–Triveni Goswami Vernal
Registered Special Educator (A64010)


Stim refers to self-stimulatory behaviour that an individual on the Autism Spectrum often engages in, to help cope with the sensory dysregulation that they experience.
In the previous blogs, I had touched upon Auditory stims and the forms it takes when an individual is hyper-sensitive or hypo-sensitive to incoming auditory information. In this blog, I will look at Visual Stims.

Visual Stimming refers to the process by which an individual on the Autism spectrum copes with the incoming visual input, by engaging in behaviour to either seek more of it, or to avoid it.

Visual stimming may include behaviours such as watching things from up close (so much so that the image is pixellated), flapping the hands/fingers in front of the eyes, repetitive blinking, eye tracking, staring at objects, lights, spinning objects (fans/water in a flush), lining objects on a surface, glancing from the corners of the eye, moving the pupils towards the nose etc.

Just as with Auditory stims, in Visual stims too, an individual may be Hyper-sensitive (over-active) to visual inputs, and hence would like to avoid visual inputs or be Hypo-sensitive (under-active) to visual inputs, and therefore, seek more and more, visual inputs, as they possibly can.

Examples of Hypersensitivity to Visual Inputs (hence avoidance)
a) Covering eyes when having to interact with bright lights.
b) Avoiding patterns on surfaces/clothing etc.
c) Sensitivity to Print on Paper
d) There may be challenges related to Visual Perception (visual discrimination/visual tracking/visual attention/visual closure/visual figure and ground/visual spatial relations etc)

Examples of Hyposensitivity to Visual Inputs (hence seeking more and more of visual inputs)
a) Staring or gazing at moving objects (fan, flickering lights, wheels, spinning toys etc)
b) Hand flapping or moving the fingers in front of the eyes.
c) Watching/Looking at objects from up-close
d) Looking at objects from all angles (upside down, sideways etc)

Visual processing might be very different in an individual on the Autism Spectrum, than in a neurotypical individual. Avoiding direct eye-gaze, while being more comfortable with peripheral eye gaze, is often seen in Autistic individuals.

In my next blog, I will touch upon on Visual Processing and how that might be beneficial for individuals on the Autism spectrum.
References:
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319714
https://www.treatautism.ca/side-glancing-visual-stimming/
https://www.heyasd.com/blogs/autism/visual-stimming
https://irlen.com/visual-sensory-sensitivities-and-autism-spectrum-disorder/
https://www.healisautism.com/post/visual-stimming-what-can-we-do-about-it

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Author Triveni Goswami Vernal

Triveni Goswami Vernal is an Autism advocate, registered Special Educator (CRR A64010) and an Independent Researcher. Her areas of interest include Autism, Disability Rights, Gender, Art and Northeast studies. She is a mum to an 12 year old on the Autism Spectrum.

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Artwork”Lupines”
Acrylic on Canvas
Artist Kabir Vernal