Toe Walking, now surgery

My youngest with Autism is six, and he always toe walks. He has done it for as long as I can remember, which when I haven't lost my mind isnt much these days.
I took my son to the Dr. and he had no idea what resources to give me, so he read from an autism forum of what other parents have done...yes its time to find a new Dr.
Well he says my son needs to have his tendon's severed because I waited to long to address the issue. What he did not hear was that we have been doing OT and PT for years and it hasn't helped. We have also tried boots, flippers, hightops, braces, walking backwards...which he loves! and Next month we are trying prism lenses.
With alot of behaviors I say if its not hurting him or anyone else, let it go. But I also do not want him to have to wear heels when he is sixteen.

Any ideas I'd appreciate it.
Thanks
Twospecialboys

TwoSpecialBoys, facing a possibility of surgery would certainly concern any parent. I know very little about this topic, but looking through the literature it does appear that surgery is considered if all the other types of interventions do not work.

See a February 2008 article on "Idiopathic Toe-walking": http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18432151?dopt=abstract

Toe walking has been associated with autism, as discussed in a recent article on motor impairments in autism. In that study, 19% of 154 children whose charts were reviewed had some history of toe walking.

See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17467940?dopt=abstract

One key question for your doctor would be: What are the likely consequences if the toe walking is not corrected? I have so far not found specific information about the long term effect of persistent toe walking.

I hope others who have faced this issue will share their experience here.

As a health care worker I do know that toe walking long term can do significant damage to the calf muscles making it impossiable for the person to walk with the normal heel to toe gait. With OT and PT this condition is supposed to be able to resolve it's self, in my son's case however it has not helped.