Teaching Strategy #3: “We can ride bikes”
Caroline asked in a comment on the previous post, Never Say Never, how did Charlie learn to ride his bike without the training wheels? To use the hand brakes? What specific instructions did we use? And who taught him?Charlie first learned to push the pedals with his feet thanks to the efforts of an ABA therapist. We set his tricycle at the top of the walkway to our house (we were living in Glendale, Missouri at the time); the walkway had a slight slope. The ABA therapist then stood about a foot in front of Charlie and waved one of his then-favorite things–a colored square of paper; Charlie was so motivated to get that square and the therapist (a college student) coaxed and encouraged him with such joy that he pushed down on the pedals without noticing.From then on, Jim followed and pushed Charlie on the sidewalk, set him up on a two-wheeler with training wheels, and then noted that he was pedaling so fast the training wheels were not touching the ground, and—-one weekend in the spring of 2003—-taught him to “squeeze the brakes” when they came to an intersection. Jim had concluded that it was confusing to Charlie to use foot brakes for which he had to pedal one way (forward) to make the bike go, and the other way (backwards) to brake. We got Charlie a bike with hand brakes and had the brake line shortened at a bike shop.As to how Jim taught Charlie to do this—by himself riding a bike right next to Charlie and squeezing Charlie on the shoulder when it was time for Charlie to squeeze the hand brakes—-I am going to let Jim do the talking himself: Jim describes the process of teaching Charlie to “squeeze the brakes” on this Real Audio clip. The video clip is the Introduction that Jim gave at the October 27th 2006 Autism and Advocacy Conference that he organized at Fordham University. (You will need Real Player to watch the video.) If you click on the word Introduction above “James T. Fisher, Ph.D.,” you’ll hear the speech and Jim’s explanation of how he “was the brakes for Charlie” in a kind of “bike riding rodeo.”
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POSTED IN: Autism Advocacy Conference, Movies, Parenting, Religion, Sports, Teaching Strategies
23 opinions for Teaching Strategy #3: “We can ride bikes”
KC'sMommy
Mar 8, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Jim is wonderful! He is such a good Daddy! I love that you put this clip of Jim and how Charlie learned to ride a bike. I feel so very inspired. So glad Caroline asked that question. I think K.C. could learn too, with time. :)
Kristina where can we find more of the Autism Conference? I would love to watch more of it. So much good information and ideas!
Kristina Chew, PhD
Mar 8, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Tina, it’s at this link:
http://www.fordham.edu/cs/media/autism.shtml
Jim has been working on the getting the video better edited, but it’s been a slow process….
Looking forward to hearing about KC on the bike!
Bernie318
Mar 8, 2007 at 1:19 pm
I, too, was intrigued by this. My daughter can ride a bike, too, but - I notice she either a.)doesn’t anticpate various events or b.) doesn’t react to them fast enough to prevent a crash. For example, she’ll hit a pothole and the bike will start to fall over, and she’ll go over with it, not putting a hand out to break her fall, just falling in a way that makes me cringe! Oh, and the other day there was a parks and rec truck driving on the bike path and she just drove right in front of him (I stopped my bike, thinking she would stop hers…my mistake). So, my question is, how do you deal with all the variables? Can one teach someone how to fall? I have worked on it, but it seems in the moment the learned response doesn’t hold sway over the reflex.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Mar 8, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Can one teach someone how to fall?…….this does not answer the question exactly, but I wrote this post about Charlie falling off the bike and I’m asking Jim.
I can say, just by doing so much bike-riding, Charlie’s overall balance (and certainly his strength) are much, much improved and improving. In November, he learned to go from standing on a stationary bike to pulling himself up on the pedals and riding the bike—-before, he would wait for Jim to hold his shoulder before Charlie put up his feet.
Rochelle
Mar 8, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Kristina, are there any plans to have another Autism Advocacy conference in the future?
Kristina Chew, PhD
Mar 8, 2007 at 1:32 pm
We would like to, very very much: Plenty to talk about but the small issue of funding (the Oct 27 conference was free). Jim and I certainly have a few issues and some speakers in mind.
Club 166
Mar 8, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Can one teach someone how to fall?
One can, indeed, learn how to fall properly. Actually, the way that most people fall when their bike tips (putting arm straight out to stop oneself) is NOT the proper way to fall, and if too forceful results in fracturing the forearm bones near the wrist (distal radius/ulna fracture).
I would recommend either gymnastics or aikido training for learning how to fall. Unfortunately, it’s not something that can be taught effectively over the web, or by reading a book. But the best tip I ever got to get me going in the right direction was to remember that if I felt myself falling not to fight it, and tuck my head down and look at my belly button. This put me in position to take the force on my shoulders and dissipate it across my back.
If one practices long enough, the learned response becomes somewhat automatic. I started to learn how to fall in aikido first from a static one knee kneeling position, then from a static standing position, and finally from running and jumping/rolling over obstacles.
Mamaroo
Mar 8, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Just last week the whole pedaling concept sort of just clicked for Roo on his trike. Now we just have to teach him the concept of steering. Looking forward to the warm weather to give us lots of opportunities to practice.
Just listened to you and Jim speak at the conference. I have been reading you words for so long, it was nice to finally hear them spoken.
VAB
Mar 8, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Two things helped our guy in learning to ride a bike.
The first was me walking and jogging beside him holding onto the saddle to help with balance and braking. This requires a bit of strength on the part of the adult, but it lets you moderate the amount of control the rider has anywhere from complete control to no control very flexibly. I did this after training wheels, but I now think it would have been better to do it *instead* of training wheels, because training wheels don’t solve the problem of braking.
The other thing that made a huge difference in my guy’s confidence was getting him a bike with a full range of gears. This allowed him to peddle fast while going slow. While this is the opposite of the effect that most NT riders are looking for in gears, my guy found it very reassuring.
We ride our bikes all over town now.
Kassiane
Mar 8, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Learning to fall is the first thing you do in some martial arts and gymnastics. I’ve done aikido and gymnastics, & while the rolling techniques are different both have a safety roll goin’ on, and the general idea is to diffuse the force over as much surface area as possible.
And in gym, if you fall and stick out a hand instead of rolling, it’s 50 pushups provided you didn’t dislocate an elbow or break something. That’s how dangerous it is–NOTHING else is more than 20. 50 is a BIG penalty.
Caroline
Mar 8, 2007 at 7:55 pm
Thank you everyone for the very helpful tips - thank you all for taking the time to write what has worked for your children. now to find a deserted parking lot so my child’s fear-filled tantrums about getting on the bike do not make me throw in the towel!
Once my child feels in control, the confidence will come, so the advice on breaking and the kind of bikes that work is really great.
Kristina, I loved seeing the conference and hearing your husband speak. and “peaceful easy feeling” is one of our favorite songs.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Mar 8, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Thank you for setting this thread in motion—bike-riding has been a tremendous undertaking for Jim and Charlie and has meant very much to them. The conference was more than memorable and we continue to seek ways to keep its spirit and message alive.
Jen
Mar 8, 2007 at 10:13 pm
I’m somewhat curious about this because the parents of one of the boys I work with, actually both really, want their sons to learn how to ride a bike. The one already does ride a bike with training wheels, and he does what you described Charlie having done. He pedals so fast a lot of the times his training wheels aren’t really on the ground. A lot of us believe that if we took the wheels off, he’d be able to stay up. Is that really what you did, just took off the training wheels? I’m not sure if his bike has hand brakes or not, but I’ll definitely mention that to his mom.
I don’t know if the other boy really rides a bike with training wheels yet, or how well he does it if he is able to, but here’s hoping this works for them!
Maree
Mar 9, 2007 at 5:44 am
With regards to getting the trainer wheels off a child’s bike - we are living in an expat community in Asia and the family across from us is from Germany. They have these wonderful little bikes that their daughters learnt on (never used trainer wheels). I have included two links to show you what they look like but they appear to becoming extremely expensive.
The beauty of this bike is no pedals. Very easy to adjust height and a great way to introduce balance and steering principles. Using a tricycle at the same time to teach the pedalling concept of course. Ultimately, the child propels the bike using their feet on the ground. As they become more confident, they start to go faster and if a fall happens, no pedals and trainer wheels to worry about. The other thing they like about the bikes is they are easy to put in the car and take wherever they go. The children seemed happier to use their bikes to get around instead of walking.
The family said they are very popular where they come from.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Wooden-Run-Push-Bike-KASAWAKI-Woody-Bike-for-Toddler_W0QQitemZ170086506947QQihZ007QQcategoryZ64647QQcmdZViewItem
http://www.amazon.com/LIKEaBIKE-Mountain-German-Walking-Bike/dp/B000IN08NI
Our experience: Our son showed more interest in using a kick scooter before a bicycle. This has a similar concept as it also addresses balance and steering whilst the feet can still be on the ground. He didn’t really like the ones with 2 wheels at the back, he wanted the single wheel type that go faster and once he had some practise he was off (about age four). In fact, similar to the our friend’s bikes, we took the kick scooter everywhere as he would prefer to scoot than walk. His balance is now amazing and he has loved it.
So……we spend one day with our new friends at a park, our son wants to give the bike a go and spends a couple of hours riding it around the park. We arrive home, he runs into their garage and pick up a regular bicycle with pedals (no trainers) and before we realised he was half way up the street riding the bike. We immediately removed trainer wheels off his bike, lowered the seat so his feet could still easily reach ground and he was happy.
Now the breaks, we just consistently used the same verbal instruction, “Ready to Stop….Squeeze” really emphasising “SQUEEZE”. This was before trainer wheels came off and so we could make a game of it where we would ride along the bike way and stop and go, stop and go etc. It took a while but he got the hang of it after a few garden beds were transformed.
We have done a similar thing with both our boys regarding vehicle safety, again using consistent language “Car coming….Stop”. We are in an expat residential community where we have private roads with very little traffic and tend to be used more by bicycles and pedestrians than cars, so it has been a good way to teach vehicle safety (would never have done this back home). I ride my bike on the inside of the road , with him being closer to the curb. As soon as we see a vehicle we have moved to the curb and stopped. Even if we see it coming from “a mile away” from either direction. We do not go until the car has moved away. It has been a long process but has worked. Both our boys seem to have developed a little more road sense because of it.
Anyway, the bike with no pedals was a wonderful resource that I had never seen before.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Mar 9, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Maree, thank you—this is incredibly helpful! My husband used a similar process to teach Charlie to use the handbrakes (they were in a parking lot, though, so Jim had to be quick on his feet in times of falls). He also is careful to have Charlie on the inside of him when they are on the street, though lately Charlie, being older, has been wanting to go out more on his own; we live in a town now with lots of wide streets and not a lot of traffic, so it is better for bike riding.
Charlie learned to use a scooter at school—he did not have much success with one at home and then I went to visit him at school one day and he was gliding all over the place. And liking it more than much.
Cathy
Mar 21, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Last night I was researching how to go about teaching an autistic child to ride a bike. Charlies story was inspirational. I knew I had to find a way to make Logan do this for himself. All morning his mother and I tried to come up with some way we could do this without frustrating Logan, who so wants to learn to ride his bike. I was getting ready to leave at lunch time, when I had a “brain wave”. Let us put the back wheels up on something so he can concentrate on the pedals. We moved the pedals with his feet on a few times, then suggested he went to see Nan. Before we knew it, Logan was off to see Nan, then his aunt, then off to the solar system visiting all the planets in order - his fixation of the moment. Many thanks for your inspirational story, and GOOD LUCK!
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Apr 24, 2007 at 7:51 am
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May 14, 2007 at 6:28 pm
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Jun 22, 2008 at 1:27 am
[…] I was when I was his age, and than I’ll ever be (it’s the same with swimming). This is Jim’s doing, not mine. Soon as Charlie could pedal his tricycle, Jim was taking him on dad-and-son jaunts to […]
Bonnie Sayers
Jun 26, 2008 at 9:24 pm
This is a good post to save for whenever I get to do this with Matthew. I remember recently you wrote about Jim writing something and then I found this by accident.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jun 27, 2008 at 12:54 am
I keep asking him to write something up himself……I will keep asking!
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