Is listening to a song on repeat stimming
Repetitive behaviours and stimmingRepetitive behaviours can be a major part of life for many autistic children and young people. They can be an essential way of regulating emotion and providing someone with a source of comfort or enjoyment that enables them to carry on with their day. Watch Ambitious about Autisms Youth Patron explain what stimming is. StimmingThe common name for repetitive behaviours in autistic people is stimming, short for 'self-stimulatory behaviour'. Some stims are barely noticeable and some are very visible. They vary in frequency and appearance depending on the person. Stimming helps autistic people regulate their emotions and process their sensory environment. Stimming is often an autistic person's way of managing a situation and reducing stress and so it shouldn't be stopped or reduced. However, stimming can sometimes be self-injurious, for example, head-banging or scratching. Some forms of stimming have different names, for example:
Other types of repetitive behaviours are often linked to the senses, for example:
RoutinesConsistency and routine are really important for manyautistic children and young people. The world can be a very unpredictable place and this can be very frightening and create a lot of anxiety. Therefore, knowing what is going to happen and when it may happen can help young people to manage this anxiety. Lots of autistic children and young people have set routines for the activities they do and everything may have to be in the right order. For example, routines around the food they eat or how they travel to school. Keeping to a routine is not a bad thing - in fact a great strength of many autistic people is their punctuality, reliability and focus. Routines can also offer autistic people a sense of comfort when they are in distress. However, as we all know, in life unexpected things do happen and difficulty coping with these changes can have much more of a negative impact on autistic people - leading to stress, anxiety and even illness. Support strategiesThere are strategies that can reduce distress and increase resilience to change. These include:
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