Indispensable People
Making the Gospel Accessible to people of ALL abilities so that they may know Christ, grow in Him, and serve Him with the gifts He has given them.
Indispensable People
Reimagining Stimming: Building Bridges, Not Barriers
Stimming behaviors, when properly understood and supported, can be bridges to connection rather than barriers to inclusion. What might appear unusual to neurotypical people serves crucial self-regulating functions for those with autism or ADHD.
• Stimming (self-stimulatory behavior) includes repetitive movements like hand flapping, rocking, or vocalizations
• These behaviors help individuals self-regulate emotions, cope with sensory overload, or express feelings
• Mimicking stimming can either build connection or feel offensive depending on the individual, context, and relationship
• Observe stimming to understand its purpose rather than immediately trying to extinguish it
• Create safe spaces where appropriate stimming is allowed and encouraged
• Only redirect stimming when safety becomes an issue
• Use clear, simple language when communicating with someone who is stimming
• Provide gentle warnings, predictable routines, and calm environments when transitions are necessary
• Remember that stimming represents effective self-regulation strategies, not behaviors that need elimination
For deeper dives into these topics and more, check out indispensable-people.com and visit Amazon to purchase the books The Indispensable Kid, Gospel Accessibility, and The Indispensable People.
Hi, my name is Tracy Correll and welcome to Indispensable People. I'm a wife, mom, teacher, pastor and missionary, and I believe that every person should have the opportunity to know Christ, grow in Him and serve Him with the gifts that he has given, no matter their ability. Over 65 million Americans have a disability. That's 25% of the population. However, over 80% of them are not inside the walls of our church. Let's dive into those hard topics biblical foundations, perceptions and welcome to this episode of Indispensable People.
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining me today, and I am ready to talk about stimming. We've talked about this topic before in many different contexts, but we're going to dive deep into something a little bit different today, and I am so interested to have this conversation with a bunch of people because I think it could revolutionize some thinking. I think it could open up doors, but it has the potential to be offensive. So let's really get into it. Let's talk about stimming, what it is. Stimming is a short for self-stimulatory behavior and involves repetitive physical movement or vocalizations, often used by individuals with autism or ADHD to self-regulate emotions or sensory input, and it's really important to approach stimming with an understanding and a respect, offering support rather than judgment when interacting with someone who is stimming, we want to observe their behavior, to understand the purpose whether it's self-regulatory, whether it's a communication and we want to offer some safe, alternative stimming options. Not all stimming is bad, not all stimming is distracting, but some stimming can be harmful to the individual or harmful to other individuals. So if in any of those situations, we want to offer different opportunities so that that is never the case, we always want to keep people safe in the best ways possible. So transitioning from stemming and a stemming activity can be eased by providing some clear communication, a predictable routine and a calming environment. So that's kind of the overview, but let's get into more specifics.
Speaker 1:So we said that stimming is a natural behavior. It's often seen in individuals with autism or ADHD. It involves repetitive movements or vocalizations, and these behaviors can include things like hand flapping, rocking, humming, repeating words or phrases, and stimming can be a way to self-regulate emotions, cope with sensory overload or express excitement or other feelings. So here is something that I observed a while ago, and this is not something that I had seen, and so a while ago I had invited another individual to be on our buddy team at church. This particular individual has been a mom of children with autism for, I think, 15 years at this point. She has walked through so much in her life and with her children and she has a wealth of knowledge and experience and patience. Because of all of that Now I'm going to give a little bit of a warning.
Speaker 1:I typically do not engage nor ask parents to be serving in the disability ministry, not for any other reason, except that I want our disability ministry to be a respite and a benefit to them and their family, to them and their family, and so, unless a parent feels called to serve as a part of the ministry, I really, really push them to engage in the church in all kinds of other ways and also enjoy the respite that they have. So warning over. So, anyway, this particular mom very like I said, wealth of knowledge, incredible experience, background of understanding, not even just working with children, but she's also worked her employment in the field, working with individuals with disabilities, and so we had had a brand new family come and visit and they were twin boys and though they're both boys um, uh, I think they were maybe eight or nine years old and obviously they're twins, so they're both eight or nine years old came mom explained that one of the twins was diagnosed with autism and you know, a lot of times this happens and the parent explained that basically, as long as they're with their sibling they'll be fine, which means that the sibling is helps them in those self-regulatory moments and all of those kinds of things. And so we as a ministry will always set out to take that weight not only off of the parents but also their sibling, and so we provided a buddy that morning and it happened to be this mom who the child during the message portion of the service would jump up and kind of twist around and then bring himself back down in the chair, and he had done that repeatedly and she started to do that same behavior. So that was his stimming behavior and I at the moment wasn't sure how I felt about it because I thought, okay, is that joining him? Is that mocking him? Is that encouraging him? Is that making him feel like he's not alone?
Speaker 1:I had all the thoughts and all the feelings about this, and recently I had watched something that talked about stimming and it showed this behavioral approach in therapy and the video showed a child who the therapist was trying to engage with and the child would not engage and they continued in the stimming, and so then the therapist began the stimming and then, once the child realized what the therapist was doing, he became happy and excited and then became connected to her and I thought, wow. So then it talked about how that behavior and the stimming was a connector, a relationship builder and under a bridge to understanding one another, all of those kinds of things. And so I was like, oh, maybe this is a good thing, maybe this is a great thing, maybe this is something that could be benefit. And then I went to research more, because I'm never going to take one thing and just go with it, and this was more so that that was a child in therapy, receiving that treatment and engagement, an educationally written article about it, and it was also encouraging that mimicking of the stimming behavior. And then I went on to read some comments from I think they were mostly, I would say, grown adults who were in the workplace, things like that, and they were asked how they felt when someone mimicked their behavior, and the majority of them indicated that they didn't like it and for the most part they felt mimicked or mocked and so they had different feelings about it.
Speaker 1:So I would say that it is probably specific to the individual. It might be an age and engagement thing and also an environmental thing. I would say. In our church setting with a younger child, it did the same thing. It helped them to connect. It helped him to feel like he wasn't alone and instead of because a lot of stimming behavior is typically extinguished, stopped, redirected, because a lot of times it can feel somewhat distracting in a group full of people, especially in a church service, I guess and so instead of basically cutting them off, telling them what they were doing wasn't okay, all of that kind of stuff the mimicking of the stimming helped connect, helped him make feel like he wasn't alone and built a greater bond within that space. Would we feel the same thing with a teenager or an adult?
Speaker 1:I think, depending upon their level of autism, it would depend on that, maybe in a more severe, significant way, where communication was limited and interaction was limited, it might be beneficial. But I would say the higher functioning individuals, if you want to say that, or like the level one, maybe even level two autism diagnosis, it could be offensive. Again, it's always going to come back to knowing that person and knowing and seeing what interaction works best for them. So I want to take that into consideration Again. This is something new at that time that I was experiencing and have then since chosen to research and read about it and there are mixed feelings about it and I think that's okay there. Whenever I get upset and I cry, listen, I love the support of somebody, but if you come hug me, I'm going to then melt into a full mess of a you know, sobbing and all kinds of stuff. So the way that I interact and deal with certain things impact the way that others interact and deal with me. So that's across the board, disability or not, right? We all have preferences and ways that we like to process through things and that's going to apply to every person across the board. But it had opened my mind to do something different that builds connection and community and understanding and just belonging in that space that I wouldn't have thought to do. So that is something I wanted to bring awareness to as we're talking about stimming. So here are some other things that we want to talk about.
Speaker 1:When we're interacting with someone who is stimming, we want to observe and understand. Again, we want to know, you know, is this stimming? Because they're regulating emotions? Are they dealing with a specific trigger. Is there communication that's trying to happen within it? We want to also respect and accept. Accept that stimming is a natural behavior and a way for the individual to cope. We want to avoid judgment because if we judge and we try to create a harmful way or a seemingly harmful way for them to stop the stimming, then we're going to make it worse, right? So the only time that changes is when safety is an issue and there's harm happening. So we would want to redirect that in any way we possibly can. The next thing we want to offer support, not intervention.
Speaker 1:If stimming is disruptive or potentially harmful, we want to consider offering alternative, safe stimming options. That's where, you know, a rocking chair, a trampoline, a you know, all of those kinds of things would be a safe option to stimming. That would provide repetitive movement and those opportunities that would keep that person safe. Want to make sure that we're communicating clearly. If we need to redirect the individual, we want to use clear and simple language. If they are stimming, their focus and attention is not on you. So if you are giving them Especially detailed instructions, they're not receiving it. So if you are giving them especially detailed instructions, they're not receiving it. So we want to be careful to do that. If we have to communicate during that time, we want to be clear and we want to use simple language. We want to create safe spaces where stimming is allowed and encouraged. If needed, a quiet room or a stim corner, even in a space if a child needs their own, you know, safe area to do that.
Speaker 1:Some here's some tips on transitioning from stimming. We want to provide advanced warning, right. You don't want to like cut off everything right in the moment, in the middle of things, while they're trying to regulate themselves. So we might want to use a visual schedule or a verbal warning, even a gentle timer, right, not an er er, er kind of timer. We want to offer some choices of how they want to transition. You know, maybe it's a preferred activity that helps them transition into something that they enjoy. Want to make it predictable right. Transitions become easier when they know what's coming. We want to provide a calm environment After transitioning, ensure that the new environment is calm and supportive. This helps them to readjust and manage anything that is residual from the stimulation that they were receiving.
Speaker 1:I want to use positive reinforcement. We want to acknowledge and praise the individual's efforts because, listen, what they're doing in the stimming is self-regulation, and self-regulation is hard for any of us to do and obviously more compounded for someone who struggles with executive functioning impulses, all those kinds of things and the need for structure and rigidity and all of those things. So they are working through something and doing it, for the most part, in a positive way. That's a great strategy, right? That's not something that we need to shut down. What usually makes it difficult is it's not the so-called norm, and when it's outside of the norm it might draw attention, which makes people on the outside feel uncomfortable, and that's what makes us want to extinguish the stimming. It's not about us. It's what is working for that person in the moment and as long as they are not harming someone else and we can do it in a way that helps them process through, we can do it in a way that helps them process through, then it's a benefit, it's not a bad thing. So that's a part of creating that welcoming environment that is inclusive and accepting and, again, that creates an accessible gospel, and that is the goal.
Speaker 1:Do I know everything about disability ministry? Do I have all the answers? Have I done everything perfectly? I have absolutely not, but we are going to continue this conversation so that people of all abilities can have the opportunity to know Christ, grow in Him and serve Him with the gifts that he has given them. Serve him with the gifts that he has given them. For deeper dives into these topics and more, check out indispensablepeoplecom and visit Amazon to purchase the books the Indispensable Kid and Gospel Accessibility and the Indispensable People.
