Not walking

[nix]

hi there i wonder if anyone can offer me any advice. I have had to collect my asd four year old from nursery early today because he is refusing to walk and will only crawl. He is unable to explain if anything is hurting him or where he is in pain if at all. I can't understand it because he is crawling really fast and surely if it was his knee or hips it would hurt him. I have massaged all his legs and he doesn't flinch. I have a doctors appointment in morning but I can't face going to hospital and waiting four hours to be seen for exrays etc. Is this common and should I be encouraging him to walk or should i just see what happens. When I force him to walk he is in no pain but is on his tip toes ? very gratefull for any advice.

[bid]

Sorry Nix,

 

I haven't experienced this crawling myself, so can't help with that.

 

But walking on tiptoes is an ASD characteristic. My son who has AS and is nearly 16 walks like this for the majority of the time.

 

Hope someone else comes along who is more helpful!

 

Bid

[lil_me]

My son still goes on his bottom down stairs, and crawls around a lot indoors rather than walking, I have spoken to a few people about this and they said same as me could be many reasons

 

A few possibilities

 

He's searching for things on the floor

 

Doesn't have to look people in the eye as he is lower down

 

Sort of hiding, he is lower down so doesn't have to acknowledge whats going on higher up as he does it a lot when different people are in the room etc

 

His balance is poor and saves him falling over

Edited July 5, 2005 by lil_me

[smallworld]

this might be a crazy idea, but he's not pretending to be a dog/cat etc. ?

I only ask cos one of mine refused to walk cos they WERE a dog !! complete with barking. It drove the neighbours mad.

The other idea is that of regression, all my kids have reverted to 'baby' behaviour at times.

Just a couple of ideas ?

 

wac

[nix]

thanks everyone he has got up this morning and run through to our room but is back crawling again he sometimes feels with his mouth like a baby aswell. I will get him checked out by doctor just to be on safe side you are all so kind to reply, thankyou .

[lorryw]

Hi Nic

I remember going through the same thing with my son. He suddenly stopped walking at about 4 and would only crawl. We took him to A and E who could find nothing wrong physically. After a couple of weeks he stopped and started walking again, still no idea what it was all about.

Just as an aside I fell over when I was 3 and cut my knees. I was cleaned up etc but the following morning I woke and refused to walk. My poor parents had to carry me or I moved in a squatting position. Mum and Dad took me to an assortment of doctors but they coulsd find nothing wrong. This went on for about 6 weeks and eventually they were at breaking point.

One day in the park my Dad was in a hurry to get home and I was doing my usual monkey walk. Dad started to speed up and must have dropped my hand. The thought of losing my Dad in the park alarmed me so much that I got to my feet and ran after him, shouting Daddy Daddy I can walk!!

Im sure your lad will be back on his feet soon

Love Loraine

[lil_me]

I did almost the same thing as a child Loraine, just been speaking to my Mother about it, she said I walked at 8 months then fell and hit my head on a table and refused to walk again for another 8 months.

 

One thing I will say nix is never sit and stew over the cause for some of the quirky behaviour etc your children do, sometimes we'll never find the answer, sometimes we'll find an answer and then its wrong, the main thing is to get him checked for your peace of mind then stay positive, I'm sure he'll be back on his feet in no time.

 

My boys didn't walk until they were 18 months and 2 years old, we were helped by health visitors and nurses etc and noone could get them to walk, we never thought they would walk sometimes, but sure enough they did it when they were ready and I spent the following few months wishing they'd just stay still for 5 minutes

Edited July 6, 2005 by lil_me

[nix]

thanks for all your kind words <'> i took him to doctors who couldn't find anything wrong with his leg apart from a tiny splinter on the base of his foot which he removed. He is still crawling and when i press the base of his foot it doesn t hurt. The only thing I am upset about is the fact that they didn't want him to go to nursery in case the other children pick up on his crawling and copy him I am really upset about that because he has a one to one teacher just for him and I cant see why they couldn t explain to the other children why he wasn t walking. I feel really stressed that they have this attitude after all it is them who have told me to keep him in mainstream school I might have to put in a new post about mainstream v special I always thought I was doing best for George as they have told me that he will learn much more from the other children in a mainstream school as apposed to special because there he will pick up even more bad habits etc I am really confused. I feel like I should make them take him at nursery after all he is not ill and he gets full funding for his own teacher ???

[elainem]

Hi,

 

I can't see any reason at all why he should be excluded from nursery. The reason they have given is laughable. Are they going to exclude children with physical disabilities in case other children copy? It's utter cr*p and it is also discrimination.

 

Personally I would ask them to confirm in writing the reasons for the exclusion and you should contact your Ed Psych to ask what provision is now to be made for your son.

 

Elaine

[Lesley]

This may sound daft but I have to agree with waccoe - my son (4, AS) often starts crawling around because he is 'being' a cat. It's really infuriating because he has to really totally immerse himself in it & you cant get any common sense out of him or snap him out of it.

I've also come across it at work - I teach in a secondary school for Asperger's and one of my year 8's went through a phase of it last year. It drove me totally mad

 

Lesley

[Zemanski]

my niece (NT) reverted to crawling at 2 after a fall - not because of an injury but just because she was frightened of falling again

 

she got over it but it took a while

 

did your son crawl before walking?

 

if not he may be exploring a very important stage of his development a bit late and it may take time to work through it - if this is the case it is a good thing as missing out the crawling stage does delay development, both physical and cognitive.

 

It does no harm for children of nursery age to have some fun crawling around even if they do copy him!

 

Zemanski

[lil_me]

If he is doing what he is because of his diability then surely thats discrimination

 

I bet the other kids do things at other times inc crawling around, they do at my sons nursery all the time playing cats and dogs, they aren't hurting anyone so I can't see a problem in it.

[caroles]

I think you should take your son to nursery,my son can't walk properly,and needs help holding hands,etc,sometimes he moves crawling,no other children get bad habits ,the may play for a little while coping him,but no child stop walking because for it.Anyway your boy got a one to one so she should deal with it.My son is in mainstrain school .

[smallworld]

agreeing with me is usually seen as daft, especially in our house !

reading everyone else's more sensible explanations makes me feel daft too !

[Lesley]

Assuming daftness is the only thing that keeps me sane.

Redefining normality is what we seem to do best.

What is normal?

I'm beginning to realise that I have absolutely no idea...

 

 

Lesley

...NT surrounded by aspies....