A review article by Kindregan in 2015 delineated common gait characteristics in autistic children between the ages of 4 and 18 years:

• reduced stride length
• increased step width ( = wider base of support)
• reduced range of motion at ankle and knee with increased hip flexion (decreased degrees of freedom?)
• decreased ground reaction force at toe off (decreased muscle power?)

The last post discussed difficulties with transitional movement in autism. If we look at gait as a transitional movement, then it’s not surprising that we would see movement differences here as well.