5 Easy ways to teach Autistic child To Ride a Bike

In this post, I have collected all the tips and tricks that I used to teach my autistic child to ride a bike successfully.

If you are unsure about whether your child may have Autism or have your suspicions and need help in deciding whether you should go to a professional for a screening or a diagnosis of your child, I have written 3 posts, documenting the signs of autism that my child displayed and at what ages my child displayed them, and the signs of autism that I also had when I was young.

You can read them here:

• 0-18 Months
• 18-30 Months
• 30-48 Months

A little bit about me

I am an autistic mother of an autistic child. I struggled my whole day into adulthood, with no support or help. So I am here to make sure that, that does not happen to my child. I want to do as much research as possible, in order to help my child in the best way possible!

I do not want my child to struggle the way that I did.

But more than that, I have come to realise that there are a lot of parents of autistic children out here who are not blessed enough to get therapy for their children either due to how much it costs or because it is simply not available.

That bothers me more than anything and so I have been documenting the journey that I have had with my child and everything I have done with them so far in hope that I can help even 1 more person and their autistic child.

Is it easy for an autistic child to ride a bike?

Autism is different for everyone. Some people might find it hard to speak, while others can communicate very well. Some might really enjoy physical activities,(which is great for learning how to ride the bike) while other autistic people will much prefer sitting down and reading books in a quiet place with headphones on!

Autism is a spectrum, meaning it looks different for each person. My autism when I was a child looks very different than my childs autism. Some might need a lot of help, while others might be more independent.

Because of this, these techniques to teach my autistic child to ride a bike might not work the same for your autistic child. Or you might find yourself needing to skip some steps if your child has better motor skills.

This is relevant when it comes to teaching your autistic child to ride a bike because it means you have to move the steering and turn your feet constantly at the same time as well as be aware of your surroundings. 

Autism in adults like myself, can be seen when we struggle to learn how to drive a car.

Does Autism affect motor skills?

First of all. Children with autism develop motor skills much later than the average child. 

An autistic child needs more practice and time to develop their motor skills. – Kristian Stewart speaks about this at lengths in her book, “Crawling Pattern Movement Effects on Fine Motor Skills Among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder” 

YES! Even though this makes it much much, much, much, much harder for an autistic child to ride a bike. But, IT IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE for your autistic child to ride a bike.

Author David, S Geslak argues that Autistic children, especially without training seriously struggle doing two things at the same time. You can read more about his opinion on this in his book, ‘The Autism Fitness Handbook’

When you get your autistic child to ride a bike and work together to get this skill, and they learn how to do it, it is such a great bonding moment for both as well as a deep satisfaction that you did it.

It will also teach your autistic child that, even if something is very hard, nothing is impossible to achieve as long as you work hard on it.

 

There really is a way to train the brain to do multiple things at the same time successfully. But it requires an extra step than the typical tricycle. 

Here we go! 

Advice when getting your autistic child to ride a bike

The way we began was by

• Introducing the bike to our autistic kid was to get a child chair attached to the back of our bike and place our kid on it and ride a bike around with them at the back.  We did this for around a year. 

Our kid would look forward to riding a bike with us. Our kid would get excited for it. This was what we wanted. We tried to create a positive experience for our child around riding a bike and the whole process.

Also:

• Try to introduce your autistic child to ride a bike as early as you can. The non-pedal bike works for children up from 1 year and half years old. 
• Practise A LOT with your child sitting on your bike with you!
• The thing is to keep your attitude light. And keep it positive.
• Autistic children see things in black and white. The worst thing is to associate riding a bike with getting hurt. Or to feel too much pressure because its ‘a big deal’. 
• As much as we would love for our autistic child to ride a bike – Let them take their time. 
• DON’T FORGET TO GIVE MUCH NEEDED PRAISE.  

Step 1: Get a helmet before you get your autistic child to ride a bike.

The first and foremost thing. Go and get a helmet fitted for your kid. They need a good safety helmet.

Autistic kids are clumsy! Actually ALL kids are!

Keep them safe and keep their heads protected. 

The number of times my autistic child has walked into  

• Objects,  
• Walls,  
• Doors, 
• Toys, 
• Furniture 

And they trip over absolutely nothing. A LOT! 

So for an autistic child to ride a bike………

Yeah.

Get them head, knee and elbow protection so they can ride a bike comfortably.

Autistic children see things as black and white.(Read more on that here: 50 Shades of Black and White Autism Is Not Grey)

Its either:

1. Good or bad
2. Worth it or not worth it 

So if you get your autistic child to ride a bike and they get very hurt in the process, it will be very difficult to get them back on a bike again.

I know this is the case for my autistic child when they began to ride a bike.

The goal is to have them get as less hurt as possible in order to show them that it is not all bad.

Falling down is part of life and so is getting back up again.

But falling off while riding a bike without sustaining more than a little bruise is much different than seriously getting injured whilst falling off when riding a bike.

Step 2: Balance before riding a bike with wheels

Basically, there are these types of bikes that are like walkers. They look like a typical bike but with no pedals. 

The child holds onto the handle bars and ‘rides’ a bike whilst walking.

Your autistic child will learn how to move the steering around and balance really well. It is a comfortable way to teach an autistic child to ride a bike, especially in the beginning.

But, using this method your child can learn to turn the steering whilst ‘riding’ the bike around things like:

• Bends in roads  
• Trees  
• Puddles 
• Holes in the road 
• People on the road 

You can start teaching your autistic child to ride a bike with these types of bikes from the age of 1 and a half, even earlier or later. 

These are much simpler because the kid is essentially walking. 

Step 3: Tri-cycle 

Once you have gotten your autistic child to ride a bike with no pedal walker bikes you can move them onto riding the tricycle. 

They will learn how to pedal and steer at the same time. 

It is easier this way, because using the steering is already natural to them now. 

Once that step is sorted. The other step of pedaling isn’t far behind. 

 

Step 4: Changing balancing wheels

Instead of taking them off completely. I recommend you slowly start to raise them.  

So that they are not level with the back wheel.

Creating an imbalance but still able to catch should the bike tilt too much.

I do this, so that my child can learn how to balance but still have the safety. If my kid loses their balance slightly, the wheel will hit the floor and stop the bike toppling over. Lessening the fall or the strength of the fall. 

Eventually your autistic child will learn how to balance while having both support wheels off the ground. 

Step 5: Completely remove all extra wheels so your kid can ride a bike FULLY.

Once you see your child complete step 4. You can fully take away the training wheels. And BOOOOOM. Your autistic bundle of joy is riding a bike freely baby.

 

When you teach your autistic child to ride a bike make sure to go at their pace. Some children will learn much slower than others and there is nothing wrong with that.

Your child might still fall and tumble sometime when they ride a bike. And that is very normal, especially in the beginning when they have just learnt to ride a bike. Keep positive about it and keep encouraging them and make sure to tell them that they are doing a great job.

Also, I find that when my autistic child has not been riding their bike for a while (in particular over winter seasons) it is a little harder for them to get straight back into it. There is much more wobbling and tumbling till they get the hang of how to ride a bike again. This is also okay and normal.

My advice is that, as much as you can help it, do not leave large gaps of time between your autistic child riding a bike.

Criticisms

There are some parents who argue that if a child is not too comfortable learning how to ride a bike. Or if they are really struggling with it, then it is simply not for them.

They also argue that it is cruel to get an autistic child to ride a bike if they do not want to.

My argument to that is that teaching an autistic child to ride a bike is good for them. This is because it helps improve their coordination, balance, and confidence. Riding a bike involves using different skills at once, like steering and pedaling, which can help them develop better motor skills.

It also provides a fun way to practice following instructions and working on social skills if they ride with friends or family. Plus, the sense of accomplishment from learning to ride can boost their self-esteem and encourage them to try new things. 

No one is telling them to join tour de France. But I would like my autistic child to learn as many skills as possible, even if they do not actively use those skills, it is very good for them to have it anyway!