Episode #13: Stimming Behavior in Autistic Children and Adults

April has been Autism Acceptance Month, and we continue our focus on autism-related topics by having an open discussion on stimming. Stimming is a word that stands for self-stimulation and is a behavior that is commonly associated with autism. In this episode, Justin Houcek from ASDwithME.com joins us again as we discuss the topic of stim behaviors and if they can be good or bad. Our focus this episode is to help parents of young children recognize the value stimming may give to their children and to know when they may need to step in and help redirect the behavior. As an autistic adult, Justin once again helps us break down the topic and understand it better. Contributions for this discussion were made by several Reddit members, and we’d like to thank DraconWolf2, littlemiddlemissy, lilisophieraris, and Maddybear167 for their comments about what stimming is for them. We’d like to thank Reddit user Abrab736 for providing the short video segment on his experience with stimming and his suggestions for parents of young children. We’d also like to thank Dr. Wegner, the author of the Brody the Lion books for young children, for allowing us to use one of her Instagram posts @Brody.The.Lion to help explain what stimming can look like, and we look forward to having her on the podcast in a couple of weeks to share more with us!