Stemming?

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-07-2004
Stemming?
13
Wed, 05-24-2006 - 2:13pm

Is your AS child stemming? My son is constantly twisting his hair with both or one hand at almost all times, regardless of what he is doing. In most all of the reading I have done on AS, I am not reading much on this as to how to handle it. Are you suppose to try and stop them from doing it? Are there special techniques to use to try and help them stop?

Thanks

Melissa

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Avatar for littleroses
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
In reply to: jeepmama2004
Fri, 05-26-2006 - 8:28pm




Edited 2/19/2008 9:54 pm ET by littleroses
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: jeepmama2004
Fri, 05-26-2006 - 10:01pm

I am of the oppinion that different is ok. If you take away a stim often they will replace it with something else and often more innappropriate unless you help them replace it with something appropriate.

Today isn't a good day for this, lol. But when I pushed Mike not to stim he was a very anxious unhappy, stressed out, little dude. Since I have laxed on it and don't care what others think, his stress in those cases are alot less.

Renee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: jeepmama2004
Sat, 05-27-2006 - 9:40am

I'm no expert but this is my experience.....my guy stims the most when he is excited or nervous. Example: I went on a field trip with him and his class to a local farm/village. It was an hour bus ride and he flapped his hands, made train sounds (steam and whistle) and such the WHOLE ride. The kids have seen this everyday for the entire school year....they all know this is Vaughn....they didn't even blink at this behavior....but you should have seen the expression on some of the other parents' faces - LOL!

One of his major stims (self-calming technique or tics.....not really sure what to classify it as) is chewing......he does this as a stress reliever, mainly at school....chews on pencils, erasers, crayons, markers, scissors, glue sticks, glue bottles, anything he can get his hands on.....I have had to replace his supplies on almost a weekly basis. The teacher, myself, the guidance counselor and his therapist have tried to give him more appropriate things to chew on....currently sugar-free gum and chewy/crunchy snacks (peanuts, apples, raisins) are working. We've learned that we can't stop it but we can make some things more appropriate for him.

Good luck,
Christie

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