Asperger’s Disorder

[GatorB]

Or low spectrum autism. Has anyone dealt with this in your child. If so, at what age was your child able to ride a bike and what training aids where you able to use. My son is expressing interest in riding but at 10 there is nothing to help him get the hang of it. I tried to hold the set but I have to run to keep up.

[pearsth]

My son has PDD-NOS. Luckily, he didn't have much trouble learning how to ride a bike. I think it was because he first learned to ride a scooter, then I got him a bike with a really low seat and he could push along and not even pedal. Kind of like the "strider" bikes they now have without cranks.

The key is to learn balance before trying to coordinate it all together with pedaling. Have you thought of taking the cranks and chain off and have him just push around with his feet until he learns balance on a bike that he can easily touch the ground on, like a BMX bike? If he is like my son, he will be goal and reward oriented. You can have him push himself then coast for a while. You can set goals for him to push harder and coast longer, ideally into the grass in case he falls.

Best of luck.

Tom

[fatoldaggie]

My son, 17 now, is Aspie. From what I can gather, he leans more toward the normal end of the spectrum. Athletically, he's never had any problem, was walking early and the only real challenge with learning to ride a bike was getting past is fear barrier, which as I'm sure you know can be difficult with an Aspie kid.

I think the usual tips apply - remove the pedals, lower the saddle so he can have feet on the ground, treat it like a scooter till he learns to balance.

But that's not the hard part; it's the emotional / communication that's difficult. All I can offer there is my sympathy and counsel love and patience.

[fatoldaggie]

p.s. I hate hearing Asperger's called a "disorder"

From all the science I've been able to gather, Aspie kids tend to be extraordinary in many respects; the latest neural imaging is showing that their brains function at something like 5x of a normal brain.

The flip side, of course, is that your brain is running at 5x all the time. No wonder they get exhausted by overstimulation.

[big-daddy-59]

Go find a gentle grassy slope, put the kid on the bike and give him a push. When he learns to stop without falling over you can work on the pedaling part. Worked for my son, as it worked for me- we're both Aspie. He'll learn if he has the desire to learn bike riding. Also, it may not be too late to use training wheels.

[GatorB]

Thanks for the replies. Im going to take the pedals off tomorrow see if that helps. He can balance, steer and pedal individually its just getting them all together at the same time and staying focused is the tough part. I looked into the Gyro wheel but for the last 8 months it says its out of stock. I never let it get stressful for him, I keep it fun and most of the time we just end up laughing till our sides hurt.

I agree fatoldaggie me and my wife refer to it as the Aspergers advantage I just wish he did not have such a hard time socially and fitting in with the other kids.

[patineto]

p.s. I hate hearing Asperger's called a "disorder"

From all the science I've been able to gather, Aspie kids tend to be extraordinary in many respects; the latest neural imaging is showing that their brains function at something like 5x of a normal brain.

The flip side, of course, is that your brain is running at 5x all the time. No wonder they get exhausted by overstimulation.

I have "Hamburgers", Dyslexia, ADD and who knows what else, but I manage to get two masters degrees (en Espanol and mostly visual & design stuff), the trick is to identified the shortcoming, address them (mostly with others like your teachers) and then take advantage of the your innate and developed assets, at the end I like it better this way, even if reading/writing still kind of a pain. .

sports wise besides been really clumsy and stiff I never really had any problems with things like balance, in fact i'm good at it..

Plus I'm half Swiss, so I try to counter act the neurosis with a little Latin flavor and kaos just to keep things in balance..