Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Can Your Kid Ride A Bike?

This may not be universally popular, but there is always the idea of rewarding him in some manner for trying, for perservering even when it's hard/embarrasing/frustrating, and for succeeding. You could offer a new helmet, a new bike, a new cool biking t-shirt, a trip somewhere together, a new book on cycling, or really anything that might motivate him to just try it and stick with it. If it's really challenging, incremental rewards might be best, but you may just find that he picks it up quickly once he actually starts to try to ride more.

BTW: I agree with lowering the seat until it's easy for him to reach the ground. Anything, really, to make him feel safe and in control.

A float bike is a bike without pedals, there are lots of wooden ones for toddlers around now, and I firmly believe it is far and away the best way to teach bike riding. My DD had the pink version of this bike:

http://kidsbikes.net/reviews/trek-float

It's just a normal bike with pedal cranks that are designed for quick and easy removal, but you can get the cranks off of any bike if you want to and I highly recommend you try it.

After my son got very good on a scooter, I suggested he try gliding down a very slight incline (our driveway) on a bike that was too small for him to pedal. This allowed him to easily put both of his feet flat on the ground for balance as needed. When you go down a slight hill, you get the speed that's necessary to keep the bike upright.

Then I encouraged him to try pedaling a bit. From there, he learned how to ride a bike.

When he first started, I put the seat a bit low so that again, he could easily put his feet on the ground for balance. I did this with my daughter too. If they can't put their feet flat, they're going to fall eventually (my kids anyway).

I always had him position the pedals in the optimal position for starting, too, and ALWAYS reminded him to LOOK AHEAD, NOT DOWN!!

Knee pads and other pads (+ helmet)are your best friends in this situation. They reduce injury and enhance courage.

HTH.

My DS8 just learned to ride a bike at the end of summer right as he turned 8. He had tried when he was younger but just stuck with the scooter because that was easier for him and didn't really give it a serious try until this summer when DS5 picked it up in a weekend. So not to be outdone by his little brother he gave it a whirl again and was able to figure it out on his own in about the span of a week.

However, around this same time is when he started doing OT for motor coordination challenges and I really do think it helped in this. Since starting OT in August he has learned to ride a bike AND tie his shoes, both of which were a challenge for him. If I remember what the OT said, I believe the core strength comes into play because it is what helps you control and balance your body. We don't think about it much and it often doesn't seem like you are using those muscles, but if they are not developed sufficiently, it can effect balancing activities like bike riding. Kids with low core strength often prefer to lie down rather than sit or they sit in a sprawling manner rather than straight up and down.

If your DS is in OT, you might ask the therapist for ideas and/or help. We ended up not needing to do it, but DS's therapist actually offered to teach him to ride a bike during therapy! She did teach him to tie his shoes which was great.

DS9 has not learned to ride a bike yet. He's had a couple of them -- one that we bought him and one that he won at school, but the one we bought was eventually given to a neighbor kid and the one he won he won't ride but won't part with either.

He did show a bit of interest this summer when his sister got a bike with training wheels, and he rode it all around in the house and some outside, but it's so little for him it's not like he has to balance, and it still has training wheels anyway. We may try the training wheels on his bike next summer, if he still wants to try.

He inherited his balance from me, I'm afraid. The stomach thing made sense to me, because I can feel the stomach muscles if I think about how to balance on a bicycle -- maybe that's a thing used by people who have a lousy sense of balance? I rode a bike as a kid, but I've never been able to ride one at what is considered "the right height" because that means not being able to touch the ground without tipping the bike, and I'm no good at that. And riding slowly, or turning loose of the handlebars, no way. So I don't know if he'll ever get the hang of it either.

Honestly, an intensive OT and PT program using horseback riding, among other things, was what made the difference for my son, who has very similar challenges, and who also didn't learn to ride a bike until age 11. He'd been trying to learn since he was 4, so it wasn't an effort or motivation issue. After about six months of daily horseback riding, he suddenly learned to ride a bike and swim, when he had previously struggled terribly with both skills.

We are also doing horseback riding and swimming, along with dance classes, but no luck yet riding a bike. It seems to be the peddling motion that is difficult for her. I can't tell about balance on the bike since she has training wheels but still can't seem to make it work. Interestingly she can post on a horse while doing all sorts of things with her arms (i.e. flapping them like a bird) so I wonder if it is a left/right coordination issue.

She has asked for a pogo stick for Christmas and I found one with a large area to balance on. I'm wondering if that may help. We have an OT appointment next week - maybe I'll ask about the bike riding and see if she has any ideas. We got the same core strength explanation as LNEsMom.

Thanks so much for all the feedback thus far. Lots of food for thought. Because he received his OT through the school, they would only deal with skills needed for school - and shoe-tying, zipping, and riding a bike fell outside of their defined purvue,

He mastered swimming last summer after multiple failed attempts before, and learned to tie his shoes as well. At this juncture, we can't afford private OT, so all of the suggestions really help.

I don't suggest this method but I thought everyone might be amused by my story of learning to ride.

My father figured the best way to have me learn quickly was to put me on the bike at the top of a steep grassy hill that gradually flattened at the bottom. The first time he pushed me down the hill I crashed of course. After the requisite crying. He pushed me down a second time. The second time I did not crash.

Fear can be a powerful motivator. I always remind my father of this story when biking comes up. Also, this took place back in the days before helmets were considered mandatory equipment.

I don't recommend our first attempt with DD9 either...

We took her to a field by our neighbourhood playground. It was lush and green. We gave her a pep talk and set our bee-phobic 7-year old sailing into a sea of dandelions. About 50 bees flew up off the flowers and it too almost a year before we could convince her to get back on the bike!