Meet Courtney: Stimming, you do it too.

Stimming (self stimulation) helps me to manage anxiety, fear, anger, boredom and other negative emotions. I also stim to help myself handle overwhelming sensory input (to much noise, light, heat, etc). Believe it or not you do it too. If you have ever tapped your pencil on your desk or touched your lip while you where thinking, bitten your nails or rubbed your arms when you are afraid, or paced the floor while you are having an intense conversation you have stimmed.

http://www.autism-help.org/behavior-stimming-autism.htm

I am not a bad child.

If you bump into me in the store and I am screaming in the cart it is not because I am a bad child. I am not screaming because I did not get something that I want. Being in the store is hard for me. Its loud, the lights are bright and they flicker, there are so many people and everything smells different. My brain works a little differently than yours does. I can't filter out information, so everything comes at me all at once. Its like trying to listen to 10 people talking to you at the same time. I can't make sense of it all. I also get frustrated sometimes because I cant explain everything that I want to explain. I am getting better with talking but it is still pretty uncomfortable for me.
It really is too bad if you meet me and I am in a bad mood because I am a great kid. I am usually very happy and love people. I don't know exactly how to make friends yet, but I am working on it. I have learned that if I bump into you, drop something or fall down you will react to me. So if I do this to you I am not trying to be rude I am trying to be friendly.
It was great to meet you. I hope that by meeting me you will learn a little bit about autism and help to teach others as well.

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Stimming, you do it too.