07/07/2025
This is a fantastic explanation and example of brain-body disconnect so prevalent amongst nonspeakers.
Thanks, Steven May!
Spinning Chairs and Chocolate
What Is the Brain-Body Disconnect?
In many non- and unreliably-speaking autistic individuals, the brain-body disconnect refers to a disruption in how the brain sends messages to the body (motor planning, initiation, and control) and how it receives and interprets feedback from the body (sensory input). This disconnect can make it difficult for the person to:
• Accurately feel what’s happening in their body (e.g., motion, balance, internal state),
• Control how their body moves in response to that input,
• Modulate or adjust those movements to stay within a comfortable or functional range.
This is not a cognitive or intellectual problem. These individuals often have total intact understanding and rich internal lives—but they struggle with motor-sensory ex*****on and regulation.
Case Example: Spinning in a Chair
Let’s use the example: a child spinning rapidly in a swivel chair.
This act—stimming—is a self-directed movement or behavior often used for regulation (to manage internal overwhelm or sensory need). However, what appears paradoxical is that:
The child may be seeking regulation but ends up dysregulating themselves further by spinning at high speed or for excessive durations.
Why does this happen?
What’s Happening Underneath?
1. Proprioception + Vestibular Confusion
• The vestibular system (balance, motion) and proprioception (body position in space) may be under-responsive, confused, or difficult to sense.
• The child may not fully perceive how fast they are spinning or how much movement their body is experiencing. So, they spin more to “feel it.”
Result: They overshoot the input they need. Instead of calming their system, they flood it.
2. Body Not Matching Intention
• The child may intend to spin gently for calming.
• But the message from brain to body may be too delayed, imprecise, or poorly modulated, resulting in faster-than-intended spinning.
Result: Their body does something more extreme than what they mentally intended.
3. Feedback Loop Breakdown
• Neurotypical bodies get real-time feedback (“I’m spinning too fast — better slow down”).
• But for the autistic non-speaker with a brain-body disconnect, the feedback is disrupted, dulled, or delayed.
Result: They don’t know they’ve overdone it until they’re already dizzy, disoriented, or dysregulated.
4. Inability to Stop
• Even if they realize the spinning is now overwhelming, initiation of motor stopping may be impaired.
• The command “Stop now” is clear in the brain—but the motor system is delayed or uncooperative.
Result: They stay in the dysregulating movement longer than desired, reinforcing the disconnect.
Spinning as a Way to “Zero Out” the World
In some cases, spinning is not accidental or out of control—it is a conscious or semi-conscious strategy used by the individual to completely overwhelm their sensory system and deliberately shut out the world.
For some, reaching this extreme threshold is pleasurable, comforting, or even necessary. They may use spinning to:
• Flood the visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive systems to the point where everything else drops away,
• Escape an overwhelming or confusing environment by intensely focusing on one overpowering sensory input,
• Reach a kind of sensory “blankness”—a reset point or internal stillness through external chaos.
This experience can feel addictive or satisfying, not unlike how a neurotypical person might consume a full pack of extra large bar of chocolate in one sitting—not because each bite is needed, but because the momentum, sensation, and emotional drive carry them through the complete bar until it’s gone. Imagine their internal sense within their digestive system notifying them - Sugar levels are rising, Sugar levels reaching maximum, Taste is overwhelming, Taste and Pleasure in the mouth reaching maximum “But I like it, I love it, I’m keeping going until there’s no more, wow it’s amazing!”
The person can, so they do.
It becomes a loop of sensation, relief, and habit, often without pause for self-assessment until the end. They have ignored the inputs just to experience the sensory ‘high’ and disconnected from the world for a moment using a combination of senses that from the outside looks like just one - taste through eating.
In this way, spinning may not just be a tool for regulation, but a way to blot out the complexity of interoception, proprioception, social demands, or emotional stress by overriding all systems with one overwhelming input.
What It Looks Like From the Outside
• A caregiver sees a child spinning wildly and assumes they’re enjoying it or being hyperactive.
• But the internal experience may be one of:
• Trying to feel “normal”
• Losing track of where the body is
• Frustration that the spinning won’t stop
• Overwhelm from too much movement but no ability to exit it
• Or, in some cases, choosing to spin intensely in order to block out the world
Supporting Regulation with Understanding
Instead of suppressing stimming or removing the spinning chair, support could look like:
• Helping the person learn to notice early signs of dysregulation (visual tools, co-regulation, interoception scaffolding),
• Creating a structure or boundary for spinning (e.g., a visual timer, “three turns then pause”),
• Offering alternatives that provide similar vestibular input but are easier to modulate (rocking, bouncing, rhythmic movement),
• Observing with curiosity, not correction: “Is this movement helping or getting too big?”
• Respecting the intention behind the spinning while teaching safe ways to access that sensory satisfaction
Summary
In autistic non-speakers, the brain-body disconnect means that the intention to regulate (e.g., spinning to calm or escape) may not match the body’s ex*****on of that regulation. Sensory-seeking stims like spinning can go from helpful to overwhelming because:
• They can’t feel how fast is “too fast,”
• They can’t control the stop-start of the action,
• They may not get reliable feedback from their bodies,
• Or they may be intentionally using it to overpower all other sensory experiences as a way to reset, escape, or find satisfaction.
Understanding this dynamic helps us replace judgment or misinterpretation with supportive, compassionate, and structured guidance.
