Children with ASD tend to augment their walking stability with a reduced stride length, increased step width and therefore wider base of support, and increased time in the stance phase. Children with ASD have reduced range of motion at the ankle and knee during gait, with increased hip flexion.
A dysfunctional vestibular system, a common problem in autism, may be responsible for toe walking. The vestibular system provides the brain with feedback regarding body motion and position.
About 80 percent of people with autism have some sort of movement problem, ranging from clumsiness or a mechanical style of walking to more profound difficulties like Macey's.
Walking on the toes or the balls of the feet, also known as toe walking, is fairly common in children just beginning to walk, especially those with autism. A child cannot be able to make heel-to-ground contact when they are in the initial stages of the gait cycle, which is when children are learning how to walk.
For individuals with autism spectrum disorders, their dynamic system is working, but it is working differently due to their central nervous system disorder. They may shift, change, and accommodate to their environmental needs, but may do it slower, faster, in unique ways, or only with outside support or accommodations.
People with ASD have a reduced perception of their body movement or shift relative to their own postural orientation and equilibrium. At the clinic we often hear of issues such as fatigue, awkwardness, clumsiness and instability of their foot, ankle and hip joints.
Individuals with autism often have a number of unusual physical characteristics, called dysmorphologies, such as wide-set eyes or broad foreheads. Dysmorphic features may mark a subgroup of individuals who have autism with a distinct underlying genetic cause.
Autistic people's love for Sonic
Just as Sonic is proud of his racing ability, autistic fans of this character celebrate his speedy journeys into uncharted territory - it's a metaphor for those on the spectrum paving their own path in life.
Noise reduction headphones reduce the actual noise level (decibels) that the ears process but does not completely eliminate noise altogether. For children with auditory sensitivities, this enables them to participate in potentially loud environments without being overstimulated by the sounds around them.
autistic children often have difficulties with posture, coordination and motor planning. Research consistently shows that autistic children can experience both gross and fine motor delays and/or atypical motor patterns (e.g. Green et al. 2002).
Walk on by:
The researchers also documented altered gait in young adults with autism. These individuals take longer to take a step or a full stride, and have shorter strides than controls do. This means that they walk more slowly overall.
Children who have an autism diagnosis may toe walk as they have sensory difficulties. Some children with autism spectrum disorder experience a feeling of discomfort in certain areas of the feet when they touch the ground.
Children with ASD often have problems with their feet and ankles. Some of the common problems that podiatrists help with in children with ASD are sensation issues, such as not being able to feel pain in the feet; and alignment issues, such as toe walking (tip-toeing) or flat feet.
She has discovered that people on the autism spectrum have increased sensitivity to visual motion in their peripheral field of vision, which affects how they perceive their environment and where they place themselves in time and space.
The findings may point to a unique developmental trajectory for children who have both autism and intellectual disability. About 97 percent of children will have begun walking by 16 months of age, according to the World Health Organization2.
People with autism spectrum disorder have difficulty maintaining eye contact. Less activity in the dorsal parietal cortex could explain this difficulty. The more severe the ASD diagnosis, the less this region of the brain lit up.
People with autism may get easily attached to people, leading them to become over-friendly. It can be difficult to understand other people's perceptions of situations, therefore what they feel is appropriate, may be considered as socially unacceptable.
People with autism may stim for the following reasons:
As an attempt to reduce sensory input, such as only making one sound to reduce the impact of a loud, distressing environment. This may particularly be seen in social situations. To deal with stress and anxiety. To block out uncertainty.
Many autistic people experience hypersensitivity to bright lights or certain light wavelengths (e.g., LED or fluorescent lights). Certain sounds, smells, textures and tastes can also be overwhelming. This can result in sensory avoidance – trying to get away from stimuli that most people can easily tune out.
Autistic children can sometimes find it difficult to communicate and socialise with others. Super Mario Bros, being a cooperative game, pushes the players to socialise while playing. They need to speak to each other, explain plans and understand each other's strengths and weaknesses to win the game.
Relevance to autism: In some ways Williams syndrome is the opposite of autism. For example, people with Williams syndrome love to talk and tell stories, whereas those with autism usually have language delay and little imagination.
Although the exact cause of autism is still unknown, there is evidence to suggest that genetics play a significant role. Since autism is less prevalent in females, autism was always thought to be passed down from the mother. However, research suggests that autism genes are usually inherited from the father.