Strange Gait? How did you run when you were a child?

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The song by Styx: "Mr. roboto, Mr. roboto."

I remember standing on the playground in the first grade, with two classmates standing beside me; and one said to me " run."

"Go run, come on run, now." I remember them laughing and commenting that I was running as a robot would have.

But it wasn't a tease, as more of an observation - he pantomined me, showing what it looked liked.

Then he said what I need to do to look normal, as a coach would.

Mr. Roboto,Mr. Roboto.....................................................................

I couldn't run when I was little. I would just start off and then when limbs would ache. These days I'm a lot healthier and fit. People commented on my strange walk and I think by the time I reached me teens people commented that I ran funny.

When I ran, my legs would go to the sides as I pushed off the ground.

I was told I run funny but this is mainly due to one leg being longer than the other.

I still run funny, everybody bursts out laughing or they might feel sorry for me when I run. I also have asthma, so I can't run for longer than a few seconds.

I remember my parents getting on me about the way I walk, something about pigeon toed or something. And a friend of mine said I walk like I have a stick up my butt.

With me I was leaning forward too much.

When I walked barefoot, I walked on the tips of my toes. I forget when I stopped, though.

My great uncle called me twinkletoes.

According to my sister, when I first started walking my family noticed that I had a funny walk and they had me checked out because they thought something was wrong with me.
She brought this up because I was telling her about how when I was in middle school my best friend pointed out that I tended to veer off to one side while I walked and usually ended up walking into her while we were walking in the same direction together.
In high school my friends pointed out in the same thing.

When I went through Navy boot camp... well, let's just say they yelled at me a whole lot for not being able to march correctly.

EDIT: Oh yeah. And while I was in school to learn my job (for the Navy) one of my friends, once again, pointed out that I walk weird. But I could not, and still cannot, for the life of me figure out what she meant. I thought I walked normally but ever since then I've been way more self-conscious about it and as a result I think I now walk oddly because I pay too much attention to how I walk.

Like alicedress, I used to run, and still run, on my tiptoes when I am barefooted. I have never walked that way, nor have I ever run on my tiptoes while wearing shoes, to my knowledge. Now that I am more aware of the differences between myself and other people around me who are not autistic, I have noticed that I put more weight on my toes than on my heels when I run. It still looks pretty normal, though.

One very strange trait I had between the onset of Asperger's and the onset of puberty was that I would camel-swing my arms while walking. Normal people counter the inertia caused by walking by swinging their arms counter to their leg movements; i.e., their left arm and right leg swing forward at the same time, then their right arm and left leg, lather, rinse, repeat. Instead, I would swing my left arm at the same time I would step with my left foot. I have no idea how I kept my balance while doing this, but this was natural to me. Today I swing my arms normally, and have neither the balance nor the coordination to do purposely what I did as a child naturally. - LJS

I still do this. I hate the sensation of skin on any floor. Even on couches.

I'm told I never "rotated my feet". Whatever that means.

My mom always used to tell me that I walked like I was pulling a tractor. I kept my arms stiffly to my sides as I walked, put my head down, and walked with purpose. As I got older, I learned to move my arms when I walked, though I still have trouble with it sometimes. And when I ran, I also kept my arms straight at my sides, which made it somewhat difficult. I fell over a lot when I was running.

I was always the slowest runner in my PE class.

I remember specifically someone telling me I ran like an ostrich.

I ran track in my jr. & sr. years in high school. Never placed any better than fourth in any heat or event.

As a child I did not begin by just running away, I crawled away over a busy street on my hands and knees at the age of one running the gauntlet of trucks and "trams" (light rail cars) and finished up in a house of Italian migrants who feasted me on chocolates. As soon as I learnt to walk the desire to run away only intensified, I finished up in the police station on a least one occasion, my first brush with the law at the age of three.

when i was like eight years old I pretty much hate running since I get tired too quickly. I then realized that i was not unfit to run, it was the fact that i needed to learn how to pace myself. right now, running is easy and enjoyable to me.