dyspraxa - has anyones ds or dd learnt to ride a bike. and how did you do it??????

[changenameruk]

i know its not a big thing in the scheme of things but i want dd to learn to ride a bike.

She is 7 almost 8 and has severe dyspraxia. She can only ride a 3 wheel (little girls scooter) which is far too small and she looks silly on it. I have tried to get her to ride one of those slim line scooters that kids her age ride but she flatly refuses.

We have tried a bike. She has one with stabilisers but refuses to ride it and anyway is getting to the age where she will be teased if she has stabilisers. I have tried lowering the saddle and taking the stabliers off. I have tried gentle persuasion to shouting at her but she wont even try to peddle!!!!

Usually i am fine and accept dd is different and just wont learn to ride a bike but just now a group of 5 little girls have knocked on the door on their bikes and asked if DS - not DD- can come out. They know that DD can not ride a bike/scooter. It should be DD playing with them not DS !!!!!!!!

Also when we go out to the park with friends the kids are all on bikes or scooters and dd is left walking with the adults as she can't keep up with the children further increasing her isolation.

any bright ideas?????

[troutpout]

Take the pedals off her bike so she scoots on it and leans to balance on it that way.
Once she gets the balance thing going she might be able to cope with pedals.

Tbh though..unless she finds it fun then she won't want to do it...is there something else she could join in with these other children with?

[baseW]

Hi,
i am having the same trouble with my ds at the moment he has CP so struggles with balance and coordination.
I am currently looking at two types of things -
Balance trainers £29.66 and Adjustibilisers £64.99. They were both designed by a father of a child with hemiplegia and the idea is that both types of stabilisers are supposed to help the child learn to balance within aprox two weeks on a bike that they no longer require the stabiliser?
The feedback on the website sounds great - as you would expect!! I did start a thread a couple of weeks ago hoping that somebody else had some experience of them befor i made my choice but no replies i'm afarid.
If you google them you should find them quick enough its a disabled cycling website
Hope this helps.
baseW

[changenameruk]

thanks base. will have a look on web

busybeing mum - i try and get pedals taken off ds little bike if i can.

i will try and persuade her again but she is too frightened of falling. we have this all the time. she would never go in a swing as a baby/toddler and is only now sitting one and pushing it with her fet - but wont go high.

She goes horse riding (loves horses) but is only happy walking - after 2 years of lessons she is just getting the hang of trot but needs the instructor running next to her.

her balance is just so poor.

the little girls in the street always seem to be riding their bikes about so it is difficult for her to join in.

i am looking after a friends daughter for 3 days at the end of the hols so dd will have someone to play with then

[Jambuttie]

DS1 also has dyspraxia and like your daughter was unable to ride a bike. He was always upset that his peers were able to do it and he couldn't join in

Not sure what area you are from but we are in Scotland, our OT referred our son to the "pedal power" group which ran for 6 wks and the kids got 2 hrs training a wk. OT was involved as was other proffessionals.

DH attended the classes with our son and was able to use the techniques to help our twins ride their bikes.

At the start of the course the pedals were taken off DS's bike and he didnt get them on until he was able to balance on his bike- then only 1 pedal was put on, then the 2nd.

A lot of time a patience is needed to help them( hence why dh went along as I amalways on the go doing 20 million things at once lol)

If you need anymore tips I can ask DH when he gets home from work and post them for you

[lingle]

what a good idea to put one pedal back on first. I have noticed that DS2 is now "pedalling" with just his left foot - achieving small movements forwards sometimes.

I have made a game of walking downstairs one foot at a time. He needs to hold my hands though - he thinks it is really acrobatic. Until he can do this easily I won't attempt to get him pedalling as I've seen a few posts on here saying these abilities are linked.

[devientenigma]

Hi,
my ds is 8 and has down syndrome among others, he still can't ride a three wheel bike and as he is getting too big I am about to put in for a special needs trike. He hardly walks, has no balance or co-ordination either. From the spd side of things has major probs with vestibular, proprioception and touch which doesn't help. He also doesn't hold the handles much. Although he also has a wheelchair and a stairlift. HTH.

[bubble2bubble]

Hi DD1 has dyspraxia and still on a trike at 4 ( not a catastrophe I know ). She will not even consider getting on a balance bike, which we thought would be the answer, and a scooter was a complete disaster. Eventually the other day she said she wanted to try her Big bike ( with stabilisers) and actually did sit on it and pedalled a couple of feet - hoorah!
She herself is very aware of her dificulties - her balance is not great, but as far as bikes go the OT has said the difficulty is more in her rotational problem - at the moment she can't turn her head indedpendently of her arms, so steering is difficult, and becomes worse on a two wheeler as the possiblity of falling is greater IYSWIM. So we are hoping that by working more on her bilateralism & rotation that she will see a bike as a possibilty eventually.
Sorry, don't think this is much help, but just thinking there are so many factors involved, it would probably be worth asking an OT's opinion

[vickylaguapa]

Hi my ds has just turned 8 and is VERY tall for his age (height of a 10 year old), he has Aspergers. He has very little core stability/strength and cycles with stabilisers leaning to one side all the time! If anyone knows of a cycling course in the Guildford/Surrey area I would be very grateful, as we really think it is time to ditch the training wheels. Luckily he is not at all bothered by other kids comments and they are mostly very accepting when he explains he has "special needs".