Feedback, please! Stimming? Perseveration? By any other name?

[Hammond]

Hello, folks,

I would really appreciate some input about
perseveration/stimming/call-it-what-you-will. My son, Gabriel, is 4 years
old, and has a strong love of spinning lids, bowls, or plates on the floor.
He is very good at it, actually; a good flick of the wrist, and the lid or
bowl does a marvelous, noisy vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr across the floor.
Little brother Aaron is quite impressed!

But *I* wonder about it. Is this a totally benign activity? Is it going to
interfere with his development? Will he do it more and more, the more I
allow it? Is it something to be monitored and limited? Should I move all the
spinnables up out of his reach? Should I get down on the floor and spin the
bowls with him? Should I give him other activities to do when he starts
spinning lids? Should I try to figure out if there is a trigger? From the
very little bit I recall having read, "stimming" has the reputation of being
a frowned-on activity. Is this reputation warranted? Or should I chalk this
up as just another one of those things that Gabriel happens to like doing,
which is neither more nor less harmful than his listening to music on his
tape player?

What is the long-range picture with spinning/stimming/perseveration (I kind
of like this word; it seems descriptive ;-)? Do many of you have kids who
enjoy this kind of activity?

Thank you,

Joni, mom to Gabriel, 4 yrs old and lover of things that go
spinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

[K Speijer]

Hi, my son also likes to self stim, although it has been quite awhile since
he has done it. He likes to spin around in circles until he gets dizzy and
then falls on the floor and laughs. Anyhow i had this checked out by our
Occupational Therapist and she told me it is my son's way of calming himself
when he gets overloaded. As he has gotten older (9) it has occured less and
less.

You might also want to keep and eye on it , as some children show signs of
"Autistic Like Tendencies" but a professional would have to diagnose that.

Hope this helps.
Karen Speijer

"Families Helping Families Win Financially"
www.findfreedom.com/healthonline

[diane]

Hello, My son also enjoys spinning items. We had to limit it for a while,
he was isolating himself in class. He dosnt spin as much at school but
still does at home. We tried to remove the "spinnable" items. This didnt
work, he is able to spin anything. He dosnt use the floor he just likes to
spin in his hands. We limit it to certain items and that seems to help
some. Hope you find this helpful.

Diane Mom of Nathan(DS 6) and Caleb (3)

[Donna Duffey]

In a message dated 2/10/2003 6:14:25 PM Eastern Standard Time,
ham...@HUMBOLDT1.COM writes:

> What is the long-range picture with spinning/stimming/perseveration (I kind
> of like this word; it seems descriptive ;-)? Do many of you have kids who
> enjoy this kind of activity?

Hi Joni,
Does it interfere with your son's learning? Does he block out others?
My daughter does have DS and autism and stimming is a very calming activity
for her. Often it makes her feel safe when she is in new environments or
when something is expected of her and she doesn't know what. But she
exacerbates on certain things and it can be a huge roadblock to bringing her
into our world. Not all kids that stim have autism. Most often
stimming is sensory-related thing. Does your child receive sensory
integration therapy at all? It's been my experience that if you take away
the stim object, they either become very frustrated (and undesirable
behaviors result) or just find something else to stim. We use the
Floortime method when stimming is interfering with Maddie's learning or
engagement. If your child understands consequences, maybe you could make
deals with him. For instance, let him have his lids as a reward for doing a
good job?
Donna