Stimming
Repetitive movement or sound that regulates the nervous system — hand movements, rocking, humming, spinning objects. For most autistic people it is useful, and for many it is necessary.
Why stimming matters.
The question worth asking about any stim is not whether it looks unusual but whether it is causing harm. Something that hurts a child, or genuinely prevents them from doing what they want to do, is worth addressing. Something that merely makes adults uncomfortable is not.
Autistic adults are close to unanimous on this, and the message is worth hearing before you commission a programme: suppressing a regulating behaviour without replacing what it does tends to move the difficulty rather than remove it.
Questions that get a real answer
- Is this causing harm, or is it making adults uncomfortable?
- If it is being reduced, what is replacing what it does?
- Who decided this was a target, and why?
Ask these of anyone, including us. What you are listening for is not the right answer — it is whether the answer is specific enough to be wrong.
Terms that usually turn up alongside it.
Students of determination
The official UAE term for children with additional needs, adopted nationally in place of the language of
GlossaryWorking memory
How much a child can hold in mind while doing something with it — a three-part instruction, a sentence while
GlossaryAAC
Any way of communicating that supplements or replaces speech — signs, picture cards, a speech-generating app
Send it to us and we'll translate it.
Any report, from any provider, including ones we have nothing to do with. We will tell you in plain English what it says, what it recommends, and which parts are actually supported by the evidence in it. No charge, and it does not make you a client.