What therapies can help redirect stimming?

ABA therapy can provide families with a lot of valuable information about the root of their child’s stims and behaviors, but ABA is far from the only option for supporting a child in a neurodiversity-affirming way.

Advocates encourage parents to seek out therapies that can help a child build up skills in communication, relationship-building, and self-regulation, rather than taking a corrective approach. This might include seeing an occupational therapist, going to a sensory clinic, working with sensory providers, working with speech-language pathologists to increase communication and building those skills. Some families try Floortime therapy, parent-child interaction therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, or Relationship Development Intervention (RDI) therapy to help develop flexible thinking, better recognition of each other’s emotional cues, and better-informed responses to behaviors.

For more information, see our full article Should You Stop Your Child's Stimming? What Parents Need to Know.