My daughter is seven with autism and is not verbal.
She fell at school and hurt her foot or ankle. She has not walked since Friday.
I took her to the ER and they say it’s not broken according to the X-rays and looks fine. I have no idea why she won’t walk on it. I can’t ask her about it or convince her to walk on it. She has been hopping around on the good leg walking on her knees and crawling.
Even if it’s not broken, it may still hurt her. So she’s avoiding pain by not walking on it.
Three days seems like longer than it usually takes for the pain of a minor injury to go away. I’d recommend taking her back to the doctor’s.
You know her better than any of us do. My guess is that it simply hurts, and she is avoiding the pain of putting weight on it, but is likely a simple sprain that will resolve.
Like others, I would guess that it does still hurt her and she just can’t tell you that. Possibly a sprain (and those can hurt a lot). If you are able to take her back to the doctor, please do that. Get instructions on how to treat a sprain.
Will your daughter follow instructions? If they wrap the ankle to support it, will she allow that? She likely needs some form of ankle support for a period of time. An ankle brace, alone, may make her comfortable enough to start walking again. They sell several types of these at drugstores, if the doctor doesn’t provide one.
I would also ask the doctor about whether she can use either tylenol or advil (both are available as liquids if she cannot take tablets) to help manage the pain.
There may also be a fear response here. It did hurt a lot. It may still hurt a little, so she avoids it. If you can get her to use it again, before she develops the habit of never using it, that’s probably a good idea. Does she work with any autism or special ed teachers who can help you with this aspect?
Even with it wrapped or a brace, walking on the ankle is going to hurt. She has figured out that hopping avoids that pain, so I’m at a loss on how to get her to put weight on it.
She can stand on it now but refuses to walk on it. She seems to have no pain when standing on it.
I’ve experienced this (pain when walking, not when standing); I don’t think it is that unusual.
mmm
I don’t see why this would be a mystery if the injury was severe enough to suspect a break it’s probably severely sprained and painful.
Have you taken any classes on being the parent of an autistic child? They might help you better understand your child and be a better parent.
I twisted my ankle last spring and it was at least a few days before I could walk without any pain and then only if I walked kind of gimpy-looking. It was several weeks before I could walk without constantly thinking about it and more than a month before I was jogging again. Even now I can still feel it if I put the wrong kind of pressure on it.
Have you tried wrapping it was an Ace bandage or otherwise trying to stabilize it? That seemed to help me a little.
Honestly, your post sounds fairly unsympathetic. I hope that’s just how it’s coming across and you’re not actually trying to make her walk on her hurt ankle.
Omar do you know of any classes on this? I’m asking seriously, btw. Sometimes these resources are hard to find. There’s a lot of regional variance on availability.
I haven’t found any. Not that many good books on it either, although there are some.
Telli if she’s starting to do the things that don’t hurt (like standing), but still not walking, I’d take that as a good sign. A brace might still be a good idea if you can get one from her doctor, and if she’ll wear it. It would help support the area while it’s healing.
Here’s a place to look: Directory | Autism Speaks
I serve on the board of a regional non-profit residential and day school facility that serves children with special needs, many of which are autistic.
You should know then many autistic people are not fans at all of Autism Speaks.
AS would probably suggest some pointless behavioral therapy to force her to walk on her foot when she’s not ready just so she doesn’t shame the family.
See that’s why we avoid classes. 
Maybe if she’s seeing an OT they might have some suggestions to speed things along It sounds to me like classic avoidance behavior that will more than likely fade on it’s own after a while. Even if the pain isn’t there she is afraid it will come back. There’s no need to push her.
Also just out of curiosity I chose my state: TN. There are no classes of any kind for parents of autistic children listed. I’d go the support group route personally. Local if you can find one. That helped me more than anything since my daughter was diagnosed.
If there is no medical problem and you’ve had it checked out, then I’d give it time. Did a bunch of people rush her when she fell? Maybe crowded her to make sure she was ok? She may have been overwhelmed by the situation and is just processing it. The school nurse and some aides rushed my son in the cafeteria when he was eating a nutty buddy and snatched it from him because they mistakenly thought he was allergic to peanuts. He was quite shaken and didn’t understand what was going on. He hasn’t (and won’t) touch anything with peanuts or peanut butter in it and that was like 8 years ago. It’s really difficult to always know what is happening with someone who is non-verbal or has very limited communication skills.
[QUOTE=Omar Little]
serves children with special needs, many of which are autistic.
[/QUOTE]
People have autism, it’s not something they are.
Until a way is found to cure or reverse it, they are autistic.
I’m assuming this is something you already know, but have any of the apps designed for autistic kids helped? I thought some of them helped autistic people communicate better.
[QUOTE=Musicat]
Until a way is found to cure or reverse it, they are autistic.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, it is a lifelong condition. They have autism. To say they “are autistic” puts the label before the person, which often makes people forget there is even a person there.
I worked with autistic people for several years. Many of them who did not speak still understood things. You should keep telling her that her ankle is going to get better. If the doctor advises trying to walk on it to speed up healing (which they often do, because it aides in circulation), keep telling her this. Don’t use the same phrase each time. Use a number of different words and word orders. One might be better for her to process than another.
If the doctor has suggested something like an Aircast, but she has resisted (Aircasts can allow you to walk with a lot less pain), see if the doctor will put one on you first, so you can model getting one and walking on it. If she sees you doing it, she may be willing to try it. I modeled everything from getting dental cleanings to having my feet measured for shoes for clients.
Is she taking any pain medication? Sometimes autistic people don’t respond to narcotics, and actually do better on OTC pain meds. Other times, they need higher doses. Sometimes children, autistic or not, have unusual reactions to narcotics, and if she is taking something like codeine, it could be causing anxiety, which could be compounding the problem.
You might ask for a referral to a pain management specialist. A doctor in this specialty may have worked with non-neurotypical patients before, and be able to try things to help her that the GP or orthopod wouldn’t think of.
Good luck.
Some of this is because she is seven. It can be difficult for even neurotypical children of that age to process experiences like this.
ETA: Are they sure she didn’t do something like dislocate a toe? She might have a painful injury that is hard to detect on an x-ray. Not all painful injuries are breaks.
:rolleyes: