Self-stimulatory behaviors (also called “stimming”) are things your child does to get extra sensory input when he needs it, such as hand flapping, rocking, biting himself, head-banging, or scratching himself. These behaviors help a child regulate their system and are very important to daily functioning for many children. In general, we don’t want to stop these behaviors since they serve a necessary function for that child. But sometimes, those behaviors can become self-harming or they can disrupt a child’s life in such a way that they want to change them.

This article is aimed at helping families and speech-language pathologists understand how we can help to modify stimming behaviors that are harmful or disruptive to the child.

What Causes Flapping and Self-Stimulatory Behaviors?

Self-stimulatory behaviors are common in children with autism as well as those with sensory-processing disorders. However, typically-developing children sometimes do these things as well. Just because your child is flapping or doing other self-stimulatory behaviors, it doesn’t mean he has autism.

Many people see a child rocking or flapping and they think, “Oh, that child has autism.” That’s not always the case! These behaviors are caused by unmet sensory needs and can be found in all different types of children, even those without disorders. In fact, adults often engage in self-stimulatory behaviors. We have just found socially acceptable ways of doing them so that no one thinks we’re crazy.

For example, when I have to sit in a long meeting, my foot starts shaking, I doodle on my paper, I take out a piece of gum to chew, or I stand up and take a trip to the bathroom to get some movement in. All of these things are because I have been sitting without much sensory input for too long and my body is asking to move. If you saw me at a meeting, you wouldn’t think anything of it because we all do little things like that. However, children don’t know how to get those needs met in socially acceptable ways so they tend to engage in self-stimulatory behaviors that are less common in adults, such as hand flapping, rocking, etc.

These behaviors tell us that the child is not getting the appropriate sensory input that he needs at that time. It could be that he just needs to get up and move. Or, it could mean that his sensory processing mechanisms are confused and aren’t receiving signals the way they should be. If your child shows a lot of self-stimulatory behaviors, you may want to look into finding help for your child’s sensory processing needs. There are clinics that are devoted just to helping children with sensory processing.