Argh! Shoelaces!

[allytjd]

New school shoes for DS1 (school goes back next week). He is 10 and now a size 4! Can't get size fours with velcro, therfore must teach clumsy, left-handed, not entirely NT boy how to tie shoe-laces ASAP.
Melt down no.1 "Bows are girly, I won't wear them in case my friends see", "your friends all have shoes with bows". "no they don't", "yes, they do" ...etc, etc.
Melt down no. 2 - It's too difficult, I'm confusing him etc.
Melt down no.3 - Apparently I am hurting him by manhandling his feet/legs.
Meltdown no. 4 (me) - I foolishly vow not to leave the house until he can tie his laces, I may have to phone DH to bring back supplies.
AAAAAARRGGHH!!!

Would something like this be of any use?

I'm dreading this with ds1.

Thanks coppertop, I was wondering about something along those lines, i would have to convince DS1 that they were v.cool though!

We have same problem with DS (9 with AS and very clumsy with fine motor skills) who is left handed and a size 5 1/2. He won't wear the right size shoes as they hurt his toes apparently and insists on wearing shoes at least one size bigger!!! Try explaining that at a 'proper' shoe shop. Clarks have refused to sell me shoes before now!

I have found velcro shoes though for him at Wyndsors if that is any help? Or have you tried the making 2 bows and tying them together method? You knot the laces as usual, make a small loop with each end then knot them together.

DS still hasn't got the hang of it and had about 3 girls who would tie his laces for him at school last term! Of course it doesn't help that his younger sister (7) taught herself to tie laces in about 3 minutes.......

Good Luck!

Or buy some Locklaces - you can either use the stretchy laces with them or remove the "lock" and put on regular ones if they're narrow enough.

Marks and Spencers!!! Go online, they do velcro shoes up to much larger sizes. My son has Aspergers and he cannot, no matter how many times we have shown him, tie laces. The shoes are about £22 a pair I believe.

We also are able to get the velcro shoes from large branches of M&S.

Meant to say, my ds has size 8 feet (adult size).

Not that this will be much of a consolation, but hubby (ASD) still can't tie shoelaces adequately, and we're, er, more than 21 (by a long way...).

use elastic to lace the shoes up as normal, then tie them in a tight knot. should stretch enough to get foot in and wont come undone if you knot them right

Thanks for all your tips, DS1 is supposed to be NT (I'm not so sure!), its his younger brother who has AS but he is generally much less bother at home, if DS1 can make a fuss about something he will! We try to laugh about it, he loves to read DH's collected Peanuts strips and has adopted Lucy's description of herself as "number one fuss-budget" for himself, it just about says it all...
DS1 wants to be like his mates so it is time to say goodbye to lovely velcro i fear, also I am supposed to be getting him orthotics and I think they work better with laces, will def. keep the elastic ideas in reserve.

Those coily laces and locklaces are a really good idea, we aren't at the laces stage yet and I suppose it's something you have to try and do but I think I'd just go for something like that. Great idea with the elastic too! If I can only find a way of storing this information in my over-stuffed brain until needed...