Examination of gait parameters during perturbed over-ground walking in children with autism spectrum disorder.

Researchers asked eight boys with autism to walk across a lab floor. Each boy walked three ways: wearing nothing, a 15% body-weight backpack, or a 15% body-weight vest. Motion cameras tracked leg and foot angles to see if the load made walking lopsided.

The team picked 15% because that is the heaviest load schools and clinics usually allow. They wanted real-world numbers, not theory.

The backpack and vest did not create a clear left-right mismatch. Some boys looked more even, some less, but no pattern held across the group.

In short, a heavy backpack or vest will not automatically throw off gait symmetry in school-age boys with ASD.

Gong et al. (2020) saw flat, uneven gait in preschoolers with autism, and the asymmetry grew with social-communication scores. Their kids were younger and unloaded, so age or task difference may explain why asymmetry showed up there but not here.

Hasan et al. (2017) found odd ground-reaction forces in autistic walkers, hinting at hidden instability. Eggleston et al. (2018) did not contradict this; they only showed that symmetry, one slice of stability, stays intact under load.

Martín-Díaz et al. (2026) pooled 34 studies and confirmed poorer balance in ASD across many lab tools. The new gait data fall inside their big picture: balance is shaky overall, yet a 15% load alone does not make symmetry worse.

If you use weighted vests or backpacks for focus or calming, this study says you are unlikely to make walking lopsided. Still watch each child—individual reactions varied. Pair the load with a quick hallway gait check: look for head tilt, uneven arm swing, or foot drag. If those appear, lighten or remove the weight.