Asymmetry in Infants and the Crab Crawl
July 9, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Yesterday I posted about tracking eye movements as a way to test very children for autism — and then, later in the day, read about another possible marker for detecting autism in young children. University of Florida researchers Osnat and Philip Teitelbaum think that different patterns of movement in babies and toddlers may be indicators of autism, as noted in the Orlando Sentinel. The Teitelbaums spent five years viewing home videos of babies who were later diagnosed with autism.
Osnat and Philip Teitelbaum discovered some unmistakable patterns among autistic children. “I compare it to music,” says Philip Teitelbaum. “After you get so many scores, you look at them and you see this pattern happens here and here and here.”
For instance, one of the most common crawling patterns among autistic children is what the Teitelbaums call “asymmetrical crawling,” in which the baby crawls with one leg in the crawling position and other leg in the walking position. The baby can crab around the room fine, but one side of the body isn’t doing what the other side is.
They also found that many autistic babies showed a preference for one side of their bodies. For example, while normal infants may reach for a toy with both hands — or they may alternate hands — autistic babies seem to prefer and use only one hand, even though children don’t become right-handed or left-handed until they’re 4 or 5 years old.
And some autistic children never crawl; they often skip crawling and simply begin walking. While parents may think that’s thrilling, it’s not a good sign, says Philip Teitelbaum. It signals, he says, that there’s something wrong with their neurological development.
Some doctors are understandably worried about parents becoming unnecessarily alarmed by any motor delays or differences in a child (I myself walked at 16 months). The notion of Translating Autism also recently reviewed asymmetry as a potential predictor of autism in a child intrigues me.
Charlie “crab-crawled,” with his left leg (I think it was his left leg) neatly tucked under and his right leg stretched out; he used his hands to move and he was fast. He never crawled (well, not until he was a toddler very capable of walking and running, on very long and wobbly legs). When Charlie was born, his left leg (I think) was almost bent in half over his right, in a pretzel twist: He was a relatively big baby for a relative small mother and he must have been curled up tightly inside of me (the doctors incorrectly guessed that he would be a small baby, not an 8-plus pound 21 1/2 inch boy with big feet).
Charlie’s pediatrician did not think much one or another of his crab crawl. Everyone else remarked on it, and Jim and I were highly aware that we were parents of a boy who didn’t crawl like the other kids, but scooted and seemed not at all inclined to do as the other kids did. We were simply glad that he was self-motoring, and in a characteristically Charlie way.
i would lay on my back…stare at my destination…and begin kicking my feet. apparently, i resembled an a little inch worm.
This is interesting because it was not my ASD child, but her sibling that crab-crawled! Her sibling is NT.
“some autistic children never crawl; they often skip crawling and simply begin walking. While parents may think that’s thrilling, it’s not a good sign, says Philip Teitelbaum. It signals, he says, that there’s something wrong with their neurological development.”
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Well, that was me. I did not crawl, and apparently everyone was thrilled out of their minds when I finally got off of my duff.
I hope Dr. Teitelbaum is maintaining good controls against selection bias.
I didn’t do anything. I was not capable of walking until I was two, and not capable of sitting up on my own by the time most babies do. Never crawled at all.
My brother did a sort of army crawl, but backwards (he always got himself stuck under places that way, it was hilarious).
This is really interesting. While looking at other Autism blogs and articles I found one on the Pitch website about one of the best school districts in MO being accused of abandoning its autistic students. It is pretty good article, here is the link if you would want to check it out….http://www.pitch.com.
Ours never crawled until after he walked. Always thought it was because he was just so darned fat (couldn’t his the belly off the ground.) Well, now I know . . . . He really was a huge chub, though.
One of my best friends, a seven year old autistic kid, just started HANDLE therapy and the lady who tested him got a very, very strong sense that his left and right brain hemispheres are working quite separately (e.g. he’d grasp for stuff with the right hand if it was on his right side, and with the left hand if it was on his left). I think the left/right brain function as separate entities as possible diagnosis, and synchronisation between them as possible way to enhance things like speech or coordination, may be something to keep an eye on for the future. But without losing the separate function – what I feel strongly about is that there is value in the way an autistic brain functions, so being able to separate your brain hemispheres’ functions may mean the ability to analyse and interpret the environment in a new and valuable way. Who knows.
Oh, another thing I have noticed: I am asssisting an autistic friend of mine to get his driver’s license. He learned with a manual gear box and sometimes it is like he struggles focussing on changing gears with one hand while operating the gas pedal with his opposite foot (so, the clutch and gear sides work together, but the gas is managed by the opposite brain hemisphere). This once happened to the point of him forgetting to steer the car around a corner, because he was so focussed on getting the two things working together. There is definitely something in this theory.
This was a really interesting post. When I was searching the web for other autism sites I found this story on the Pitch about one of the best school districts in MO being accused of abandoning its autistic students. Here is a link if you would like to check it out, it is pretty good….http://www.pitch.com.
…He learned with a manual gear box and sometimes it is like he struggles focussing on changing gears with one hand while operating the gas pedal with his opposite foot …
Well, the obvious solution would be for him to move to a country that drives on the right side of the road (so the gas and gear sides would be the same). But then the clutch side would be left out.
Never mind…
Joe
Hmm, L didn’t crawl, he went straight to walking at 10mo. K started cruising at 6 mo and walked at 9, though he did a crawling stint briefly before and after he started walking.
A lot of my friends kids also skipped or crawled funny, yet non of theirs are autistic?
Its interesting, though, as an early indictor or warning sign to look for and keep and eye on. But even with in autism, the spectrum is huge in terms of behaviors and diagnosis. Some have certain signs of ASD, and others with the same diagnosis may have completely different presentations. The speech delay is the big one for us. My guys don’t really do a lot of “classic” ASD behaviors, most people who meet them don’t automatically see them as different, but once you get to know them then you can see the autistic stims and etc.
My NT daughter walked before crawling-she would barely spend time in the prone position as a baby. My autistic son crawled normally on schedule. I don’t recall his reaching only with one arm-I would probably have noticed that having worked in pediatric PT for many years. Many children skip crawling or use different patterns of mobility before walking (scoot on bottom in sit) for various reasons (temperament, weight, muscle tone) and do not have autism.
It’s not only autistic kids who are walking before crawling now. Since the “Back to Sleep” campaign in the 1990’s which aimed (successfully) to reduce the number of SIDS cases, many more babies are skipping crawling because they are spending significantly less time on their bellies. SInce autism rates rose along with this cohort, I think it’s more of a correlation than a cause and effect.
My NT neice skipped crawling, my AS son did crawl before walking.
Charlie also did some inch-worming.
Driving a car with a clutch—–my dad gave me one lesson and when I said “what’s that burning smell?” and he said “it’s the clutch” (maybe he said the brake….), it was made clear, I would only drive automatic.
I didn’t crawl, I rolled. And cruised around furniture.
I am in my 20s and still don’t have a dominant hand.
Amigo scooted on our wood floors; I used to suggest spraying his behind with Pledge or Endust. He did eventually crawl, but scooting was his main movement. That was long before we suspected autism.
And his NT sister? She took her time walking (17 months), but climbed everything.