May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This is a time to have important conversations about how we care about our emotional well-being and the well-being of those around us. This month let’s shine a spotlight on a topic that’s often misunderstood but crucial for many individuals with autism: stimming.

What Is Stimming?

Stimming is short for self-stimulatory behavior. It refers to repetitive movements, sounds, or behaviors that a person engages in to self-regulate. Some common examples include hand-flapping, rocking back and forth, spinning, tapping objects, pacing, or making certain vocal sounds.

While stimming is particularly associated with people with autism, it’s something we all do in some form. Think about tapping your foot when you’re nervous, twirling your hair when you’re bored, or humming a tune while deep in thought. These actions help us stay focused, reduce anxiety, or express excitement. For individuals with autism, stimming often plays a much larger and more essential role in daily life.

Why Do People Stim?

Stimming can serve a variety of functions, especially for individuals with autism. Here are some of the key reasons why someone might engage in stimming:

• Emotional regulation: Stimming can help manage intense emotions like anxiety, frustration, excitement, or even joy.
• Sensory regulation: Many people with autism experience sensory input more intensely. Stimming can help filter, block, or modulate overwhelming sensory information.
• Communication: Sometimes stimming expresses something that’s hard to say in words, such as discomfort, boredom, or elation.
• Focus and concentration: Certain stims can improve concentration by providing a predictable, calming pattern that helps reduce distractions.
• Routine and predictability: In a world that often feels chaotic or unpredictable, stimming can offer a sense of control and stability.

Rather than seeing stimming as something “abnormal” or “disruptive,” it’s helpful to understand it as a powerful coping tool—an essential way for many individuals with autism to navigate their environment and emotions.

Normalizing Stimming: Why It Matters

There’s a long-standing myth that stimming is something to be discouraged or “fixed.” But in truth, trying to suppress or redirect stimming—especially without understanding its function—can be harmful. It may increase stress, cause emotional distress, and even lead to burnout. Just like anyone else, individuals with autism deserve to express themselves in ways that feel safe and soothing.

Instead of trying to “correct” stimming, families, educators, and professionals can support individuals with autism by:

• Understanding the “why” behind the stim
• Promoting acceptance rather than punishment or correction
• Creating safe environments where people can stim freely without judgment
• Recognizing stimming as an important part of self-expression

Stimming is not always a sign of distress. Sometimes, it’s just a way of being; an expression of joy, a release of excitement, or a calming rhythm that makes the world feel more manageable.

Stimming and Mental Health

Stimming is directly tied to mental health and well-being. For many people with autism, the ability to stim freely can help manage symptoms of anxiety, depression, sensory overload, and emotional dysregulation.

Denying someone the ability to stim—or shaming them for it—can worsen mental health outcomes. It sends a damaging message that their natural way of coping is wrong or shameful. Over time, this can lead to masking (suppressing traits of autism to appear “neurotypical”), which is exhausting and strongly linked to burnout, anxiety, and depression.

On the other hand, embracing and supporting stimming can contribute to emotional resilience, reduced stress, and a stronger sense of self. By acknowledging the legitimacy of stimming, we help create a more inclusive, respectful, and mentally healthy world for individuals with autism.

How Families and Professionals Can Support Healthy Stimming

Understanding stimming is only the first step. Here are some practical ways that parents, teachers, therapists, and caregivers can support individuals with autism:

1. Observe Without Judgment – Notice when and how a person stims. What emotions or situations seem to trigger it? Is it a sign of joy, anxiety, or overload? Observation without judgment helps build empathy and understanding.
2. Create Safe Spaces – Design environments where stimming is allowed and encouraged, whether it’s a quiet sensory room at school or a designated “stim corner” at home with comforting textures or toys.
3. Ask, Don’t Assume – If you’re unsure about a particular behavior, ask the person how it helps them. If they can’t express a response, pay close attention to the individual to discover what purpose the stimming serves. Avoid assuming that all stimming is a problem or needs intervention.
4. Educate Others – Help siblings, peers, colleagues, and community members understand that stimming is not weird, wrong, or a sign of misbehavior. It’s a natural part of being human, especially for neurodivergent people.
5. Respect Boundaries – If someone’s stimming doesn’t harm themselves or others, let them be. There’s no need to interfere just because the behavior looks different.
6. Support Alternative Outlets (When Needed) – If a stim becomes harmful (like head-banging or skin-picking) or truly disruptive to the child’s and other people’s ability to make progress in learning and development (such as making repetitive loud noises in class), help the person find safer or more acceptable alternatives without shame or punishment. This should be done collaboratively and respectfully.

Language Matters: Reframing the Narrative

How we talk about stimming influences how people think about it.

• Instead of saying: “He needs to stop flapping his hands—it’s distracting.”
  • Try: “Hand-flapping helps him regulate when he’s overwhelmed. Let’s make sure he has space to do that safely.”
• Instead of saying: “That behavior makes her look odd in public.”
  • Try: “She’s expressing herself in a way that helps her feel calm. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Language shapes attitudes and attitudes shape environments. Let’s use words that empower rather than stigmatize.

Celebrating Neurodiversity

Stimming is just one piece of the broader neurodiversity movement. Understanding stimming represents a shift toward recognizing and celebrating the wide range of human experiences. By understanding and respecting stimming, we affirm that there are many ways to experience and respond to the world. Some people stim when they’re anxious. Others stim when they’re happy. Some stim all the time; others only occasionally. All of it is valid. All of it is human.

Stimming and Self-Regulation

This Mental Health Awareness Month let’s commit to normalizing stimming, not just as a trait of autism, but as a meaningful form of self-regulation that deserves understanding, respect, and support.

Whether you’re a parent, a teacher, a therapist, or a friend, you have the power to help create a world where stimming is not shamed or silenced but embraced. A world where individuals with autism can be their full selves without fear of judgment. A world where mental health is supported through acceptance, not suppression.