8 year old can't ride a bike

[Hagnumber4]

The kids around here are always out on their bikes which is lovely. Eldest son is still on stabilisers but now needs a new bike. Guy in the shop says that he needs 24" which you can't add stabilisers to.

Son doesn't want to ride without stabilisers but desperately needs a bigger bike.

He is AuDHD and goes to a specialist school so is a challenging character and is hyper mobile with quite significant balance issues.

Any thoughts?

Can he learn on a small rented bike he can easily put his feet down with

I just googled stabilisers for 24inch bikes and it came straight up with various options, decathlon was one. You might just need to shop around a bit

Take the pedals off.

Has he tried a balance bike? Also there are companies that will teach bike riding, we have one near us and it seems very popular. Might be easier with a 'professional'?

You can adapt a larger bike - go to a different shop!

My friend's son (about 12 now) has various balance related difficulties and rides a specialised bike a bit like a tricycle. It looks like an age appropriate bike but has three wheels. I think it was expensive though. Is this a potential option?

He could have a trike instead?

Ok you guys are confirming my thinking. Thankyou. I tried to take the pedals off his last bike but he had a complete and utter shit fit at me. I might try again on the new bike.

Stupidly didn't think to Google stabilisers for bigger bikes. Just listened to the guy at the shop and accepted it!

I had to get adult stabilisers for my son’s junior bike, he’s dyspraxic amongst other things, and could never manage to balance. I bought them at Halfords and a little bike shop fitted them for me.

Does your son’s school do Bikeability? My son did it in year 5 and within a day session he could finally do it, stabiliser free. If not, I’d recommend you contact them as they may have private sessions they could offer, and the instructor was great with all his various SEN.

with our AuDHD son we worked first on balance (hyper mobile too), so got him on a gentle grassy slope and just had him freewheel down it just to focus on keeping upright and straight. Then did it with him making a turn at the bottom, and gradually worked up to using pedals and put it all together. I think the issue he had was that it’s a lot to have to do all at once (balance, pedal, steer, brake, look for obstacles etc) and he got overwhelmed so just breaking it down bit by bit til it became almost automatic worked best. Now he’s mastered it he’s rarely on his bike though - for him it seems to be “I’ve don’t it how I never need to do it again!”
He was about 8 when he finally mastered it.

A trike may be an option. Offers more stability.

@BlueRidgeMountain funnily enough that reminds me of his swimming. He can swim underwater sort of dolphin like but he can't do arms, legs, etc together to actually swim.

Most of the difficulty is his attitude. He finds perseverance hard. He doesn't like a challenge. I'm not sure if his school does bikeability. I'm imagining not due to the logistics of having so many kids with difficulties but I can always ask.

I would definitely stick with the stabilisers for a bit longer. Our son was a fantastic rider at 5 without stabilisers, we got him a new bike and he suddenly couldn't balance and couldn't ride for years, despite lots of encouragement. Eventually he got a girlfriend who could ride and magically worked it out himself!

My DD (likely asd but waiting lists!) is now an older teen but what you say about attitude describes her when she was younger. She would decide she couldn't do something so wouldn't. She could ride a bike when she was maybe 3. She jumped on her older brother's bike, went up the path, came back, got off and said "I too little" and refused point blank to ride again. She was about 9 when she finally cracked bike riding and I was on the verge of looking at trikes and other adapted bikes. The incentive to do it (bike rides to a special cafe she very much liked and therefore cake reward) overrode the stubbornness. We got her on a well balanced bike which is definitely key. There are the super expensive ones like Isla and Frog but Cube are also excellent and very well balanced. She is still not brilliant at riding to be fair and it will never be her natural mode of transport!

I'm not in UK but in my country some ASD organisations arrange cycling lessons, they have good success.
Regarding the swimming, my son was similar. I got him a week of one to one intensive swimming lessons this summer with an instructor who has experience with neurodivergent learners and it made a huge difference. Group lessons were a waste of money and cause of stress to everyone.
Back to cycling, would he be bothered by having stabilisers at 8/9/10? (The new bike will presumably last a while). What about a three wheeled scooter?

So with swimming he has 1:1 and isn't in the group class. His swim school are wonderful and provide this free of charge.

I'm really pleased to say that he has zero shame and isn't at all bothered about having stabilisers. Like I said, all the kids on the street play out and even the two four year olds who start school in September are off stabilisers. He's not bothered in the slightest and once they asked they haven't teased him at all. I'm pleased about this as he will grow up with them

I did feel sorry for them as our cycle to the park is on a slope and we all went. He was the only one who couldn't manage it out of all the children, even with stabilisers. I worry this will damage his self esteem

Our council organise free cycling sessions for children - my dc did a couple of days and made good progress. We also did a paid course which ran over several weeks - they operate across London
https://pedalproject.co.uk/

FWIW I'm an autistic adult and I managed to learn to pedal a bike when I was about 8, but I never really got into cycling and then when I tried to ride a bike decades later I found that I couldn't ride after all. It's never made much difference to my life, especially as I have a Freedom Pass so I'm not dependent on cycling for cheap transport. Realistically I'd never manage to safely cycle in traffic even if I managed the coordination side (I've never managed to pass a driving test either). So it may not be a big deal to never learn to ride.

Before you buy, look at Bike Club which is a rental scheme with decent bikes.

Our local council has Learn to Ride sessions.

(As reassurance.. lots of 8yos can't ride bikes. When we do cycling with our Cubs there's usually 2 or 3!)

DS has a real fear of failure which results in him finding challenges difficult and has an attitude about it sometimes - often won’t try things at all if he thinks they’ll be too hard. That’s why breaking things down works for him- he gets little victories and it’s not all too overwhelming. He also has 1-1 swimming lessons which is a godsend otherwise he’d still be at the drowning with style stage!!

Similar issues here, at the time it son was also regularly seeing OT and Physio to help him with some issues with his hips. Riding a bike was a goal for them to keep up his hip mobility without making his issues worse so they helped break it down with us.

We got a cheep exercise bike from facebook marketplace as getting the rhythm of peddling one foot after the other was a real challenge for him.

Also used a balance bike for the balance and steering. The microscooter tilt to steer style scooter was good for his balance as well.

He also did a lot of work on improving his core strength which really helped with his general balance.

No point pushing it as a fall would potentially set him right back, just keep pursuing the stabilisers or trike option until he's ready. The main thing is he is happy getting out on his bike.

One of mine never learned. He never would have been safe on a bike though so there was little point persevering. The other we took the pedal off for. Of your DS is resistant to that change I would try and pick up a cheap second hand bike, remove the pedals before he sees it and then he has 2 options. His ‘safe and usual’ and a new version to try if he wants.

I wonder whether this organisation would be of help. Hopefully there might be a branch near you:
https://wheelsforall.org.uk/locations

Here in Bath they often have “try our bikes on a safe track” sessions for all ages and abilities.

I teach kids to ride at our local club and I've got a few thoughts.
Generally, I don't like stabilisers. For most children at best they are pointless and at worst they're detrimental. The key skill for riding a two wheel bike is balance, and to confidently move the bike around underneath your body which is exactly what a balance bike teaches. Pedalling is the easy bit. For years we did it all the wrong way round! Stabilisers kind of teach you to ride a trike which is completely different to a bike.
However, there are some children who for various reasons just can't manage 2 wheels in which case you need a different approach. Does your DS see a physio re his hypermobility? If so, what are their views?
If you were at our club, unless you'd had professional advice that he was unlikely to be able to balance at all I'd probably advise you to take the pedals off his bike, adjust the saddle so that he can get both feet on the floor comfortably and treat it as a balance bike. Some children do just naturally know what to do on a balance bike but a lot don't and need to be taught. I've had loads of parents tell me that they've tried a balance bike and their kids didn't like it or couldn't do it but once we get going they get the hang of it quickly. We use the British Cycling Ready Set Ride programme as the basis for our balance bike group at the club but it is accessible to anyone on their website so you could use it yourself. However he might do better in a more structured setting. A lot of children respond better to instruction from someone who is not Mum or Dad so it might be worth you looking for a club or class.
If balance is enough of an issue that he's not likely to be able to learn it might be better to go down the trike route and maybe look for a proper trike that will a actually be easier for him to ride than a bike with stabilisers as it's specifically designed for that purpose. Have a look for an accessible cycling group near you.
The fact even with stabilisers he can't pedal up the hill that other children can manage suggests to me that he also has some problems with strength, or there's a problem with the bike or both. Again, a physio might be able to advise and help on muscular issues. Also the bike might be too heavy or over geared. Lots of kids bikes are a ridiculous weight. If you are getting a new one, get the lightest you can afford. Personally I would always opt for good quality second (or more!) hand over new but lower quality. Especially for a child who already has muscle issues the weight of the bike can make a massive difference so go for a good brand aluminium frame. My personal favourite brand at the moment is Woom but they are pricey and as it's a fairly new brand there's not many in the second hand market. But Frog, Islabikes and Squish are all great kid specific brands and some of the mainstream brands like Cube and Specialized also have good kids ranges.
If you buy a 24 inch wheeled bike it will probably have gears which is a bit of a two of edged sword. Normally I'd say avoid gears until a child is riding really confidently as they just complicate matters and add weight to the bike. However, they do have the advantage of the fact that you can drop into an easy gear to make going up hills less difficult so could be useful sooner rather than later for your DS. If he's riding a single speed bike but struggling up hills you could switch the rear sprocket for a bigger one which will give an easier gear and make hills less of a challenge. You might need a few more links in the chain too. A local bike shop should be able to do that for you if you're unsure.
I probably wouldn't just get stabilisers for the bigger bike as that's not really progressing the situation from where you are now. I'd say you need to either bite the bullet and try to get him onto 2 wheels or acknowledge that it's not going to happen and look for an adapted bike that meets his needs. Either way, professional advice would probably help.