[Closed] Autism anyone?

A very dear friend of me has an autistic sister, so I cannot really comment on the bike piece, but I very much understand what this means to you.

Whereabouts are you? I'd certainly hope someone on here would be able to offer to help out on a local level

Good luck!

Hey,
We are in Portsmouth on the south coast, although my other half hails from Cumbria, its his fault for making me crazy about mtb's. Hampshire maybe not that great for rides but it has its moments. I think the day we get a full suspension special needs bike is a long way off, theres a challenge.
Would so love to meet some like minded parents!

Out of interest - have you been intouch with the RDA? My Mum runs the Westmoreland group and has had HUGE success with Autistic children so it would be worth persuing.

The RDA are indeed great people.

See if you cand find CliveA on here. He's involved with cycling development in Hampshire, so could be a good contact!

I used to teach the children who had this.

Credit to their parents and themselves.

Although not at all as profoundly autistic as your Joel, one of my nephews is autistic. Or perhaps I should say [i]was[/i] because although he was quite severe when he was a child and he needed to go to a specialist school, they helped him so much that it is pretty hard to detect these days. He got married about 4 years ago and is extremely happy. Sorry I can't help with any suggestions, but I just wanted to say that in my family's experience the help which is available to an autistic child is truly remarkable. And the improvements it brings are stunning and permanent. Good luck with a bike for Joel.

I think it may be the same Clive from CTC who did the fab talk on special needs riding at Alice Holt forest. Didnt get much of a chance to talk to him as I had to dash off afterwards but he seemed a throughly nice bloke.
Who are RDA? Im familiar with the NAS. Its always great to find new sources of knowledge.
Can I also say I have only been a forum user for a short time and its been ace, what a decent bunch of people. Have loved reading Singletrack for awhile now. Do the readers have any kind of social gatherings or events?

Do the readers have any kind of social gatherings or events?

Not too far from you I believe :

http://www.bigbikebash.co.uk/location.php

what a decent bunch of people.

You're still new aren't you?!

[JOKE]

Yep, that's Clive! Top chap!

RDA are Riding for the Disabled Association. Horses, not bikes, but great people.

hi there

i work with young autistic people so know this could be such a positive thing. i live near jon whyte (the guy who started whyte bikes) he retired from the company and as far as i remember part of what hes doing is designing specialist equipment for disabled users. i bump into him and his wife on their tandem while cycling to work, sponsored them on some mad race in the arctic (related to the above mentioned work)! dont know how to get hold of him Next time i see him ill be sure to ask. pretty sure hes got a design consultancy now. may be worth some contact (poss via whyte bikes)?
2nd RDA. i work esp with one young woman and horses allot and its a great thing.

As said - Riding for the Disabled. It works fantastically as it gives the kids something really positive, and it seems that the horses bring the children on in all sorts of ways. Some start unable to hold the reins or sit on the saddles, but with perseverance they develop the ability to do so. It has great results on their whole lives.

http://www.rda.org.uk/

I've had a lot of involvement with our local Special Adventure Playground,where a few autistic children attended. They have some great trikes there,designed and built by the late,great George Longstaff. Thankfully,they are still making bikes and trikes.Got to be worth a phone call. (Longstaff Cycles) I will look for their contact details.

mrs julian knows a rather successful cyclist who is also teaches autistic kids (hers are older and speaking/reading ones but her colleagues teach non-speaking/signing kids). if she gets any pointers from her, i will pass them on.

Hi LoulaBella,
my niece has had a few issues in the past, having Noonan's syndrome. Specifically troubles with balance and her mind wandering off the task in hand. We were able to manage with a trike, but with an adapted seat with seatbelt so she was unable to fall off. Before that it was a trailer and she has progressed to a regular adult trike. There are a lot of weird and wonderful vehicles out there from tandems to rickshaws to cargo bikes which might be worth a look, some of which aren't ridiculously priced (everything is relative on this site, many people on here have bikes worth thousands) since they aren't full custom jobs. Have a look at this from ebay, there are some handy links to manufacturers sites in the description

[url= http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=170347045102&Category=33503&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26its%3DI%26otn%3D2 ]Dutch cargo bike[/url]

Also have a look at the Mission Cycles website, even if they don't have the answer, they will be worth talking too as they have seen most of the possibilities and might point you to the right person. Good Luck.

Thank you soooooo much. This looks perfect for us, im so excited and smiling happily. Everyone has been so helpful. I also think the Big Bike Bash looks ace and shall be purchasing tickets directly!

http://www.missioncycles.co.uk/disdetail.asp?Products_Action=Find(%27ProductID%27,%27216%27)&Products_Position=FIL%3ACategory%3D%27Piggy%27ORD%3AABS%3A3KEY%3A216PAR%3A

Not sure how to make that link a wee bit smaller
I think we will go for one of these!

just a thought but you may get some advice from some of the more established disability sports groups especially the Uphill Ski Club. Probably a good way of getting in contact with groups who encourage such things and parents who involve their children in sporting activities. One of my aunts was very involved with that group (she has cerebral palsy).

oh it's not called the uphill ski club anymore http://www.disabilitysnowsport.org.uk/

LoulaBella,

My son is 4 and is autistic, but has shown interets in balance bikes, but pedaling seems a bridge too far at the moment, either that of he prefers to tur the bike over and spin the wheels...

Couple of things:

1: There is a meeting for parents and children wih autism at the [url= http://www3.hants.gov.uk/the-aviary-cc ]Aviary childrens centre[/url] in Eastleigh this saturday morning. Just a chance for those who are directly involved, to share and learn together, and not feel alone.

2: I am intending to get some bikers together to ride the South Downs Way for the National Autistic Society in early July, and will just say, the more that want to do it, the more we can raise!

Happy to talk if it helps.

another vote for RDA - my mum used to chair/run the Cotswold RDA at various times ofver the last 35 years (her sister had Downs and loved it there).

There's a guy in my parents village who takes his autistic 15 year old son on a tandem a lot. He seems to really enjoy it despite normally having great difficulty in public/noisy/open environments.

Hi

A subject very close to my/our heart. My son Matthew has a diagnosis of Aspergers syndrome, part of the ASd range.
I've tried Matt on bikes and although he can ride the steering and pedalling/ braking is completely lost on him.
Recently we obtained aplace at our local RDA center in Llanfynydd, only couple of miles from us and he has taken to it. They have enrolled Matt on the vaulting activity and he loves it.

Cant say enough good things about the staff.

As a dad who loves mountain bikes I cannot express the frustration of not being able to intrest/involve my son in my hobby

Hi smartay, I foud my son the same, until he was amoungst his peer group locally, who are now riding without stabalisers. You can imagine how my heart sank, knowing how much more of a challenge it is for Nicholas, but seeing his friends ride has given him a renewed enthusiasm for bikes, and he enjoys being on the bikes now, which is a major step forwards! I think a balance bike might help, as movement is up to him, which seems very important. I can't help thinking that there has to be some kind of a process that I can employ to help him to enjoy bikes.

I've dropped Clive a link to this thread via Twitter

I've nothing to add to this thread other than I am continually amazed at the depth of knowledge and experience here on STW.

kudos to all of you.

As per AndyRT and Smartray, my 10 year son is also aspergic. We had Jordan diagnosed very early on ( Special needs statement by the time he was 4).

Jordan is the most clumsy bugger you could even hope to meet, trips over fresh air, can't catch a ball if his life depended on it, and his mind wonders off anthing unless it's his core interests, which this year are the Titanic, and Indiana Jones movies/ games. But, **** me, put him on a bike and he loves it. ( apart from uphills) He rides really well.

As per the other guys, it just took him a bit longer to master. He had it cracked by he was 6 , his younger sister was stableizer free a good year earlier. Just give them a bit more time and you will be amazed.

LoulaBella, my mates at work, his daughter has MS, and rides in a three wheeler. Next time I'm in, I'll grip him about where he got it from. ( but suspect it was via George Longstaff)

My bosses wife can't cycle comfortably on normal bike so they have a half recumbant. In know that it's used to take his grandchildren to school but not sure if its kiddy cranks attached or if there's enough range in the standard adjustment for it. This ones called a Periscop and I think the replacement for it is called a Pino. Much more socialable form of tandeming in some respects as you can talk face to face more easily.
Not cheap but it might offer some inspiration. See picture here with the ex mayor on the front.

My oldest son doesn't have Autism but is severally disabled. Making sure he is part of our family activates is very important to us. We raised money for his school to buy one on these, which we borrow at weekends. Would probably be a bit more than you need as it takes wheelchairs, but goes to show where there is a will there is a way.

[img] [/img]

I am however considering get something like this, if it can be adapted for him.

[img] [/img]

Keep looking for a solution, its usually out there and from my experience its worth finding to see the smile on Thomas's face 😀

i saw one of those wheelchair/trike thingies the other day.

i also spotted this sometime last year

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

this was in germany. no idea who manufactures the parts/puts the bike together.

Company Of Cyclists, based in York, might be able to help: [url= http://www.getcycling.org.uk/specialneeds.html ]http://www.getcycling.org.uk/specialneeds.html[/url]

Im so over whelmed by all these wonderful posts!

Hey AndyRT,

I would be totally up for doing a ride to raise some money for Autism!
We were thinking of doing a ride next year from Hampshire to Cumbria if anyones interested.
My email address is visible on my profile if anyone wants to drop me a line!

Absolute stars the lot of you. Great level of compassion and constructive input on this one.

I know little of your sons condition. I have a client who teaches autistic children - an incredible and patient woman and have an acquaintance with an autistic child. Sadly, I've not come into contact with these kids enough and feel I'd like to know more.

Best of luck to you in your quest to get him on a bike.

This thread makes me smile.

Do you think there is any chance of the lovely Singletrack mag running an article on special needs riding/those who work in that area/and or custom bike builders companies etc? It seems there is a huge need to get the word out there that hopping on a bike isnt as straight forward as you think it is, but that it is POSSIBLE.
Go on Singletrack you know you want too.....
Some pics of Joel
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31010851@N08/?saved=1

I have an Autistic Son and he loves going for his rides with RDA on Saturday mornings it fills him full of confidence he loves to trot and do various exercises and the girls/ladies who run it are brilliant, as he attends a special school they introduced him to RDA and we looked out for extra classes. He is not that keen on riding bikes however I do try and give him gentle nudges now and again into having a go, he gets spooked and his coordination is a bit awry so I don't want to put him off by pushing him unnecessarily.

I have taken him up to Llandegla with the rest of my family for walks and he does not like it because of all the bikes, now his speech it coming on hopefully we can find out more about what it is about the bikes that makes him uncomfortable. However is common for people with ASD not to like crowded or busy places. Saying that he loves centre parks and is not bothered about bike there, so its a bit of a mystery in some respects.

Velovision did an issue dedicated to special needs cycling. Might have some useful info for you

http://www.velovision.co.uk/cgi-bin/show_comments.pl?storynum=559

MicArms wrote:
"Jordan is the most clumsy bugger you could even hope to meet, trips over fresh air, can't catch a ball if his life depended on it, and his mind wonders off anthing unless it's his core interests, which this year are the Titanic, and Indiana Jones movies/ games."
My God, that sounds exactly like my son Alex!
We started him off being pulled in a buggy behind my bike, then seatbelted into a child seat behind my saddle, then his own bike with stabilizers.
He was almost 5 before he wanted the stabalizers taken off.
Then we let him coast down grassy hills so he learned balance and by the time he was 5 he was riding.
When he was 6 I took him to Vancouver's North Shore (the easist trail) and he still brags about that.
Lotsa patience, lotsa time, losta love and eventually it came around.
Good luck.

Hi,

Not sure if some of these types of products are of any use to you

http://www.pashley.co.uk/products/robin.html

Cheers

Dibs

Bikes
Compagnon
Kynast mobilty 3 RAD
Quetzal Cycle

Organisations that know stuff
www.Quest88.co.uk
www.Encycleopedia.com

I've just read the remaining posts on here, do you thimk autism is more wide spread now or do you think the diagnosis has improved.

Matt had his diagnosis as he moved from infants to juniors. He now attends a special unit at a local school. He has also been accepted at a local secondary comprehensive with support staff/ unit.

The bike thing may come overnight, Matt could read or write until he was 9 years old although we tried constantly to get him to read, then he started reading and writing stories. it was if he had no intrest but the ability was always there!

"Flippinheckler" you mght of seen Matt and myself at Llandegla walking a black lab, I use it as away of trying to encourage the bike intrest, but I think the hot chocolate at the end of the walk is the real bonus for Matt

Yet again STW proves what an amazing place it is.

smartay - Member

I've just read the remaining posts on here, do you thimk autism is more wide spread now or do you think the diagnosis has improved.

Matt had his diagnosis as he moved from infants to juniors. He now attends a special unit at a local school. He has also been accepted at a local secondary comprehensive with support staff/ unit.

I'd go with better diagnosis. I can think back to when I was at school 70- mid 80's, about 3 or 4 kids who were classed as biffers by the teachers. Only now with hindsight I can say they were on the higher end of the ASD. We just had Jordan's annual review this morning, and now looking to the move from primary to secondary. However due to the location we are looking at either from current primary to secondary, or current primary, to middle, to high.
All three schools have autistic bases, with appriorate staffing levels and TA support in the mainstream classrooms.
Again, going back 20 -30 years it seemed to be that all special needs children were all lumped together out of the way. Where as now, inclusion/ intergration is the main thing. ( providing it's in the child's best interest)

We (mainstream 6th form college) are getting 7 (I think) students who are on the Autistic spectrum starting in September. That's 0.7% of our intake for the year.

Can I just say that me and my whole family are so touched by all the wonderful posts.
Yes its bloody hard looking after Joel and the amount of money you get from a carers allowance is minimal.
Comparatively the huge amount of love and support that family, friends and random strangers show you is amazing.
Joel is in an amazing special school, in a class with 6 other autistic boys. Im looking forward to getting him out on that bike with the wind in his hair and the sun (possibly driving rain knowing U.K weather)on his face.
If you have a disabled child and fancy dropping us an email, we would love to organise some sort of social bike orientated gathering. My email is on my profile.
Love LoulaBella x

Hi LoulaBella, my 11 year old son Alf has Asperger's Syndrome and ADHD. We've gone through a lot of stress and confusion in the last decade but due to ongoing professional help and medication (for our son!) our lives are on a more even keel these days. Anyway, it's been a long journey so far and his/our biography is too long and complex to chart in one short forum posting.

Andy RT, who probably lives near you, mentioned the possibility of doing a STW sponsored bike ride for the NAS (who've helped us no end) sometime this summer. My personal preference would be a 24hr South Downs Way Winchester to Eastbourne. But whatever, any effort that supports The National Autistic Society and parents/carers and people who live with autism has got to be worthwile. Andy RT drop us a line if you've any further ideas on doing this ride.

Peace and love to all touched by autism.

Rich.

Loulabella, I reckon Chipps and the gang may accept an article from you about Autism and cycling. In the past as a Scout Leader we managed to get a disabled lad through the cyclist badge one summer camp. This included an overnight expedition with camping, the teenage lad who pedalled with him earned his food that week! He was grateful we did it all at Thetford.
When you get some idea of the sponsored ride give me a shout as my godson has Aspergers and I'll ride and raise sponsorship.

Thanks guys,
Im away in Dorset from the 10-17th of July, when do you think the South Downs ride will be?
Im about to email Chipps with the story idea, wish me luck!
Once again thanks to all, it reminds us as parents that we are not on our own in this. Plenty of decent people trying to cope with this day to day.
much love
Lou x

hi loulabella,

a couple of things; four is still really young in terms of the time you have had to get your heads round your sons diagnosis and what this means to you all as a family. its a constant learning curve with all sorts of challenges but plenty of highlights too. autism or not, kids are at their most receptive when they are enjoying themselves so if he likes the whole bike thing then stick with it, it could lead all sorts of places.
on the specialist bike front, try contacting your local university. my son has brain damage which also has physical manifestations and up until now Ive just adapted tralier bikes but he is getting too heavy. by a friend of a friend type contact ive been put in touch with a professor of design and technology who is going to get his final year students to design and build a bike specially for louie, free of charge! apparently they have funding for this kind of thing.

hope this helps

Sorry I'm a bit late to the party, but it seems you got a great response from the collective wisdom of STW, LouLouBella!

As you probably know, I've moved jobs within CTC now (now working on the [url= http://bikeclub.org.uk ]Bike Club[/url] project).

Have you ridden with or spoken to [url= http://www.ctc.org.uk/easthampshire ]Sarah, my replacement in Hampshire[/url]? She's handling the inclusive riding we do at Alice Holt, Petersfield and elsewhere.

Of the hundreds of disabled people I rode with while I was working on that project, some of the ones that provided the most rewarding experiences were the people with autism. I recall that lots of patience is needed - it sometimes took weeks or even months for newcomers to overcome an initial fear of the new experience before they started to try the cycles. But given enough time, virtually all our autistic visitors are now riding quite competently on trikes. Braking is sometimes still a struggle, though! Most of our autistic riders have been young adults.

All the best with the cycling plans and let me know if I can be of any help - clive.andrews@ctc.org.uk

Micarms

Just a thought about your son, just a thought. Peeps with aspergers often have dyspraxia as an associated condition, this impacts on their gross motor skills such as catching, cycling, bumping into stuff etc. If you find he has dyspraxia it won't help much right now but there are plenty of really good books which give you strategies to help etc.

My son has asperger's, tpurettes, ocd and dyspraxia. The dyspraxia has been pretty much grown out now but the rest remain.

He's off to uni next week to start a degree in computer science (surprise surprise) so if any of you out there despair for your kids, don't worry, they can and will surprise you many, many times.

Just to add a wee bit to the excellent advice above. An earlier post mentioned the Dutch cargo bike. I can thoroughly recommend this; not cheap, but a very social way to cycle with kids. and class leading smiles per mile.

[url=

A short video of the bike in action[/url]

It is designed for cruising Dutch cycle paths, but is Clyde-built with big roadster tyres, so can handle rough tracks and gentle off road without any problems. Just be wary if you are buying, as there are various far eastern copies of the original Dutch version, with less robust construction and lower component specs. The UK importer does test hires if you want to try one out: [url= http://www.dutchbike.co.uk/ ]http://www.dutchbike.co.uk[/url]

I have worked as a coach with a local hospital, teaching groups of kids with co-ordination problems to cycle (including some on the autistic spectrum). Some of the children we have worked with initially had problems just walking and pushing a bike without falling over, but after 3 or 4 sessions using simple techniques and ordinary bikes, they were all up and cycling. Basically you start with the saddle down and pedals off so they can scoot and get some balance (stay well away from stabilisers, which slow down the process of learning to balance). Obviously this might not be suitable for your son at the moment, but he is still very young at 4, so I wouldn't give up on him learning to cycle independently.

Happy to provide any other information if I can help. Good luck, and have fun.

hello, my GF teaches autistic kids from the most profoundly affected to the mildest, i'm sure she's be happy to give any advice, email in profile

The Calvert Trust do all sorts of activites and I saw a group of them cycling around Thirlmere the other day (in the rain!) in special recumbent style bikes, also do horse riding, climbing ect, it's a charity/trust.

[url= http://www.calvert-trust.org.uk/ComeandVisit/VisitLakeDistrict/tabid/2402/Default.aspx ]Calvert Trust[/url]

In Exmoor, Kielder & Lake District