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A sunny day, with a sad heart. Posted By: JanisMary
Posted On: 07/02/2008
It's a beautiful, sunny, 80 degree day in the usually frozen part of Alaska, Fairbanks. Up here, we do not take warm temperatures for granted. Since most of the year we are indoors, it takes encouragement and prompting to get my boys out of their routine indoor activities to go outside and play. I have to hide the Wii, legos, puzzles and game boys. We started the day with small group tennis lessons. That went well. But after lunch, I decided it is time to try to teach Jared, age 9, to ride a bike without his training wheels. First all the protective gear is put on, with great attention to detail. The velcro straps must match up just so. We start on the lawn. Jared starts to get on the bike. I let go of the handle bar to give him the greatest independence. The bike falls, and he gets upset. He walks away and refuses to look at me. After a few minutes of convincing him I will hold on to the handlebar and the seat, not letting go if he will get on the bike again...he agrees.
Our lawn is on a slight incline. Thanks to our dog, there are a few small holes as well. Jared gets on and pedals. We circle the yard three times, until my lower back can't take it any longer. I suggest he is ready to try the pavement. He agrees. Again, he gets on the bike, on the side of our neighborhood road.
I hold onto the handlebar and the back seat pushing him about two blocks up and back. Stopping to rub my poor aching back, I say, "this time I am going to only hold onto your seat and shoulders. Jared hesitates, but agrees. He starts to pedal. The bike moves forward, then curves to the left (and I am on the right), then falls...and he is really mad at me now. After wiping off the scratches, I convince him to try a scooter (for balance practice). He does it, but doesn't really do it right. Finally, after about two blocks I said, "you are suppose to stand on the scooter w/two feet and just scoot one foot down to push yourself along every once in a while as you move." He tries and falls. He gets up, with a bloody knee, and doesn't want to have anything to do with the scooter. As we walk back to our house, he has a sad look on his face and says, "My brain is just dumb with bikes and scooters. It just won't work."
I try to encourage him saying "You just have to overcome your fear, and believe in yourself, believe you can do it." But inside, I too have a sad heart.
       
kathy630 wrote this reply on 07/03/2008
Don't give up, either one of you. Patience and time will take care of alot of the sadness. Good luck with the wheels.

carmel66 wrote this reply on 07/03/2008
It's hard to see discouragement in their eyes - but keep trying...and it will come. It took me so long to learn to ride a bike w/out trainers. And my son at age seven we are still mastering a tricycle. And the look of pride is wonderful. Tomorrow is a new day. Hang in, Cathy

shannonj wrote this reply on 07/03/2008
Hey--plenty of us NT folks out there had a hard time learning to bike without training wheels... I remember how frustrated my dad was that I was 8 years old and still clinging to my training wheels! It will come.....keep your chin up!

Jake9068 wrote this reply on 07/03/2008
We got a Chariot Scooter for my daughter and Michael uses it. It doesn't require the balance or coordination of a bike orregular scooter. It is a scooter with 2 parallel foot "bars"

Simranmg wrote this reply on 07/03/2008
You guys keep it up!!! We know Jared will get there!!

Motherof4 wrote this reply on 07/04/2008
It's hard not to get discouraged. My kids all said similar things when they were learning to ride, ASD or not... Hang in there.

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