Why is stimming judged in Autism?

“Stimming is a repetitive action or sound that autistic people use to manage overwhelming feelings, regulate sensory input, and cope with anxiety or excitement. It can involve repetitive movements like hand-flapping or rocking, vocalizations such as humming or repeating words, or visual actions like staring at lights. These are common autistic behaviors linked with sensory overload and repetitive behaviors in autism.”

When Advi was around 10 months old she never gave us a social smile. Later she was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

I remember when Advi was less than 1 year she didn’t wave or clap. Pikaboo? She never understood what is a pikaboo play. She was never clingy towards me. There was no expression of separation anxiety when she was around 10-12 months old. When I waved at her she never used to wave back. When I used to give her a smile she would never smile back. Imitation of any gestures never happened. She never shook her head to say ‘no’, never dropped an object on purpose to see my reaction. Pointing? She could never point hence, she never asked for anything. These were clear early signs of autism, the same autism red flags many parents notice in toddlers.

Any human being who is unable to express herself, contains her emotion in herself, will feel stressed. Doesn’t self-sooth become a basic emotional need to balance the stress? Even writing this blog makes me feel deeply compassionate towards the reason why these kids stim to self-sooth. And then the adults around don’t want these kids to do stimming. Because stimming makes them feel awkward. What is awkward is people not coming forward to invite autistic kids in social gatherings, what is awkward is people judging the behaviors of these kids. This is where autism acceptance and special needs parenting are still missing in society.

Stimming is as important as smiling, crying and laughing. If they are not allowed to stim then how will they channelize their emotions?

Through this blog I request the parents to find out beautiful ways to help their kids channelize their emotions and make them feel free and happy once again. As a duty towards God/ Allah/ Jesus/ Waheguru ji make a daily effort to channelize through activities of their like example—walking/cycling in nature, swings or any movements, sand play, art of any form, music etc. These simple activities support emotional regulation and sensory needs in children. Please allow kids to stim. Thankyou.