People who are close to someone with autism have likely heard the term “stimming.” Stimming, short for self-stimulatory behavior, refers to repetitive actions people use to regulate their emotions or sensory input. Many people engage in stimming, beyond just people with autism. I constantly spin my wedding ring, especially when I am nervous. Some people may tap their feet continuously, and others may twirl their pens while concentrating.
Stimming is often associated with autism since many autistic individuals engage in stimming frequently. For them, it is a natural and necessary part of their interaction with the world around them. It helps to reduce anxiety and manage overwhelming environments.
There are many ways a person can engage in self-stimulating behaviors. Some include repetitive movements, such as those mentioned above, as well as others common in autism, including rocking, hand flapping, and spinning. There is also auditory stimming, which involves repeating sounds, and tactile stimming, which consists in rubbing/touching specific textures.
Visual stimming, as the name suggests, mainly involves looking at things. This article aims to help readers better understand visual stimming, its causes, when it becomes a concern, and how to respond when it becomes more concerning.
What Is Visual Stimming?
As mentioned above, visual stimming involves repetitive behaviors that involve visual input. It may include activities such as watching an object spin, moving fingers in front of the eyes, or rewatching a specific part of a video. It may seem unusual to outsiders, but for those who engage in visual stimming, these behaviors help soothe them.
Visual stimming may look concerning to those who don’t engage, but it isn’t necessarily harmful or concerning. In fact, it is often a healthy and great way to destress for visual stimmers. It becomes a concern only if it significantly interferes with the individual’s learning, communication, or safety.
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Why Does Visual Stimming Occur?
There are many different reasons why an autistic person might engage in visual stimming. Many of the reasons for visual stimming, and stimming in general, are related to the way the autistic brain processes and responds to sensory input.
For many, visual stimming can help regulate emotions and manage overstimulation. For some, visual stimming is a sensory-seeking behavior. If the world around them is understimulating, they will visually stim to make up for that understimulation. This type of drive can be especially strong for individuals with autism since their sensory experience of the world is vastly different from the experience of neurotypical people.
Visual stimming can also serve as an alternative means of communication, particularly for individuals with limited verbal language. Suddenly turning to visual stimming may indicate that they are bored, tired, or uncomfortable, or that they want to avoid participating in something.
The autistic brain tends to process things in different ways, so what may seem distracting or unusual to others may provide comfort and predictability to the one stimming. Visual stimming, along with all other forms of stimming, should be viewed and responded to with empathy rather than concern and judgment.
When Is Visual Stimming a Concern?
While visual stimming is most of the time a harmless and beneficial self-regulation strategy, some situations require attention and intervention. Stimming can become a concern if it significantly disrupts a person’s ability to learn, communicate with others, or stay safe.
For example, if a child intensely rubs their eyes to see phosphenes, this can cause physical harm, and such a situation warrants intervention. Alternatively, if a child fails to follow instructions and falls behind in school due to their visual stimming, intervention may be necessary to prevent their stimming from leading to isolation and skill deficits. Stimming should be something that soothes and comforts. If it starts leading to frustration, social isolation, and distress, intervention should be considered.
It is also important to consider context and perspective before labeling stimming as a problem. Not every behavior that stands out needs to be stopped, especially if it is otherwise helpful to the person. I’ve worked with many parents who immediately viewed stimming as a concern and wanted to jump into interventions to reduce it.
For nearly all of those children, the stimming was not interfering with their treatment goals or daily life; it was just something that the parents found strange. Much of this push to intervene stems from a genuine concern for care. Most parents are concerned that their child will be picked on or isolated because of their stimming behavior, and so they want to reduce it to avoid judgment from others. This, however, can cause significantly more problems for the child in the long run. Promoting diversity and acceptance of differences, along with supporting the child’s need for self-stimulation, is much more impactful.
How to Support a Child Who Engages in Visual Stimming
Supporting a child who engages in visual stimming always starts with observation. More importantly, subjective observation. In the observation stage, the focus should be on determining what triggers the stimming, how often it occurs, and why the behavior persists. Keeping a journal or other written documentation may be ideal for avoiding general assumptions.
This observation can also help determine whether the stimming is truly something to be concerned about or harmless self-soothing. Interventions to reduce stimming should not ever be done out of a desire for conformity. Autism support and autonomy should come before neurotypical expectations of behavior.
When intervention is appropriate, sometimes environmental change can be a simple yet incredibly effective way to reduce visual stimming. Making changes to the environment can help reduce sensory overload or offer alternative calming visuals.
Interventions may also include sensory alternatives such as light-up toys or sensory bottles. These can be helpful if the child engages in visual stimming that is harmful or more intense. Using functional communication training (FCT) can also be helpful for children who use visual stimming as a form of communication, such as when they want a break from an activity. Replacement behaviors should only be considered and taught if the original behavior is disruptive or harmful.
Conducting a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) for Visual Stimming
Once a visual stimming behavior is considered truly disruptive or harmful, a functional behavior assessment (FBA) may be necessary to determine the exact reason it is occurring. Knowing why a behavior is happening is the first and absolute most important step in figuring out an intervention to help reduce the behavior.
Not knowing why a behavior is happening before intervening is like a doctor prescribing medication before trying to figure out why a patient has stomach pain. FBAs help identify possible reasons for a behavior, which helps practitioners develop individualized and effective intervention plans.
A key part of an FBA is the collection of ABC data, which stands for antecedent, behavior, and consequence. An antecedent is what happens immediately before a behavior occurs. Some examples include someone walking into a room, someone else asking them to complete a task, or a tablet being taken away.
A behavior in an FBA is typically the behavior of concern. In this instance, the behavior would be whatever the child engages in while visually stimming, such as eye rubbing or waving their fingers in front of their face.
A consequence is what occurs immediately after a behavior. Some examples include peers turning away from them, a task being removed, or them getting access to their preferred toy.
Completion of an FBA can help to determine whether a behavior is automatically or socially reinforced. Collaboration with a BCBA can help to make sure that the FBA is completed correctly and that the support plan is respectful and effective.
Supporting Parents and Caregivers
For parents of children who engage in visual stimming, there may be some confusion and concern. Most parents that I have worked with have had some degree of concern about stimming behaviors, and all of their concerns come from a place of love. They want the best for their child and become concerned when they see unfamiliar things.
One of the most important steps in support of an autistic child who stims is knowing that stimming is normal, and most often a harmless activity. It is nothing to fear or be ashamed of. Normalizing these behaviors can help shift the focus away from “fixing” the behavior and towards understanding and support. Stimming serves an important purpose for the person engaging in it.
Equally important is for families to advocate for their children in various settings and around others. Educating extended family, teachers, and other community members can seriously help to reduce judgment and create more inclusive environments. Neurodiversity should be celebrated, but it is not always accepted in different environments.
Some people may not be familiar with the realities of autism, so educating others may be necessary to make sure that differences are celebrated. This is especially true with neurotypical children. The sooner they learn to accept and support differences, the quicker they will learn to accept others as they are, including stimming behaviors.
Finally, if concerns persist, it is important for families to work with behavior professionals to determine whether intervention is necessary.
Mi punto de vista como BCBA
Visual stimming is not only something I have dealt with in my career, but something I deal with weekly! Nearly all the children I work with exhibit some form of stimming behavior.
In my entire career, I have only encountered one child who engaged in stimming behaviors that required intervention, and the successful intervention was giving them access to noise-canceling headphones when they felt overwhelmed. Other than that one specific case, stimming has not been severe enough to impact the child’s ability to learn and play.
Yes, there is a learning curve to engaging with children who exhibit frequent stimming, but it is absolutely worth it to play with them in a way that makes them most comfortable.
Learning about a child’s visual stimming can also be incredibly helpful in learning possible reinforcers. If a child likes watching videos with a lot of shapes and colors, showing them a kaleidoscope can be a fun activity to do together. If they enjoy watching their fingers in front of their face, they might really enjoy a flip book that creates a small animation when you flip through the pages.
Stimming is something they do for fun or comfort, so incorporating the things they like into the activities you would like them to work on can go a long way.
Conclusión
Visual stimming is a natural and oftentimes harmless behavior that serves an important purpose for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. It can help navigate intense emotions, deal with sensory overload, or simply look really cool! Thoughtful observation and responding should always come before judgment and suppression, even if the behavior may look strange to others. Collaboration between parents and professionals can help to create the most supportive and positive environment for everyone.
