What Does Stimming Look Like in Toddlers with Autism? And Why Do They Do It?! 

Beautiful Video. I am 61 with Aspergers and this is a wonderful video on stimming. I still stim after all of these years and like you said it is important! Anyway thanks for posting!

Finally, someone with examples instead of just descriptions of stimming. Gee whiz. A bit frustrating when you're trying to find out if your kid has asperger's and everyone is saying 'It's sort of like this. You know when you do this? Well, it's like that but different'. Okay. Thanks.

Dexter is just like my son, same stims, same habits, same lovable smile.. loads of love to Dexter 😘😘😘

I hate how confusing all this is. You can also stim and not be autistic. My son hand flaps When excited, walks on his toes, and I think vocal stims but not sure. He squeals a lot. Mostly when playing with the dogs. He’s been assessed by a developmental pediatrician however and she said he isn’t autistic. Slightly speech delayed but doesn’t meet the other criteria. People who are adhd or spd also stim. I hate how we have to evaluate and worry about every thing our children do because it’s possibly ASD.

I’m grateful to have found your channel. My 2 year old son is undiagnosed, but has shown many signs of ASD. He is about to begin play therapy, and hopefully will receive speech therapy soon. Unfortunately, Medicaid where I live no longer covers speech therapy for delay, so our journey to early intervention has been a hard one so far. Thank you for having the courage to share your personal story with all of us.

Thank you I love how you simply broke it down into easy ideas or explanations. Many are really touch about the subject of autism. I'm just trying to find out info because I believe my grandson has Austism. I here in search for answers, signs and suggestions. Thank you so much!!

I used to get in trouble for making odd noises during class in third grade I also suck my thumb and rub my blanket together I’m 32 I feel I have undiagnosed autism I mentioned it to my psychologist he’s going to look into it for me

Thank you so much for sharing*

i came to this video for a project i'm working on but while watching i realized my young nephew has a lot of these characteristics. idk what to do with this information, maybe try to accommodate him more?

I also have a son with autism and I learn so much in your video. Thank you and keep it up mom 😊

I am glad i found your video, where do I even start i feel so lost in this my 3 year old Almost 4 now , has alot alot of signs of Autism and my husband keeps saying his just being a child he doesn’t have autism but honestly I spend more time with him And his behaviour is not normal from other kids , now we have another child and his 1 years old just puts things into perspective even more because my 3 year old doesn’t like playing with his little brother, he gets annoyed at every thing his little brother does, he headbuts things , he likes numbers, abcs, he does this thing with his hands and shouts and jumps up and down when his excited, he cries about alot of things , we don’t understand sometimes, he does strange things sometimes like he likes to touch certain things

thanks for the information.

Believe me you are the expert here, more expert than more “experts”. Great that you don’t try to stop his stimmings

My son stims a lot. His ASD appointment is coming up he is 4 and has GDD, SPD and 100% gtube fed among a lot of other things. Been along time coming for this it won't come as a surprise. My son's new stim is what we call the "diver dan" when he puts his arms up like he's diving. Hes on a brushing "diet" and is non verbal

Hi I’m your new subscriber I just want to ask you what else Dexter do except stimming bcoz my son turning 4 this month do this in excitement he is speech delay like Dexter but he started to say one word 8 months ago now he’s saying new word everyday but some words are not clear he’s not diagnosed with anything yet What age did Dexter got diagnosed

Love your videos 😍

My 2 year old carry around odd small objects and will walk around holding it outstretched in his arm feeling it with his fingers and humming non stop constantly for like 30 minutes straight sometimes longer if I don't interfere has anyone else experienced this

Our little (age 7) still stims when excited or when something is intensely visually stimulating - he has been doing it since he was a baby. He does not have autism. Once when he was watching tires spin on his truck and started stimming I asked him if he was excited about the truck and he told me he was pretending he was the tires/gears spinning around.

Humming was the first “stim,” for us as well. I have videos of our son at one years old stacking blocks and humming away. Brycen will be turning 3 in June. The only time I redirect Brycen is when we are doing an activity that is meant for a learning purpose, but I also have learned some activities are not “suited” to try and “suppress” his stims. For example Brycen loves to climb up on his dad and then have his dad flip him or have his dad put him upside down (I say his dad because our boy is on the bigger side and this mom can only do it for a little bit before I feel like my arms going to fall off) HOWEVER this activity motivates Brycen to verbally communicate , we are still in the prompting stages but we get words like “climb” “flip” “up side down” - if the activity has anything to do with putting objects into something or he is playing with play dough it’s very hard to get him to verbally interact, Brycen usually goes right to humming. I am going to add this book because I was suggested it by our doctors during diagnosis and it has opened my eyes to how my son thinks it’s called “overcoming autism” it’s co written by a doctor in the field and a mom who has raised a child with autism.

I have a 3 almost 4 year old who is a verbal stimmer, but loves to squeak and squeal and even scream most while excited. Do I try to stop this or let him be himself?

Does your child speak? If so when did he start? :)

My son does that hand flapping and excited jumping like Dexter ❤️❤️

My almost 11 week old hums when he is fussing all the time and flaps his hands and more signs I’m seeing that is all the time since he was born I’m worried he may have autism but yeah umm I see it’s not normal for this isn’t my first child but since he been doing lots unnormal things since birth to now all the time every day including flapping his hands and hugging hisself lot and staring at tv or walls or ceilings and rarely looking at me when eating so I’m so worried and confused

I think normal people stim as well But I think autistic children do it more. I also wanted to ask a question for you and anyone reading this. My daughter with autism rolls her eyes back,rubs her hands together,and opens her mouth at the same time also hums as well I know humming is a normal stim but how about the rest is that normal or should I be concerned?

My 22 month old granddaughter (whom I suspect has autism) rubs her nose with her toes x it’s increasing x I think it’s a comfort thing? Is this stimming? Should I continue to ignore this or try to deter? It seems to comfort her so haven’t so far x thank you x

I flap and hum and have a vocal stim as well as jump (I jump a lot) and I clap I also self talk when I’m anxious

My son has not been diagnosed but I believe he has autism I believe he stems. He was doing alot of ear folding and bending idk if it's a typical stem

My baby has been doing visual stimming more now that his almost 2 he stares at ceiling light or fan and walks in circles or sometimes stares at edges of furniture or walks around the dining table staring at the edges up close! He doesn’t really do the flapping only if to excited or mad and ocassinally I have seen him walking in tip toes ? Iam very worry i dnt know how te redirect him as It can be dangerous if may bumped into thing etc! He still not diagnosed any advice of how to redirect visual stimming?

My great grandson is almost two and isn't walking. Is this a possible sign of autism?

How is your son’s current stimming situation?

Hi my 4 year old is undiagnosed possibly autistic shes started holding her privates very tightly and peddles her legs Would this be classed as stimming she also spins round constantly 🤔

Could obsessively pacing along walls, lines in sidewalks, steer lines, and long object since a very young age like 1

I'm very glad your son stims and helps you understand him. The sound of your voice yelling in a room is hard to listen to. But this is your place for self-adulation.

Hello. Have you started speech therapy? What has helped you the most with Dexters development?

I’m trying to work out if my nearly 2yo is stimming or just having fun. Things she does just seem so unusual like she loves spinning in circles but she doesn’t look like she’s trying to calm down, she seems happy doing it, she does flap her hands a lot and she doesn’t seem to want to talk but uses a lot of noises in her activities - but hoping it’s just a phase. 🤞

My little boy 19 months old has started cross his fingers without realising all the time. Google sent me here. Had anyone else ever notice this in toddlers.

My son does the hand and foot movement but also tenses and crosses his eyes. He is 2. We are still uncertain what it is. Doc think cp but I feel differently.

Did she just call her child dexamethasone?

So what does a normal toddler look like ? There’s so many toddlers with autism I literally forgot what a normal 2 yo does

How old was he when he started swimming

By any chance did you take antidepressants during the pregnancy?

I really feel like we’re all a little spectrum..