How to Manage Chewing Behavior and Recognize Humming as Stimming

Chewing behavior and humming are two of the most very common sensory behaviors that someone with autism or sensory processing difference might make. Learn how to help manage chewing behavior and how to recognize humming as a means of stimming, enabling individuals, families, and caregivers to provide support in a better way. In the following article, let's discuss how to deal with chewing behavior and whether humming is a type of stimming.

Understanding Chewing Behavior

Chewing is a sensory behavior that people use sometimes to control their sensory intake or to desensitize to soothe and alleviate stress and anxiety. For many individuals with autism or SPD, chewing provides a means to ameliorate overwhelming feelings or sensations. The fixative motion and the mouth stimulation can even be soothing.

Why Do People Chew?

There are some valid reasons why someone might be chewing:

Sensory Regulation: For most autistic folks, the act of chewing is a good regulatory action for a sensory environment. It provides tactile input, which can be soothing or stimulating depending upon an individual's need.

Anxiety and Stress: Chewing is also a very effective mechanism to discharge nervous energy, just like a fidget or finger tapping does for some people.

In other cases, chewing may be due to boredom or intent to concentrate on an activity. In some cases, it might even be able to help a person by contributing sensory stimulation to an otherwise relatively bland situation.

Management of Chewing Behavior

Chewing behavior can be managed if its underlying reasons for occurrence are understood. Once the reasons are known, supportive rather than restrictive strategies may be employed to manage chewing behavior. Here are a few tips on how to Managing Chewing Behavior:

1. Safe Chewers Alternatives Management Management of chewing behavior can be best managed by providing the individual with safe chewer alternatives. Some of these alternatives include chewable jewelry, silicone chew toys, or specially designed sensory items. These can satisfy the need in chewing without posing a risk to their health or safety.

Chewable Necklaces

The idea of this is wearable and quite discreet. The individual can chew when needed but attract minimal attention.

Silicone Chew Toys: These come in a variety of textures, shapes; they can be carried on your pocket or on a keychain.

2. Alert to Triggers

Observe when and why this person starts chewing. Does it usually happen as a result of anxiety, overstimulation, or in an attempt to concentrate? After you have a general sense of the triggers, then you can work on intervening with the true issue. For instance, if chewing is brought about by stress, strategies for calming can cut down on the amount of chewing.

3. Facilitate Other Forms of Stimuli

Sometimes, people chew because they're seeking sensory input. Sometimes, you can try providing different types of sensory tools, such as fidget toys, weighted blankets, or other activities like deep pressure massages, which can reduce chewing.

4. Teach Appropriate Behaviour

For those who are cognitively capable, take the time to teach what is acceptable to chew on and when, especially in social situations in which chewing on something other than food is probably not okay. Guide them gently into using their chewable toys or explain when it's okay to chew.

Is Humming Stimming?

Stimming, or self-stimulatory behavior, involves repetitive movements or sounds that help regulate sensory input in people with autism or sensory processing disorder. So, is humming stimming? For many, yes, it indeed is a form of stimming.

Why Do People Hum?

Humming can serve many purposes, much like other forms of stimming, such as hand-flapping or rocking. Here are a few reasons a person might hum:

The hum provides auditory feedback that can help an individual regulate the sensory environment. The vibrations associated with the sound are often soothing, particularly if the individual feels over-or overly anxious.

Humming is a kind of method for self-soothing purposes. This allows individuals to calm themselves during stressful, overwhelming situations by giving their attention to a sound they can control.

Focus: Many individuals hum when they are focused or concentrating on something. The repetitive pattern of humming will help them stay focused and maintain their tie to their activity.

Recognizing Humming as a Stimming Activity

When you observe an individual who frequently hums, especially during periods when they appear to be overactivated or agitated, then the humming is likely a form of stimming. Check out these signs that humming is a self-soothing behavior :

Repetitive Pattern: The person hums in a repeating or patterned behavior, typically in the same tone or pitch.

Contextual: Humming is determined to occur in specific contexts such as during transition moments, in noise or crowds, or when he or she is upset

Focus or Calm: A person hums his or her way into focus or relaxation.

Support Humming as Stimming

While humming can do no wrong, there are some ways that can help that person using humming as a stimming behavior in social spaces, when it is becoming distracting to others.

1. Accommodate Its Purpose

The bottom line is that humming is helpful to the individual. Rather than stopping the behavior, attempt to find ways to tolerate it where possible.

2. Offer Safe Spaces

If humming starts to be a problem in some settings, then create spaces where the individual can hum freely without causing distractions in those environments. This would perhaps mean a quiet room at home or a special corner in the classroom where stimulating behaviors like humming are allowed.

If this humming is seen as being socially disruptive, then other calming techniques or stimming options less conspicuous yet still able to provide the needed sensory input to the individual may be implemented, such as deep breathing, use of a stress ball, or listening to calming music through headphones.

Conclusion

Chewing behavior management and identification of humming as stimming is a step toward the processes of helping a person with autism or differences in sensory processing, like providing safe chewing alternatives and understanding where humming serves as part of creating environments that appreciate the sensory needs while building comfort and well-being in social spaces.