The Square Peg Can Ride a Bike.
Ever since the Square Peg was little he has ridden a balance bike. He whizzed everywhere on it. My husband and I were thinking ‘Great! Edward will be just like Matthew (older brother) and get straight onto a pedal bike.’ Mummy secretly thinking ‘Yes! Then Daddy can take them both out cycling for the day and Mummy has the day to herself….’
The Square Peg and the balance bike.
As we gradually came to realise, Edward is not like Matthew. Although Edward loved his balance bike, he didn’t like upgrading to a pedal bike. So in true Square Peg fashion, he refused. He wouldn’t even entertain trying it and Mummy’s dreams of a day to herself were fading fast.
We would still give him the opportunity and eventually he did get on and cycle using pedals. Using brakes though was another matter and instead he would drag his feet until he stopped. This resulted in needing a new pair of trainers every few weeks. Again, he really wasn’t bothered about cycling and he would rather run around pretending a stick was a spaceship so we didn’t push it.
The Square Peg and the pedal bike.
Edward’s older brother Matthew competes in bike races so Edward would always one along and watch. We spend a lot of time at the Velopark in Torquay and Edward eventually gained more skills on his pedal bike. We decided to enter Edward into a race. Edward was super excited and it turned out to be THE funniest bike race EVER!
The Square Peg and his first and last bike race.
Edward was chattering away to himself the whole way round and loving it when the crowd were cheering him on. Half way round, he got a little bored so cycled off the track and started picking up daisies. Andy managed to get him back on but with 15 metres to go he decided he’d had enough and rode off. But he had to finish as he was the only competitor in his age group, so Andy pushed him over the line. This meant that Edward could stand on the podium and receive a medal. He had the best time ever!
The Square Peg and the podium.
The Square Peg and the bigger bike.
Ever since then, he really hasn’t been interested in riding bikes at all so we haven’t pushed it. Then recently we tried him on a 24” bike. He quite likes it, he can use the brakes and loves cycling round the lake.
So if you want your autistic child to ride a bike, my advice is to be patient, just keep bringing the bike out and offerIng them the opportunity to ride it. We are so pleased with Edward’s progress on the bike. However, he still isn’t really that bothered about it so I think I still have a long way to go until I get a day to myself.
