Spreading Autism Awareness & Acceptance Together, we make a difference 馃挋 Instagram: @togetherforautismawareness
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Intense interests
Many autistic people have intense and highly-focused interests, often from a fairly young age. These can change over time or be lifelong. It can be art, music, gardening, animals, postcodes or numbers.
The interest can:
provide structure, order and predictability, and help people manage the uncertainties of daily life
give someone a way to start conversations and feel more self-assured in social situations
help someone to relax and feel happy.
Source: autism.org.uk
Should you intervene in stimming?
Stimming is often very enjoyable and a way to reduce stress and so it shouldn't be stopped or reduced. However, stimming can sometimes be self-injurious, for example, head-banging or scratching.
Ask yourself if the behaviour restricts the person's opportunities, causes distress or discomfort, or impacts on learning? If it is causing difficulties, or is in some way unsafe, they may need support to stop or modify the behaviour, or reduce their reliance on it.
Why do some autistic people stim?
Although stimming varies from person to person, the reasons behind it may be the same:
for enjoyment
an attempt to gain鈥痵ensory input, eg rocking may be a way to stimulate the balance (vestibular) system; hand-flapping may provide visual stimulation
an attempt to reduce鈥痵ensory input, eg focusing on one particular sound may reduce the impact of a loud,
distressing environment; this may particularly be seen in social situations to deal with stress and鈥痑nxiety鈥痑nd to block out uncertainty.
Source: autism.org.uk
Image: medium.com
#autism #asd #stimming #repetitivebehavior
