Mine are:
- Turning the spark wheel on a lighter in my pocket
- Biting a finger
I like to pull the corner of my phone case off and snap it back on
Yes. I do that too. Also clicking the latch on my wrist watch
Rubbing my head. I keep it buzzed and it’s 👌🏻
Thumb to finger taps. I do this often, more when getting nervous. I tap teeth to each other, too, feeling like I’m tapping one top to one bottom at a time. Going all the way around to tap all my teeth. I realized I’m tapping multiple teeth each time, but it’s a tap for each pair of teeth.
When my feet are available for this, such as laying down or dangling, I like to push one down while pushing it up with the other foot, then switching feet.
Rocking, shaking my leg, tapping my finger, watching YouTube even when there’s nothing interesting on.
I’m a leg bouncer.
I also like those toggle switches with the super tactile click. I’ll flip one of those back and forth a bunch if I had one on hand.
me, a person who’s recently begun to suspect i might be autistic:
óoooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
yep.
- Walking/pacing around the room in circles (I do this very often)
- Shaking my legs
- Twirling my hair
It ends with discomfort, but I pick the dry skin off my fingers, round the nails. And then bus of nail etc. I have to wear plasters to stop.
But the plasters are a nice sensory thing because they put pressure on all my fingertips!
There’s been a song stuck in my head for as long as I can remember (decades) that only comes out of the recesses of my brain when I’m alone, and I hum it over and over. Usually this is during driving or focusing on coding. Kinda frustrating that I don’t even know if it’s a real song or just something my brain is doing for fun. (It sounds a bit like the civil war song, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, I guess?) I’m too self-conscious to do it around other people.
Have you tried using something like SoundHound? I’ve hummed songs using it and had pretty good success.
Finding a soft lock of my hair and twirling it around my fingers. Both for the softness and the gentle tugging at my scalp. And as a bonus it’s fairly socially acceptable.