Can I teach my 15 year old DD with dyspraxia to ride a bike?

[Margaritatatata]

Hi,

So I should start by saying that I did actually get her assessed a few years ago and the conclusion was, she isn't dyspraxic and just has a "weak core". This was purely because her hand writing was good and she could (not with ease) catch and throw a ball. Apparently pretty much all people diagnosed with dyspraxia have poor hand writing. We sort of left it there and moved on with our lives.

Fast forward to now and she still can't ride a bike, swim "properly" and has trouble with certain stairs. Usually very steep ones with no hand rail, although it wasn't that long ago that she struggled coming down our stairs at home.

I'll be honest, we haven't tried the bike thing for a long time, as it was just making her feel rubbish about herself and tbh my heart was breaking for her a bit, as she was struggling a lot with so much at the time. I suspect she's also on the autistic spectrum, as she sometimes has difficulties with socialising. She's matured a lot recently though and seems to be growing a lot in confidence.

Anyway, back to the original question. Is it actually possible that some people just can't learn to ride a bike? Are there special biking tutors out there? As well as balance and coordination problems, I think it's also about doing lots of different things at the same time. So pedaling, steering, looking ahead and braking is a real challenge for her.

I hope it's ok to post this here, but it's for traffic, as I believe dyspraxia is reasonably common.

TIA

Both my DDs have dyspraxia. Both learned to cycle around age 8, but neither really safe enough to cycle on roads. Start on a slope to just get balance, then work up from there. At that age you may need to go 'out of area' so her peers don't see her learning.

DD1 however did learn to drive in an automatic, it took 70-80hrs practice, but she passed first time.

The main issue is holding on the the handle too tightly - you can ride a bike without arms!

Look for this and get them to relax arms -

Also Y shaped legs - if they feel wobbly get them to open their legs so they don’t topple over …

But yes it’s possible

Do they have bikeability in your area? They are great at teaching kids to cycle.

Thanks for the advice.

Thing is, she really doesn't seem interested in trying again, but I suspect it's a self preservation thing, rather than genuinely not being bothered.

Also, privacy is a big thing. It's quite difficult to find somewhere suitable to learn that's also secluded. I remember her getting looks when she was 8/9, nevermind 15!

@Nadal I did Google, but the website doesn't appear to be working. I keep putting in my postcode, but nothing happens. I'll do another general search. Thank you.

If she doesn't really want to, does it matter much if she never learns? I think after a certain age you've missed the childlike joy phase of cycling.

Eldest learned at 11 - no diagnosed dyspraxia but the clumsiest kid ever. It was wanting to do cycling proficiency with her peers that did it. She even fell in a bush in front of the whole group …..
now she’s grown she cycles loads and enjoys it.

It depends. I'm dyspraxic and can't ride a bike, my friend is also dyspraxic and can ride one.

Mine did but he's very wobbly and not competent to ride on the road. So not sure what the point of teaching him was!

We spent hours on a bike with the pedals off, riding down a slope and then put them on. Took about 7-8 hours?

Min with ASD and dyspraxia learnt at about 8 - horrendous handwriting! I would try to teach her on the flat, you ideally need a tarmac slope. Start by getting her to push the bike off at the top and just holding her legs up as it goes down the slope. Do this over and over so she starts to get her balance. Then she can try getting her feet on to the pedals and then finally actually pedalling. DS was fine at cycling but just occasionally he would just suddenly fall off!

What bike do you have? The only thing that worked for DD who has similar issues is forking out for a frog bike. There's lots of lightweight adult ones but they are expensive. I would take the pedals off first and get her to ride it as a balance bike first.

Can you take the pedals and chain off? It lessens how many things she needs to think about. Once she can confidently scoot and balance you could put the pedals back. We used to go the the park and ride carpark after hours as it was mostly deserted.

If she's 15 and not bothered, then I wouldn't bother.

I can ride a bike, in that I can (now, after a lot of practice) make it go without falling off. As long as there's literally nothing and no one else around me... I wouldn't be safe to ride a bike on roads, which is a shame. I would like to be able to, but also don't want to die, so there we go!

I think there are adult cycling lessons, though. www.bikeability.org.uk/about-cycle-training/cycle-training-for-adults/ seems to have some useful information.

But I'm nearly 40 and have never needed to ride a bike, so if your daughter can't or doesn't want to learn, I promise that it's really not essential. (Though she will have to get used to stupid comments from people about it, if she isn't already...)

My son has developmental co-ordination disorder, significant motor disorder. We spent £3k on physical therapies for him and he still can't ride a bike.

However, before he even started therapies he wanted to roller blade. He tried, and he failed and he got angry and I got angry and I wanted to give up. He said let me do this mum.

He can roller blade now, he's awesome, but he took such a long time for the same reasons you say: weak core; co-ordination and balance problems. The problem you hint at which may be harder to overcome is the organising of the movements. People with dyspraxia need to repeat an action a significant amount more times than a typical person to develop that muscle memory we need to swiftly complete a physical action in a timely manner.

This can mean she needs more time to repeat steps in the same way each time, a little at a time (3 step checks such as both hands on handle bars, bum on seat, raise you head and shoulders-just to give her correct posture before moving onto lifting one foot to start position, push that leg down, raise other leg up etc).

The biggest thing is, she really wants to learn because it will be hard to perform and easy to give up if she's not motivated to. Also, that you understand there are teaching techniques needed here which are not the average mum and dad style of running along behind holding them and shouting out commands.

My son doesn't even want to try anymore, he's had enough disappointment. But he swims to club standard and has swam 1.5miles in one session. This kid can't even sit up on a bike for one second independently. It's just not for everyone.

Eldest has ASD and dyspraxia; she learned to ride a bike at 12 when she had a go on her uncle’s very lightweight racing bike! She had the theory all there from years of attempts to teach her, but the weakened core meant she couldn’t keep a heavy normal kid’s bike upright alongside coordinating the steering, the pedalling, the looking where you’re going…
she has her own lightweight bike now. Still a bit wobbly! But she has it. They are more expensive than a regular Halfords one (they are shockingly heavy!) but there are places you can hire from long term to try it out for a while.