Trying to Reduce Toe-walking among children with Autism

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Not the best of ways to help, if you ask me.

the only reason I see to maybe correct is is perhaps if it creates bad balance for the person doing it and therefore making the person trip alot? I for one never watched peoples feet while they walk so doubt others do it or care.

Perhaps if the shoe could be made to help with sensory issues it could help however I have always has trouble with lumps, insoles, liners and other corrective/support inserts and liners or any other disturbance in my footwear, I would even wear socks with sandles if I had the choice, now a days I can't even get sandles i can wear becouse of texture issues.

Either way I could not care less about correcting my toe walking as I have real important issues to deal with in life. Toe walking is nothing compared the other traits of AS.

I used to walk on my toes when I was a child. I also had terrible knock-knees. When I was four I was prescribed special shoes to correct both. I was very fond of my special boots. They helped a lot with the knees, and a little with the toe-walking, but I kept walking on my toes at times, even into adulthood.

I am now 44 and have problems with my feet and ankles, and a bit with my knees and hips too. It makes walking sometimes difficult and/or painful. I don't know if it has to do with my walking pattern, but I think that might well be the case. After all, walking on tip-toes puts pressure on parts of the feet and legs that are not built for this. So I think it is a good idea to stop children from toe-walking; it might prevent problems later in life.

As for BuyerBeware:
You are a horrible person. You may think you are 'fixing' your son, and you may succeed in making him look and act more socially acceptable, but your nasty, cruel actions are damaging him as a person. You are teaching him that being him is inherently wrong.
It may seem as if he forgets, and he may smile, but he is just hiding his pain.

Darn, that sounds bad. I am 21 and still do it. Meaning...what?

I'm 25, and I've toe-walked since I began walking. It's enjoyable to me, and I don't feel I have any ill effects from it. I have terrible balance and coordination, but I don't feel it's from toe-walking. I don't toe-walk in certain types of shoes, but I am unable to walk "normally" when barefoot. It is an alien thing to me. I'll toe-walk until I die, I'm sure.

I toe walk when I am not wearing shoes. I only do it when no one is looking or if just my fiance is looking. I am 30. I have done it for years because it is fun and feels good to me. I like it much better than walking flat-footed.

I can see the benefit in kids not doing it in school, for social reasons, but it is enjoyable to some people.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the OP, but aside from the issue of whether it's a good idea or not, why do you believe "stimulating the heel" is something that will help with this issue? Autistic people often have sensory issues and the soles of the feet are particularly sensitive parts of the body (especially for children). One of the reasons autistic children toe-walk is to reduce the amount of sensory input they feel from their feet. I'm alarmed that someone seems to believe they would be helping by stimulating the feet more. This is only likely to distress the child and not help them in any way. Autistic sensory sensitivity is not something which gets better when you force the person to endure lots of it - that will only traumatise them.

Perhaps you should be doing research into shoes that reduce sensory input to the soles of the feet instead, and thereby helping autistic people adjust to their environment instead of just helping out the neurotypical people who don't like the appearance of their children's coping mechanisms (since the only help they need is help to be more accepting of autistic behaviour).

Hello all and thank you for the feedback!!

@Buyerbeware

Awful. just awful. nothing else to say

@Chloe33

In no way whatsoever do we feel that toe walking is unacceptable! However, there are cases where people who develop toewalking as a child develop physical problems later on in their lives, as described by @Cinnamon. In no way whatsoever are we trying to "make money off parents with Autistic children". Currently, parents of children who toe-walk have them go through treatments such as surgery, botox injections, or ankle foot orthotics, which all are extremely expensive, invasive, and not the most effective. We are simply trying to provide a much cheaper, and effective alternative treatment.

We are developing an orthotic that you slip into a shoe (ex. Dr Scholls orthotics) that would teach autistic children to put pressure on their heal rather than their toes, which would hopefully prevent physical issues that can be developed later in life (due to toewalking).

We feel that if proven effective, our foot orthotics could also help reduce social stigmas placed on autistic children, as mentioned by @veggiegirl. But this is not our primary goal.

As mentioned by @Rapidroy, toewalking can cause difficulties with balance later on in life.

Sorry for taking so long to respond! and all of your input is 110% is appreciated! Please continue to add to this and we will continue to update you. Thanks again!

Also, sorry for the broken links in the original post, was restricted from posting links until a couple of posts. Thanks for all of the understanding everyone!

--InsertHeals

A

We are not a

The social stigma isn't caused by autistic people differing from others, but from others who can't handle difference in a mature and rational fashion.

Autism treatments are a growth industry. Parents want their children to be normal and all sorts of people want to sell normal to parents of autistic children. Doesn't matter that this may put autistic children under significant duress, because the important thing is that they appear as normal as possible.