Many children with autism love to jump and bounce. It's a particularly enjoyable repetitive behavior that can provide both soothing and stimulating sensory input.
Murphy's unpublished data indicate that the upper bodies of people with autism tend to tilt forward as they walk, and that they have more bounce in their step than their typical peers do.
About stimming and autism
Stimming – or self-stimulatory behaviour – is repetitive or unusual body movement or noises. Stimming might include: hand and finger mannerisms – for example, finger-flicking and hand-flapping. unusual body movements – for example, rocking back and forth while sitting or standing.
" Stimming ," also known as self-stimulating behaviors or stereotypy, are repetitive body movements or repetitive movements of objects. Many individuals on the autism spectrum engage in routine stimming .
“(By) elementary age, they can walk, they can move more — it's that the typography of that movement changes as they get older,” he says. “Instead of exploring my body within my own space, now there's running, jumping, climbing.” A need for movement is the main reason why young kids hop around.
Why Do Kids Flap or Jump? Hand flapping and jumping are common motor responses among children with autism or other SPDs. These extraneous movements are a way for their bodies to cope with sensory overload and filter information.
Typically developing children stim too, such as when a child jumps up and down in excitement. But children with ASD will behave in this way for longer, or might combine several behaviours at once, such as flapping hands, squealing and jumping up and down.
Common examples of stereotypy are hand flapping, body rocking, toe walking, spinning objects, sniffing, immediate and delayed echolalia, and running objects across one's peripheral vision (Schreibman, Heyser, & Stahmer, 1999).
A tendency to walk on tiptoe, repetitive gesticulation, nail-biting or banging of the head against a wall may be signs of a hereditary autism spectrum disorder.
Children with ASD have altered gait patterns to healthy controls, widened base of support, and reduced range of motion. Several studies refer to cerebellar and basal ganglia involvement as the patterns described suggest alterations in those areas of the brain.
Kids with autism may wander because they have a weaker sense of danger than other kids. Or they may get fixated on exploring something interesting. Others may be trying to leave situations that make them anxious. They might also want to escape overwhelming sensory experiences, like loud noises or bright lights.
For many autistic children climbing means that their bodies get proprioceptive and vestibular input. Both jumping and climbing activities can provide a child with this type of sensory input and the autistic child craves it. They crave that heavy work, deep muscle, head tilting movement.
ASD begins before the age of 3 years and can last throughout a person's life, although symptoms may improve over time. Some children show ASD symptoms within the first 12 months of life. In others, symptoms may not show up until 24 months of age or later.
This is known as “Toe Walking”. It is where your child may walk around on the balls of their feet without their heels making regular contact with the ground. It can be very noticeable when they are walking in bare feet, and sometimes appears to be better when they are walking in their shoes.
Children can be misdiagnosed as having Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and not actually be autistic. It is concerning enough for a parent to be told their child is on the Autism Spectrum, but for a child to be misdiagnosed as having autism can cause unnecessary stress and worry for the family.
Neurological soft signs (NSS) are minor neurological abnormalities that aren't a part of any fixed/transient neurological disorders. The most common NSS in ASD are motor incoordination, difficulty sequencing motor tasks & sensory disintegration.
Restricted/repetitive behaviors is a core diagnostic criterion for autism. Motor repetitions, referred to as “lower-order,” include self-stimulation, hand flapping, twirling, repeating phrases, manipulating objects, banging toys together, and repeatedly pushing buttons (1).
The neurodiversity movement was launched by Judy Singer, an Australian sociologist who is herself on the autism spectrum. Singer saw neurodiversity as a social justice movement, to promote equality of what she called “neurological minorities” — people whose brains work in atypical ways.
Some children with autism smile to show they're happy but don't share their enjoyment. Others show little facial expression or have flat affect and rarely smile so you may not know when they're happy.
In some cases, a child may appear to have clumsiness and awkwardness in doing normal activities like walking and running. Some children also have repetitive behaviors such as hand clapping, twisting, or twirling.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can affect both cognition and development. Although ASD is most associated with social or communication challenges, physical or motor impairments may also be present.
Stimming can look like flapping hands, rocking motions, pacing, repeating words or phrases, leg bouncing, nail-biting, spinning a ring on your finger, wringing hands etc. Stimming can often be helpful for people with autism/autistic people to regulate their emotions or deal with overwhelming situations.
Many kids and teens with autism make frequent sounds and noises when excited or anxious. These vocalizations — which can sound loud or quiet, high-pitched or low-pitched, happy or upset — are often a form of self-stimulatory behavior (stimming).
Dance can be a major resource for children with autism, especially those who are nonverbal. Dance uses the body as a way of communicating instead of the use of words. Depending on the movement, the body can tell a story that the child might not be able to express any other way.