Autistic kid's mom encourages other parents to not suppress stimming: 'Don't hide their happiness'

This mom is inspiring many parents through her social media. She is encouraging parents to embrace their autistic kids, mainly by accepting their stimming behaviors. Jessi Brown is a mom of two kids and has an Instagram account called @siblingsonthespectrum. In March, she posted a video of her son vocalizing and flapping his arms while her daughter is seen repeating lines from a Disney movie. 

Brown wanted to share an important message through this video. "I've gotten asked before if I feel comfortable sharing videos of my son when he happily stims like this as if it's something 'vulnerable' (AKA 'embarrassing'…let's call a spade a spade) that should be kept hidden," Brown wrote in the caption. "That's sort of the entire point of advocating for my child on this platform- to do my part in promoting the acceptance and inclusion of all that autism can be." She continued, "But please don’t try to convince me not to show my child flapping his arms and making happy sounds. I’ve received so many DMs from parents saying that my posts of Buddy happily stimming give them the courage and confidence to let their child be who they are in public. I want any other parent with a child like mine to remember they’re not alone in the stares and comments they get- and it’s crucial for as many of us as possible to let our autistic kids just be themselves. That’s the only way any change will occur in this current system. Our neurodivergent children have the right to be here just the same as anyone else." The mother said that her two children, a 10-year-old Lyla and 8-year-old Buddy, have autism and often express themselves through stimming.

According to Cleveland Clinic, "Stimming, which is clinically referred to as ‘self-stimulatory behaviors,’ is identified by its repetitive movements and/or vocalizations." It is often associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other neurological conditions. Moreover, stimming serves some purpose like helping to regulate emotions, to show excitement or it is done because it's enjoyable. Talking to Good Morning America,  Brown said that her kids' stimming behaviors vary and they are mostly positive expressions and are nothing to be concerned about. She said that her son is a "big-time flapper." "He flaps when he's excited. Sometimes when he's overwhelmed, mad, usually when he's incredibly happy, that is when he flaps his hands," Brown said. "He's also a big-time vocal stimmer, so he makes a lot of - unintelligible to us - vocal sounds, vocal stims that are usually just, we call them his happy noises or his happy sounds because that's what they are."

And when it comes to her daughter, she repeats sentences and phrases, through echolalia and scripting, it is a type of echolalia in which one follows a script. Brown expressed that she doesn't stop her children from stimming and in turn, asks them to do things that make them who they are. "In our family, if our child is stimming, it's not harming themselves or anyone else around them, we do not stop that stim," the mother said. "A huge part of what I like to do, as much as I can, is advocate for that and [emphasize] how important it is to not stop a child from stimming, no matter how silly it looks, no matter how awkward it can be in a public place."

She calls this idea "Don't hide their happiness." "I wish that so many more people would abide by 0 would live by - 'Don't hide their happy.' If all of these neurotypicals in the world are allowed to be happy and allowed to exist and to take up space, why can't my child also exist how he is and how she is like? They also take up space just like everyone else," Brown said. "I'm not going to ever try to make my child stop being happy."