Discovering the balance between home and school stims can be challenging, as different environments require different coping mechanisms. This blog post explores the experience of one particular 10-year-old AuDHDer navigating school, and emphasises the importance of embracing individuality while also considering how stims may impact others, highlighting the need to adapt for a harmonious and productive atmosphere.
When it comes to my stims, I have to separate them into two categories: home and school. Some of my home stims don’t fit school, they are school stim fails. This is the hardest part, figuring out your classmates and what they feel comfortable with and finding out how much patience and tolerance the new teacher has. On the other hand, at home I can be me. But me using my home stims at school doesn’t always work.
Trying to sort stims can get tricky, but it’s worth it. As I said, different stims suit different places and I’ll show you what I mean.
| Home | School |
| Singing ✓ | Poppit ✓ |
| Flapping ✓ | Singing X |
| Dancing ✓ | Blu tac ✓ |
| Blue tac (depends, not in hair or carpet!) | Chewing gum ✓ |
My brain finds it hard not to fiddle, so I prepared this next part to help you (lucky you!).
These are my stim solvers, tried and tested in my classroom:
- Blu tac
- Jellyfish poppet (no pop sound)
- Fidget cube
- Humming softly
- Rubber bands or hair ties
- Chewing gum
- Pencil toppers
- Squishy ball
- Moving my tongue around in my mouth
As you can see, I have a lot of stims to regulate me, but not all will fit for you. Just like my home stims don’t fit at school.
If you choose a stim, the biggest thing to remember is that all people are different so you may love and feel good about your stim, but some others might find it annoying or distracting and may find themselves becoming dysregulated. My family calls this a “stim clash.” To avoid a stim clash, the best thing to do is to have lots of ways that work to calm yourself down.
Sometimes certain stims “grow out of you” or you feel they no longer meet your needs. I write in my diary to keep track of my stims or new ideas that help to meet my needs.
Remember how I said about my school stim fails? I’ve got some to tell you…
- Don’t click pens in the classroom, people have BIG reactions!
- Try not to belt out your favourite song, even if you’re in the chillout tent!
- Don’t use your favourite popping popper during assembly!
- Under no circumstances whatsoever should you put chewing gum in your hair!
- If a teacher says a word that reminds you of a song, try not to sing it!
Most importantly, be authentically you. Just the authentically you version that doesn’t create too many stim clashes and saves the best ones for home!
13 MARCH 2024
WRITTEN BY 10 YEAR OLD
AUTISTIC/ADHDer
