Autistic people stim for various reasons, including:  
- To regulate sensory input, particularly when a stimulus outside 
- To calm themselves down in stressful situations 
- To express emotion, including excitement 

Bowdoin College

The first key autism diagnostic criteria in section B of the DSM-5 entry on ASD is “stereotyped or repetitive motor movements”, which is often referred to as “stimming”. Some of the most frequently cited stimming behaviors in autistic individuals include hand-flapping and rocking, although stimming can take many different forms.  

Stimming in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Kapp, S. K., Steward, R., Crane, L., Elliott, D., Elphick, C., Pellicano, E., & Russell, G. (2019). ‘People should be allowed to do what they like’: Autistic adults’ views and experiences of stimming. Autism, 23(7), 1782–1792. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361319829628 

‘People should be allowed to do what they like’: Autistic adults’ views and experiences of stimming

Purpose of stimming

Although stimming is a behavior commonly associated with autistic individuals, non-autistic individuals may also engage in “repetitive motor movements” of their own (which we often refer to as “fidgeting” rather than “stimming”). The line between what we consider fidgeting and stimming is not as clearly defined as one might imagine; this line is broadly determined by the social acceptability and commonness of a behavior, as well as the frequency of the behavior. Some common examples of fidgeting behaviors include: 

- Doodling 
- Playing with hair 
- Bouncing a leg 
- Humming 
- Chewing gum   

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