Clinodactyl and Autism

[Csutelan]

I was born with crooked little fingers (pinky fingers) on both hands. Over the years the finger on my left hand got straighter while my right pinky finger became more crooked. Now, at 43, my right pinky finger has a very pronounced inward curve towards my other fingers. I have recently done a little research on this condition which is called Clinodactyl and found a link with Autism and Aspergers. With that in mind I was wondering if anyone else out there had similar issues with their hands. From some of the articles I read, it is frequently seen on children and adults on the spectrum.

 

[Gomendosi]

I dunno if this would be that same thing, but my little toes are almost lying on their side in relation to the other toes and as such, turn inward. Good for pointy shoes Ha-Ha

 

[Arashi222]

I don't have that. But my sister does and she is an NT. SO maybe its just genetics. I mean what you get from one parent or not.

 

[Cerulean]

I dunno if this would be that same thing, but my little toes are almost lying on their side in relation to the other toes and as such, turn inward. Good for pointy shoes Ha-Ha

I'm starting to get the same thing, although I hate wearing shoes so I always go for the wide-toe, foot-shaped ones instead of the pointy toed ones. I have no idea why they're turning over like that. It's driving me nuts, starting to hurt, and I may have corrective surgery on it this winter, yay.

 

[Gomendosi]

You know, I think perhaps I have always had them be like that because as a child I could never be kept in shoes and so every now and again over the years the little toes would get bashed against or catch on something, so maybe they got like that from abuse, I don't know.

Worst example was one time about ten years ago I came flying barefoot into the kitchen of my then partner and caught my foot on the doorjamb.
I immediately sat down and clutched at the toe that was now at a ridiculous forty five degree angle and amazingly, laughed at whether it was broken or dislocated... my lovely lady then made things even more hilarious when she kindly enquired;

"Wow that's a neat trick, how do you get it to do that?"

 

[Cerulean]

"Inertia, my dear."

 

[westrain]

I have Aspergers and the littlefinger on my hand is crooked been like as long as I remember. Never knew there was a name for it

 

[Bay]

Mine too! Right hand.

 

[smith2267]

I have a different hand oddity. I have large palms and, compared to my palms, short fingers. When I was a vet student I could never get surgical gloves to fit me.

 

[Soup]

My hands have the reverse problem: my palms are very small but my fingers are ridiculously long. My feet are narrow with regular shaped toes but I think that my small narrow feet compound my balance issues & make me topple sideways sometimes for no apparent reason. Tres embarrassing because it makes me look like a drunk chick & I don't drink!

 

[Bay]

I topple over sometimes too; don't know why. It is as if I just become unbalanced.

 

[Soup]

It's as if someone suddenly yanked the floor out from under me. No dizziness to forewarn me so I can sit or hold onto something. Just sudden sideways toppling. They say this is an inner ear issue.

 

[kchapman1988]

my hands have always been really long, i used to be skinny but my hands looked skelital and many family members commented on it, now i've finally put some weight on i'm over weight. also have lots of balance problems strangely drinking southern comfort seems to help thou

 

[Loomis]

My son has long fingers as well as remarkable musical talent. I believe his long fingers help with his violin playing. His teachers have remarked on his excellent intonation and musicality. One teacher described his playing as "buttery."

It is curious that when we had him examined at age 6 by a very high quality child psychological institute they said he had a problem with his motor visual integration. They explained that he might have trouble when sensory input entered through the eyes and would then need to be transferred to hand movements. The example the psychologist used was looking at a whiteboard in a classroom taking the information in and then being able to record the information through his hands into a notebook: the type of activity one begins to do in high school and becomes more refined in college.

Now the interesting thing about this analysis is that he does in fact have this problem now that he is 16 and entering 11th grade. But equally interesting is that he has no difficulty at all reading a musical score and having beautiful music expressed from his violin using his bow in one hand and his fingers on the violin strings of his other hand. Somehow, when he was 3 years old he knew he wanted to play the violin. He began taking violin lessons before he was four years old, at first learning to hold a cardboard violin. He received his first real violin for his fourth birthday and slept with it that night. Well, now at age 16 he is in the Local Youth Symphony's highest orchestra and they are one of the top ten youth orchestras in the country.

So why is it different that he has so much trouble taking in information from a white board and having it come out his pencil but he experiences no such problem in music? I have no clue and neither do the doctors but as his father I am grateful that he has a skill that he is so good at. I certainly never had anything like that. He was rated the best violinist in his school of 2000 kids in his sophomore year beating out all of the juniors and seniors and scoring a perfect 40 out of 40 in his audition.

Anyway, what does this have to do with the thread? I have mentioned his long fingers but he was also born with one of his ears misshapen. His left ear lies flat against his head and is normal. His right ear flares out and comes to a point at the top somewhat like a vulcan but less pointy. Does anyone else have oddly shaped ears?

 

[Bay]

I was born with pointed ears, but at some point outgrew them. It was so pronounced that a neighbor child asked if I were an elf.

 

[kchapman1988]

i apologise in advance for this.

i guess years later you could only be legolas..

 

[Bay]

I don't know what that means.

 

[kchapman1988]

leg-less, as in very very drunk sorry its a poor play on words i've heard before

 

[smith2267]

I was born with pointed ears, but at some point outgrew them. It was so pronounced that a neighbor child asked if I were an elf.

It would be so kickass if you still had them