Autistic stimming explained – and why stopping it can lead to burnout

By Aimee Grant, Senior Lecturer in Public Health and Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow, Swansea University

Stimming – short for “self-stimulatory behaviour” – is a form of self-soothing commonly seen in autistic people. It can involve repetitive movements, sounds, or actions and is commonly regarded in medical literature as part of “rigid and repetitive behaviour”.

This type of framing tends to cast stimming in a negative light, leading health professionals, teachers and even parents to try to stop it. But stimming is a vital self-protective strategy for autistic people, and suppressing it can have serious consequences.

While stimming isn’t unique to autism, autistic people tend…

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