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