DS's PT Evaluation

We had DS's physical therapy evaluation today. For those of you who don't know, DS's feet are very pigeon-toed (his toes/feet point in when he walks). We were hoping he would outgrow it but noticed in the last few months it had gotten considerably worse. Luckily, it isn't as serious as I thought. He will have to wear braces on both of his feet for a while (possibly years), but because he's so young and we're catching it early, he shouldn't need any surgery. The braces are short and will be hidden by socks- which I'm grateful for because I would hate for him to have another thing kids could possibly pick on him about.

His pigeon toeing is probably caused by hypotonia or low muscle tone. Many children with autism have very low muscle tone. For example, if you close your eyes and hold your arms straight out in the air, you can feel your muscles telling you that your arms are straight out. Many children with autism cannot feel this sensation- they cannot feel their limbs/muscles. Anyway, this is causing lots of issues with DS- he walked very late, has difficulty walking on different types of flooring/grass, difficulty with steps/stairs. He is also extremely timid about trying different things- mainly because he can't always feel what he's doing. It's hard to explain... and I'm sure makes things very scary for him.

He will be starting physical therapy (on top of his speech therapy and occupational therapy) in a couple weeks. They are going to do a lot of water exercises with him (which should be interesting since he hates taking baths)!