Toe Walking in Children

Abstract

A Vorderfussgang in the literature improperly labeled walking on tiptoe or toe walking, which cannot be explained in terms of pyramidal symptomatology is observed in nonautistic children with developmental disorders and in children with Kanner's syndrome. Moreover, this gait is not uncommon in normal children when they are learning to walk. Studies of this gait in the groups of children mentioned support the assumption that in these children this foot position, which is sometimes maintained for several years, is due to fixation at a normal phase of development. Our clinical observations indicate that this developmentally dependent foot position occurs much more frequently in autistic children than in nonautistic children with developmental disorders.