Meanings
- not comparableRelating to self-stimulation.
Appropriate play with toys was studied in two autistic children with high occurrences of self-stimulatory behavior
1974, Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior1 more example
Medical culture constrains stimming through strict clinical designations and pathologizing definitions, referring to it as stereotypies or "self-stimulatory behaviours." Autistic people, however, often define stimming more broadly as repetitive sensory practices used to regulate emotional states, to cope with external sensory stimuli, or for purposes of self-expression.
2021, Erin Felepchuk, “Stimming, Improvisation, and COVID-19: (Re)negotiating Autistic Sensory Regulation During a Pandemic”, in Disability Studies Quarterly, volume 41, number 3, archived from the original on 22 Jan 2022
Origin
Cite this entry
self-stimulatory. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-stimulatory
“self-stimulatory.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-stimulatory. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-stimulatory,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-stimulatory.
Source: self-stimulatory on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.