today and he did one mid sentence and I commented on it without thinking. He said - I do that alot, not sure why, I like it though!

DD has a blink that is much more pronounced when she is stressed. I don't know if it's a stim, but it certainly seems to be unrelated to a need to blink for eye reasons (but not one that she seems to conciously control IYKWIM). She has HF Asp/ADHD dx.