Teaching to Ride a Bike

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OOh! I have a post on this somewhere - I can help!

Basically, the principle is to break the process down so that they don't have to develop multiple skills at the same time. When we started teaching DS, he was able to ride a tricycle, so could steer and pedal, which are the two skills to start with on a non-bike - don't forget to practice stopping! You can also try a scooter, which develops other skills.

Then, you need to break down balancing separately. After that, the skill of balancing and pushing off. Then, the skill of balancing, pushing off, pedaling and steering.

Depending on what kind of Aspie you have, you may want to explain the physics behind bicycles. It helped my son understand that keeping upright was a) not impossible and b) needed a certain amount of speed.

Here's where I learned to teach my son: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp2953418.html#2953418

I would never have thought of it, but my husband swore it would work. At the ages of 6 ( daughter) and 5 (son), my husband announced we were going to take the training wheels off. He took both bikes, kids, and his doubting wife to a local park with lots of grass and a small hill. He had them fall on the grass to see it wouldn't hurt too bad then took them to the top of the hill. It seemed like mt Everest to mom, but it was really a little hill. He started with my daughter, a little braver and older. He started her at the top, ran about halfway down with her and told her to keep pedaling until the bike fell over. He did the same with my son. They forgot to pedal and fell as soon as they reached the bottom most of the time, but slowly the began to pedal. Soon they were riding at the bottom instead of falling right away. It helped them to feel how to ride the bike before we moved to the sidewalk. Actually pedaling on the sidewalk was easier than the grass. It was only a few weeks and they were both riding on their own.

My son learned at a later age and now we can't get him off his bike!

If you can find fun ways to break it down, great, but for us the most important thing we needed for any skill was pretty simple: time. We backed off the pressure, and let my son re-engagement when he was interested. There would be periodic false starts and then, one day, he'd just "get" it. I can't even begin to remember all the skills that developed this way, but shoe tying and bike riding were definitely on that list.

The important message to get through to kids, in my opinion, is that what is difficult today may not be difficult in the future. Sometimes their bodies and minds need to grow into things; they need to accept that and understand what it means, IMHO. If you push too hard, all they have are negative memories, and those negative memories will form a barrier much longer than physical development will, so keep things light. "Yeah, you tried! It's OK, no big deal that it didn't work. Let me know when you want to try again."

There are so many skills that our kids have to dig in deep and work hard at. Focus on teaching your son how to deal with frustration and disappointment, and that while setting something aside for a while is sometimes necessary, you shouldn't ever completely give up.

It kind of blows my mind the things my son does that he was sure 5 years ago he would never, ever do. He learned. He saw windows and he opened them. That he is basically a happy, positive kid (despite the negative language he often uses) is really a blessing; it helps so much.

I think I was 10 when I finally learned. I had had the bike for years; everyone had tried to teach me to absolutely no avail. I didn't have the strength, or the balance, and I was TERRIFIED of wrecking the damn thing and hurting myself.

Until one day I got MAD. Wanted to hurt myself, but didn't have the nerve to actually do it. So I took the bike out and tried to ride it.

Came home 20 minutes later thrilled with myself and the world around me-- I could finally ride a bike.

I had to walk it up hills (living in West Virginia, this meant a lot of walking) and kids still made fun of me, but I could finally ride a bike.

And it was fun. And, actually, I still like to ride. I never get to any more, but I would enjoy it if I did.

Keep going. Try lots of things-- even if they don't help, scooters and balance bikes are lots of fun.

If he NEVER learns to ride, scooters and roller skates (the old kind, with four wheels in two rows, not those horrible roller blades) are other ways to get out and active. So is walking. Even after I learned to ride (hell, even after I learned to drive), my feet remain my favorite mode of transportation.

Thanks everyone, we went and looked at balance bikes but really the ones in stock are just too small for him. I might convert his current bike as someone else mentioned.

He has a scooter but can't do much with it. He can't do the push with his foot and balance at the same time where as I can put my 21 month old baby tot on the scooter and give him a solid push no problem. We'll get there, eventually I'm not going to push him, let him learn at his own pace & interest level. Slow & steady wins the race. I think when he sees his younger brother (by 3 years) doing things he can't it'll push him to want to get the skill down.

During the time that DS couldn't ride a bike himself, we went on bike rides with him on a tandem. I don't know if it helped or not, but it made a little more sense socially to the other kids (he was safer on a tandem going long distances on streets...)

So as a couple people suggested, I took his bike to a local shop and for $10 they took off the crankset & pedals and made it a runner bike. Perfect!

We picked it up yesterday and gave it to him as a surprise and he was so excited. He used it for about 30min last night before bedtime, 3x longer than he's ever been on the bike before! He's not doing much with it yet, just baby steps at a time but he's having fun and that's all I care about.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

I was going to suggest remove the pedals from his current bike but see you have already done that. When I was a kid we had a trailer bike which was the back wheel of a bike, pedals and handle bars and it attached to the seat post of the adult bike so I could get the pedalling bit without bothering to much about balancing. Also the picture you posted usually tip toes should be on the floor, like the heel should not touch the ground, I always had issues riding too small or too big bikes because it was uncomfortable. Now as long as just my tip toes tough the ground when I sit on the seat then it is fine. I also watched a programme the other week and there was a bike on it that self balanced I don't know whether you can buy it yet or anything but it seemed like a good idea, not sure what it was called either though.

hi tetris,

The seat was higher with the pedals on, but without training wheels on now we lowered it so he could use more of his feet to move around. Just want him to start just pushing with both feet and gaining balance while feeling safe.

Cheers

Great pic OP. We're teaching our almost 5 year old to ride a bike as well and have done the same. He's had pedals off and been using it as a balance bike for 3 weeks now and we'll be reintroducing pedals this weekend at the park. We initially had the seat lowered with his knees bent and feet flat on the ground so he could find his balance. After a week we raised it so his feet were just touching the ground and he was almost standing in his seat as it makes it easier for his legs not to catch when he's gliding. When he needs to stop he unbalances himself and puts a foot down to one side. We also need to work on using the brake as it's been neglected so far. One tool has been watching Youtube videos together of other kids learning to ride Strider and PUKY balance bikes. There's loads of different videos and he watches them all the time even by himself, even scripts to them when he's riding. I think he also gets something out of seeing it done which he can't get from verbal instructions from me.