Walking on heels? | Autism PDD
I have never heard of heel walking being associated to autism spectrum disorders. I didn't find anything relating it when searching it on the internet either.
Now keep in mind kids who are on the spectrum can do things that NT kids do too. Its like telling the difference in your kids cries.... theres that cry for attention, and then theres that cry you cant mistake that makes your heart race and you drop everything to get to your child then and there. The same with autistic traits. There are tantrums to tantrum to get what they want and then there are TANTRUMS where they have no control!
Amber, do you have an appointment yet for Aiden's evaluation?
Yah see w/ Aiden I thought maybe it was shoes as Zach's mom said, but nope he does it mostly when barefoot. It is way hard to tell diff between nt and not sometimes isn't it.
After ds's ped appt he just told me that he would help any way he could for his evaluation. Ped didn't know much about asd, as I guess many don't. I told him I was already in touch w/ a center I found across state and he just said to let him know if I needed anything. The center sent me the paperwork when I called them. I filled it out weeks ago actually. The only reason I haven't sent it is they also want a 30 min video. I have hours of video on diff tapes and so I have been waiting for my friend to get me his vcr so I can hook it to my vcr and cut the tapes into a shorter version. Bless his heart he keeps forgetting to get it to me! I'm thinking of a diff way to do this cuz I've been waiting weeks. Also just the other day I came across a phone # and address of a local place right here where I am so i am going to call it tomorrow and find out if they can evaluate him rather than me doing this mailing to the other center across my state. I didn't know we had a center here or I would have tried them weeks ago. Anything on inet just kept showing me the one far away.
Also with so much other crazy events and situations going on the last 2 weeks I've been really distracted. Now things have relaxed a lot so I'm getting on top of it again and I hope to get things moving. I just want to know and stop wondering. Although more and more I think I know what it will be. My doubts have lessened more and more since I've been researching and coming here. And I'm really ok with it. Thanks for all your input!
Amber
So you still don't have a dx correct? No offense but some ppl might think you already have a kid with a dx. And with everything you read or hear about what is on the spectrum and what isn't you have to take it with a grain of salt. These kids do have normal milestones for their developmental age that they are at. And not all kids exhibit the same characteristics. Also some things they do exhibit have nothing whatsoever to do with autism/pdd or the autism spectrum disorder.
Tammy
I say that I don't have a dx on almost all of my posts. And under my name it says son that may or may not have a disorder. I'm sorry if I didn't mention that in this post. I was just asking a general question to see why a child, nt or not, might walk on heels. I said that I knew it probably had nothing to do w/ the spectrum. I do know that there are things that can be autism related and nt children do it and vice versa. That's what makes it so hard and that is why I come here to ask. Please don't be taking offense.
Amber
Just let the kid be a kid. Quit giving too much attention to every little thing the child does. These kids are amazing at picking up on little things like anxiety and stress. Which in turn leads to them developing anxiety and stress related health problems. Even if your child is not on the spectrum, give the child some space and let them do things independently. It is easier to teach these kids boundaries now than later on. I know for fact that Jeffrey spends way too much time around me because some of the tthings he does is just like the way I do. And he also pays way too much attention to every little thing I say. If I am watching football on sunday and I don't like the way my team is performing and say something. Jeffrey thinks I am very seriously about hating that team now. It gets confusing sometimes on having to explain that to him. But I would never research or ask about every little thing my kids did. It is part of what makes them unique as individuals.
Tammy
I guess we all deal with things differently. I can understand Amber being concerned and questioning a lot of things since her son doesn't have a diagnosis. Frankly, I'd be the same way (and was for a few months prior to Luke getting HIS diagnosis). It's tough being in a nebulous area. I agree that we shouldn't drive ourselves crazy, though, in every minute thing our kids do -- whether or not they're on the spectrum!Right after Gabe came home from summer school he had to go to Target!!! First it was to buy another transformer energon toy. Then it was to play the video games. It is part of his impulsive behaviour. Just trying to get a reaction. So I ignored that behaviour. He threatened to go up there by himself. But see if I would had paid any attention to that behaviour, it would had made it worse. Now he is playing in his room being a nice kid
Tammy
*laughs* cute Tammy.
Amber... first of all big hugs and lots of support, I know right now things are confusing and you just want answers.... I think we all go through this to some extent.... but Hun... relax just a lil' bit ok, take a few days and STOP documenting Aiden's behavior, STOP looking at EVERY thing he does wondering if this is yet another thing to worry about. Think about this for a minute.... your son is 2 years old.... He has YEARS and YEARS ahead of him....and IF... IF it just so happends that he has ASD which you don't know yet there are therapies that are giving these kids much future to look forward to.... and research is being done everyday. There is MUCH to hope for. The other thing is this.... do you really care??? Do you really care that your child toe walks or heel walks??? Do you really care that they line up thier toys in rows apon rows??? Do you really care that he doesn't talk as much as other kids??? What I mean is, does this make you look at him differently... does this make you love him anyless.... does this make him a different him??? No, the answer to all these questions is No. So just relax and take a deep breath and let things be the way they will be knowing that you will always love, care, and nurture your child no matter what anyone says about him.
I'm sorry but I have to disagree a little here. I just don't think you can educate yourself enough on all the aspects of this disorder. You can't trust doctors and therapist to always make the best decisions for your child, so you HAVE to know what is going on to help make these decision. There are quite a few docs and therapist out there that don't even believe in sensory intergration because of insufficient research. I'm glad we have this place to come and ask questions no matter how trivial or severe the question may be. Autism is not easy to understand, it takes time to even begin to understand it, and I think if Aiden does end up on the spectrum, the year between 2 and 3 years old will be an important year for intervention. For me, the reading and asking questions and educating myself on every little thing helped tremendously, I could handle the whole situation much better when I felt like I was DOING something. I hope you get an evaluation soon.Stephanie,
I think you misunderstood what I meant.... I in no way mean sit and be still, but we also as parents need to just take a breather and let our kids just be kids REGARDLESS of thier delays. I completly understand the need for knowledge, but guess what??? No one, not one of us are going to find out EVERYTHING there is to know.... not yet at least.... because it's just not possible at this point. Please by all means, come here ask questions... vent your frustrations... I in NO WAY meant for anyone to NOT do that.... *smiles* but I just wanted to let Amber know.... It's ok to relax a lil' bit and just let Aiden be Aiden for a day or two. A day or two or three of just playing and relaxing and NOT analyzing EVERY lil' thing can actually bring much needed clarity and relief.... I know it did for me. I've known about Zachary's regression and delays since He was 18 months.... He didn't start therapy untill He was 30 months... and was just officially DX 2 weeks ago classic autism. But what kept me sane and going wasn't all the analyzing and the documentation that I also did and still do. *smiles* What kept me going and willing to advocate were the days I just took to let Zach be Zach and I myself took a breather. Alls I meant was that no matter what the future holds and no matter how much we find out about this disorder... we will always love our kids period finished the end.
Or a politicianLuke does a bit of foot stompin' too! I assumed it was due to his sensory issues. I bought him textured-soled sandals this summer and it has greatly reduced his foot stomping! (This along with it being easier to cut his toenails within the past few weeks.) Luke sometimes (but very rarely) walks on his heels OR walks on his toes -- but I truly believe he's just being silly when he does it, be/c he's always looking at us and smiling when he does it.
Kellie
I have a question. My son likes to walk on his heels lol. It's really cute, but I was just wondering if anyone might know why. I've never seen it before so I wasn't sure if it is just a silly kid thing or what. I've heard of toe walking but never the opposite. I know it may have nothing to do w/ anything on the spectrum but I thought I'd ask since he's been doing it more and more often. I wasn't sure if there was anything more to it than just being a goofball.
Amber Alot of people walk with what they call lead in their feet. There is nothing wrong with someone walking on their heels. It is probably your kid trying to figure out which way feels more comfortable to him. Tammy oh ok I see. So what's the diff between that and walking on toes? I forget is that a physical ailment or neurological? What causes that w/ some children? Amber Depends on height and weight with some. Tall people tend to walk more heavy than short people. And some of it could be that they are imitating what they see in life. Also certain shoes will make you walk differently than others. Just because it says Nike on it doesn't mean it is made any differently from the Walmart specials. Unless it is a special order shoe, they are all made the same. Also with some people if they eat alot of pork it will make them walk more heavy than they should. Tammy Oh that's interesting. I love this site I can learn all sorts of stuff. I wonder if that is related to the stompping issues some have. Maybe enjoy the deeper pressure imput that walking hard, like on the heels can have. Does he jump off of things alot? That could be a relation. Doing 'squishes' would help. Its a joint compression the OT does on my son. This is just a random possibility, it could also be nothing. My 3yo jumps off of things and 'dances' on hard floors. Very cute though, its with a beat, da-da-da-da-da DADA. Hard to type a beat. Stomp stomp stomp..then 2 quick hard stompstomps. HEHEHEHE
http://academic.uofs.edu/faculty/kosmahle1/courses/pt351/lab 351/heelwalk.htm Yes ds LOVES to jump. In fact we used to get comments about how amazed people were he could jump so well with both feet at once when he was very young. I guess most kids his age at that time couldn't do it. He is very much a jumper. He is also a spinner and an upside downer lol. He LOVES and wants to be upside down a lot. He's very fun. Amber Tammy is right about the it depends on the shoes.... Zachary is not a toe walker or a heal walker (some kids walk just on thier heels I was told at Zach's evaluation... never letting the front of thier foot touch the ground till they stop walking) However... I did get concerned for awhile there because I noticed him doing it... walking just on his heels and nothing else...but then as I paid more attention over the next few days... it depended on the shoes he was wearing. The sandles He has are from Wal-mart and have VERY hard soles.... my husband and I did a lil' test and took them off and He walked completly normal, actually started walking better, less clumsy and able to pay more attention. So those sandles are out the window *laughs* Now he wears his water shoes... the soles are lil' softer and he seems to do better. I think with Zach it had to do with the sensory input and how the sandles felt on his feet. Adam walked on his toes when he was a toddler but not on his heels. The OT worked with him on sensory issues related to his feet. We would do the "foot exercises" daily and he soon stopped walking on his toes. So with my son the toe walking was sensory. Karrie Amber I do understand what you mean Amber (and others) I think a lot of the problem is that we get all of 5 minutes with our docs these days, and without having information ahead of time, we don't know what the "right" questions are that we need to ask. In my case, we went 6 1/2 years (113 episodes) without a dx of CVS for Riley, and the only way we got one was because I had been researching for years trying to find other like us...which I did eventually (took 4 years)...and it's the info I printed from the internet that got our pediatrician (after another 2 years) on the right track. Amber, Im glad you were able to find a closer place to get an evaluation appointment. Please don't worry yourself sick if you can help it. Yah only thing is they said it can take forever. I was told to go ahead and still send in the paperwork and video (if I can ever get it made!) to the place across state and then also try to get an eval here locally and just see who gets to me first. She said it can take mths sometimes so it might be good to try both lol. Amber I know when I thought maybe Gabe had ODD Michelle sent me some links. So I looked at those. You know what curiosity did to the cat, lol. I dug a little bit further. Quite honestly I scared myself. I was delving into personality disorder websites. Now I didn't go around thinking he must have that. Because honestly I had no idea!!! All I knew was looking online for that info was getting confusing. Because in that area there are too many characteristics that are the same. So I talked to his neuro about it. Also there is a good reason it is a cardinal rule with interns that they don't self diagnose themeselves. Because once an untrained person starts looking into the different medical disease we could actually convince ourselves we have a terminal illness and we nothing close to it. Tammy
My problem is that I get a little "obsessive" sometimes too, but I think that is the result of not being "heard" in the past...His original pediatrician waited for a year and half before FINALLY taking us seriously about his sensory issues and not talking. I still think we know our kids best, and what we say needs to be taken seriously! I'll never go to an office uninformed again! None of us should!!
~Lesley
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