stims or tics? how to know the difference?

[jennica]

Ds has general anxiety, and possible OCD and Tourettes. He is 5 right now and has had transitory tics since age 2.5. One of his new "tics" is arm and hand flapping. He does this A LOT. When he is excited, happy, nervous, upset, etc. It seems like he does it more than a tic, and as a way to calm and self regulate. Is this really a stim? His last tic before this was squinting at lights. Was that a stim or a tic? Is there a difference and what is the difference?

[jennica]

Really? No one is familiar with this issue?

[Eyelet]

I'm no expert, and I may be off, but I believe the difference between a stim and a tic is that a tic is involuntary and a stim is a seeking, voluntary action.

[buttercup784ever]

http://www.tsa-usa.org/ZNewDiag01/content.html

This is a LOOONG video, like 3 hrs, but somewhere in there he explains the difference between a stim, a tic, and a compulsion. The classic stim is hand flapping.