Can anyone recommend walking boots for 8 year old boy with velcro instead of shoelaces?

[moosemama]

Ds2 has hypermobility syndrome and is constantly sub-luxing his ankles, even just walking around the house etc.

He is going on an outward bound residential with school in a few weeks and the kit list includes walking boots and trainers.

I would like him to have some boots, as obviously they'd be far more supportive for his ankles than trainers and I think he's going to need a lot of stability for some of the activities. In fact I've been trying to find him some boots for a while, just for general non-school use.

Unfortunately he also has hypermobile hands/fingers and poor fine motor co-ordination and therefore can't do laces. We've tried over and over to help him learn, but he just can't do it.

I've searched everywhere, but nearly all childrens' walking boots seem to have laces. The two pairs I've found that didn't consisted of some that aren't available anywhere in his size (Size 1) and some that are just shy of £40.00, which I can't afford at the moment.

Ds1 has some Karrimor walking shoes, which have elastic-type laces that you don't have to do up and velcro at the top, but they aren't high enough on the ankle to support ds2.

Can anyone recommend a pair of reasonably priced boots that do up with velcro instead of laces?

Hi moose have a look at decathlon. They do velcro but not sure what size.

Otherwise Dd3's podiatrist recommeded the elastic laces, she does triathlon and says all the athletes use them.

Dd3 had some in her last high tops and they were fab.

Good luck

Oh meant to say you can buy elastic laces on ebay

I've got these elastic laces, and they pull really tight, so would help the support but are v easy to do up

£15 here

This kidn of thing or use Locklaces

these?

Oh thanks all.

Now why couldn't I find anything? I am usually good at finding things online, but have really struggled with this.

I think he will like the last one's you posted LizS and they look really sturdy too. Thank you.

Ricotta walking boots are excellent. You can get them in amazon. Not cheap but very goid

Doh! Stupid phone corrected me, it should say ricosta

Moose - I posted on here when DD eventually learnt to do her laces (also hypermobile).

I was do bloody proud of her, after daily practice since the age of 3yo, she was either 12 or 13 when she learnt.

But she CAN do laces now.

My Dbro is also hypermobile, and finally learnt to do laces at 21yo. Massive celebration for us.

My DS2 is also hypermobile, still not able to do laces yet, he's 9yo. But I know it will come eventually, with a practice a day.

Dd3 is 10 and hypermobile she has cracked tying the laces of her school shoes which have a waxy coating on. She still struggles to get them tight enough but she has made massive progress recently.

Good luck and keep practicing

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

Davros, I looked at some Ricosta boots, but as you say, they were £££s.

Couthy, part of it is to do with his hypermobility, but the OT noted he has lots of organisation and sequencing issues as well. He just can't get his head around how you use both hands together and finds it really complicated to do. She recommended knotting two different colour laces together and lacing up a boot, then getting him to practise, as apparently it helps to keep track of the left and right laces. So that's the next thing we're going to try.

Ineed, I will look for two different colour laces with a waxy coating - thank for the recommendation.

Ds is very about it, as his four year old sister can almost tie the laces on his practise book and he can't.

I have suggested we buy some trainers and fit them with the elastic laces CMOT suggested, but he doesn't want to do that. I might get some anyway and see how it goes.

Anyway, for the trip I let him look at all the ones you and I have all found and he chose these Timberland ones, which were probably my least favourite. They do them in black and charcoal, but he liked the bright coloured ones.

I kept trying to steer him to the last ones LIZS suggested, but he was adamant.

Moose - does he have dyspraxia as well as the Hypermobility? It is the combination of the two that caused the problems for my DC's.

Moose DS has finally got the action to ties laces but he can't do them tightly.
The OT showed him ( and me) a way of tying the first "knot" by wrapping the lace under and round again a second time so that the lace stays tight there before you try to actually tie the bow.
I know I'm not making too much sense and am hoping you can figure out what I mean without me drawing you a picture?

I don't think he's bad enough to qualify for a dyspraxia dx to he honest, but he definitely has a lot of traits. He struggles crossing the midline, fine motor isn't great - although he loves and is good at drawing - organisationally he's a disaster area and he's struggles with sequencing, dates and time, which wasn't picked up until the OT appointment.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a full OT assessment, it was just about deciding what support he needs at school due to his hypermobility, so more about what he feels he struggles with and trying and selecting aids to help him.

I think it's confusing trying to untangle what's the hypermobility and what's down to something else. For example, the OT found out that his problems with writing are caused by him struggling to hold the paper steady, so putting too much pressure on his pencil - in addition - to core and shoulder instability and hypermobility in his wrist and hand/fingers. Same with cutting up food, he was trying to hold the plate steady using downward force through his fork.

Of the following list from the dyspraxia foundation
:

Difficulties in adapting to a structured school routine - <span class="italic">not really, but he can't tell you what lessons he has on which day or what he's going to be doing that day if you ask him in the morning</span>

Difficulties in Physical Education lessons - <span class="italic">definitely</span>

Slow at dressing. Unable to tie shoe laces - <span class="italic">yep</span>

Barely legible handwriting - <span class="italic">not barely legible, but not good</span>

Immature drawing and copying skills - <span class="italic">no, but he's always been keen on drawing and has practised hard for years at this because he wants to be like his Dad</span>

Limited concentration - <span class="italic">complicated - he loses focus, but kind of fades in and out and drifts off rather than not having any concentration</span>

Poor listening skills - <span class="italic">definitely - he hears words wrong and often doesn't seem to get what you're saying, particularly instructions, I suspect some auditory processing issues</span>

Literal use of language - <span class="italic">he can be quite literal, but not as bad as ds1</span>

Inability to remember more than two or three instructions at once - <span class="italic">definitely</span>

Slow completion of class work - <span class="italic">not speedy, but not the slowest either</span>

Continued high levels of motor activity - <span class="italic">no, he's pretty sedentary, but I think this is down to exhaustion from the hypermobility - that said, even when he's lying down he tends to be wriggling his feet/legs around constantly</span>

Hand flapping or clapping when excited - <span class="italic">no</span>

Tendency to become easily distressed and emotional - <span class="italic">Oh yes! He gets really upset and distressed, especially if he hurts himself - he screams the place down!  Also gets disproportionately upset if someone teases or jibes him - particuarly ds1</span>

Problems with co-ordinating a knife and fork - <span class="italic">absolutely</span>

Inability to form relationships with other children - <span class="italic">no he's well liked and sociable - although all his friends are 'spectrummy'</span>

Sleeping difficulties, including wakefulness at night and nightmares - Yep, wakefulness, insomnia, nightmares and lucid dreaming, sleep talking^

Reporting of physical symptoms, such as migraine, headaches, feeling sick - <span class="italic">constantly</span>

So he's a mix. He has plenty of signs, but not enough for a dx or any help.

He was so clumsy when he started school that his teachers were constantly patching him up. Looking back they used to say he fell over nothing or over his own feet, but of course now he's older he's told me his ankles used to just give way underneath him. I once had 4 head injury calls in one day! Even now he doesn't tend to have a day without at least one fall - although often due to his joints giving out.

We had no idea about the hypermobility and his nickname at home was Mr Bump because of the number of accidents he had. Of course how many of them were down to hypermobility and how many down to dyspraxic tendencies - who knows?

He fell over last night putting his pj top on. Landed on the corner of his chest of drawers and gouged out a big lump of skin. Thought it was going to be an A&E trip from the screaming. Fortunately he didn't break a rib - although I think it was a close one. We smothered him in Arnica and gave him calprofen before bed and he's needed calprofen at school today as well to cope with the pain from it. I can't believe he actually asked for some - it's not like him at all, as he simply won't tell them when he's in pain normally and ends up suffering in silence with his teachers completely oblivious.

Ilisten, thank you. The OT told us that trick as well and I have to admit I've been using it myself to keep the laces on my MBTs tight - it really works!

Ouch moose poor boy

Dd3 falls alot including out of bed which worries me.

She did have a pretty thorough OT assessment which put her motor skills on the 16th percentile which I feel is pretty low but it wasnt low enough to keep her on their books, they discharged her straight away, not even a follow up after recommending a load of exercises

Do you do the 2 loop method for tying laces or the 1 loop and wrap around method?

Dd1 and 3, both lefties prefer the 1 loop method but Dd2 who is dyslexic prefers the 2 loop method. She was the latest of all mine to learn and really struggled with it. In fact she rarely ties her laces even now, preferring to tuck them in.

I second going twice around the first knot for added stability whilst tying but I see you are already doing that.

Good luck

Ds2 falls out of bed every single night when we are on holiday - when he's in a normal single bed. At home he is in one of the Ikea extendible beds, which is only a short way off the floor, plus he has a wall on one side and a bedside cupboard up against the top half of the open side and that seems to stop him falling out.

Ds1's OT assessment put him exactly on the cut off point for intervention. If he'd scored one point lower he'd have got some support. He has very poor motor co-ordination and proprioception, plus fine motor problems, hypotonia, particularly bad in his core and upper body and some hypermobility - although doesn't suffer from any subluxes or pain like ds2 does - yet he's not at all clumsy and rarely has accidents or injuries. When watching ds1 run, you can't help wondering how he stays upright and doesn't fall over every other step, but somehow he never does.

Dh and I have always done the one loop method with laces, so that's the one we tried teaching him initially, but he just couldn't get it. He doesn't seem to be able to hold one hand still, whilst moving the other, which complicates thing somewhat and his grip is poor, so he keeps dropping the laces - hoping the waxed laces might help with that - thank you again for that tip.

In all honesty, it's like the whole idea of tying knots and making loops blows his mind, he just looks wide eyed and confused at the whole thing, no matter how many times we try and/or however we try to break it down for him.

Bless him. Sometimes it would be easier to just say, leave it and have velcro or elastic but if he is anything like Dd3 it is tricky. She hates not being able to do something and gets very angry.

We still tie her laces in the morning but at least now she can do a reasonable job after PE. On the days she doesnt do PE they stay fastened.

It might be worth checking out the 2 loop method just in case he finds it easier

Well ... he's not that bothered at the moment (he has a natural lazy streak ) but I think he will be when he gets a little bit older and all his friends are wearing laced trainers and school shoes.

We switched to trying the two loop method at the end of last year when we bought him a book with instructions and laces to practise on, but unfortunately he found that just as impossible.

Oh sorry, didnt realise you had already tried it

Maybe you should leave it until he is bothered? If he really isnt bothered I wouldnt sweat it

Ds had a hospital appt recently because he has been having problems with his feet. We were recommended a certain type of shoe but they had laces and there is no way ds would ever manage to tie them.
Anyway, the doctor told us of a method that he recommends to people with severe arthritis in their hands who cannot manage laces, which is to thread the laces through a toggle and tie them in a knot, then you just pull the toggle tight. He said that it is possible to do the laces up quite tightly like that.
We haven't tried it yet, we have bought the toggles (in a haberdashery type shop but camping shop is another possibility) and are going to get the shoes at half term.

Sorry, Ineed, I didn't explain that very well did I? We started out using the one loop method that dh and I learned and have always used. Then when that didn't work we tried the other, two-loop method, which he also couldn't do.

I think you may be right about leaving it until he's bothered, that's really what prompted the velcro walking boot search.

Pixel, that's interesting. Just a normal thread through toggle type thing? Like the sort of thing they have to tighten hoods and hems on raincoats? That sounds similar to the lock laces but is probably much, much cheaper. My only concern about the lock laces is that they'd be ok for trainers and fine while he's this young, but could be a target for teasing as he gets older (going on past experience of how kids will pick on just about anything that they perceive as 'different' ).

I hadn't seen the lock laces otherwise we would have given them a go, although you are right, they are a bit obvious. We've got these although I've since seen these which might be even better.

Did you find some walking boots?

I buy high top trainers from sports direct for Dd3, her orthotics fit inside them nicely and they have a velcro strap at the ankle. I tie the laces inside, street style and then she slips them on and fastens the strap.

The podiatrist said she is ok to wear high tops without her orthotics but she prefers to wear them. She recommended that we always check the heel bit of new shoes to make sure it is very stiff as this helps to support her foot/ankles.