Bike for a 5 year old with lagging motor skills?

[jenniet]

My ds is on the autism spectrum and he is a little behind his peers as far as gross and fine motor skills go.  He also has really low muscle tone.  He currently receives OT and we are awaiting a PT evaluation from his school. He just mastered a tricycle this summer but his fifth birthday is coming up and I would like to buy him a bicycle.  Would it be worth buying a balance bike or should I just buy a big kid bike with training wheels?  Can anyone recommend a particular brand?  Thank you! 

[KimPM]

We have a similar situation, my DS is not too coordinated and somewhat low tone in his trunk, though his legs are strong. I wasn't sure if he could sit up on a backless seat without falling off. His old tricycle was getting small.

He does well with this big-wheel like thing we got him through Target. It was pretty cheap, so not a big risk. Can't find the link to it, but it's really for slightly bigger kids, and I had to add holes to move the seat closer.

We also got him a larger tricycle with big, fat wheels - this one:
http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/ProductDisplay?storeId=10052&langId=-1&catalogId=10551&productId=1088334&utm_source=Google_Product_Search&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=datafeed&CAWELAID=1009380696

But when we went to the beach recently, I rented him a little 16" bicycle with training wheels. He was probably at the top end of the 16" bike - he could have gone to the 20", but that might have been too big/heavy for him just starting out. He rode the bike on the flat boardwalk. The training wheels were the really good kind that keep the bike level, NOT the kind that are a bit shorter and seem to cause the bike to tip to one side or the other. To my amazement, he did pretty well - on the flat surfaces. It's clear though that he couldn't have done it at all without the training wheels - that would require too much coordination. And any kind of an incline, even the little dips in the flat sidewalk where the driveways come in were too much for him. Also, he might fall off the seat if he didn't have the training wheels. Sounds strange, but he has trouble coordinating more than one gross motor thing at a time.

Don't know if that helps, but thought I'd share.

ETA: also wanted to add that he did have some trouble turning the bicycle around, even on the flat boardwalk. He fell off a couple times trying to turn.
Edited by KimPM - 10/4/11 at 2:50pm

[Tjej]

My son had a balance bike, and it really is pretty awesome for learning how to feel the balance of riding two wheels.  And then when they are tipping they can always just put their feet down like standing.  We found it to be very intuitive for my son to go from that to a two-wheeler.  Since your son has the pedaling idea down from a tricycle, it might well be great for him to do the balance bike, then it would be easy to tranisiton to a pedal bike.  Training wheels themselves make the biking experience really different, and they don't teach balance.

We don't have any particular special needs, but my DD is 2yrs older than my DS and we went the more traditional route with her.  She did play a little on DS's balance bike, but it was way easier and earlier for DS to ride a 2 wheeler than it was for DD since she had gone the traditional route (I do think playing on his bike helped her along a lot too, even though it was a bit small for her).

Tjej

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by KimPM 

We have a similar situation, my DS is not too coordinated and somewhat low tone in his trunk, though his legs are strong. I wasn't sure if he could sit up on a backless seat without falling off.                                                                           
But when we went to the beach recently, I rented him a little 16" bicycle with training wheels. He was probably at the top end of the 16" bike - he could have gone to the 20", but that might have been too big/heavy for him just starting out. He rode the bike on the flat boardwalk. The training wheels were the really good kind that keep the bike level, NOT the kind that are a bit shorter and seem to cause the bike to tip to one side or the other. To my amazement, he did pretty well - on the flat surfaces. It's clear though that he couldn't have done it at all without the training wheels - that would require too much coordination. And any kind of an incline, even the little dips in the flat sidewalk where the driveways come in were too much for him. Also, he might fall off the seat if he didn't have the training wheels. Sounds strange, but he has trouble coordinating more than one gross motor thing at a time.
Don't know if that helps, but thought I'd share.

Ds is 7.5 and has finally started wanting to ride his bike once we put non-flexing all the way to the ground/blanced training wheels on his bike. With the old short training wheels he just could not keep balanced.
 

[LynnS6]

I would highly recommend either a balance bike or even a 2 wheeled scooter. Our son was delayed in gross and fine motor. He was 4 1/2 before he learned to pedal. We got him a 2 wheeled scooter at 6, and he rode that for a summer. The next summer, at age 7, he only took about 2 weeks to learn to ride a bike. We went without training wheels.

If the balance bikes are too small, one option would be to buy him a light 16" bike and take off the pedals. The key to the balance bikes is that you feet have to hit flat on the ground.

[jenniet]

Thank you everyone!  I really appreciate the input. After reading the replies I think I am going to get him a balance bike.  He has a little brother so even if he just uses it for a year his little brother can get some use out of it too.  Thanks again!  

[half-pint]

Just wanted to chime in here on a newish product we found.  It is called the Gyro-wheel and it has a gyroscope inside the front wheel.  When turned on (rechargeable battery)  the gyroscope spins at a high speed and this balances the front wheel. You can push the bike forward without a rider and it will not fall over.  It has 3 levels.  This takes the balance part and some of the steering out of the equation when trying to coordinate multiple things (pedaling, balance, steering, etc).    It is a little pricey but i honestly couldn't see our son being able to have success with bike riding. He has significant motor planning issues.    He tends to get discouraged easily and the feeling of being unbalanced on the bike due to a wiggly front wheel made him feel more unsure and unwilling to try.   We have not mastered the bike riding yet but his old PT said she had many successful outcomes after the first try with kids whose parents thought they would never learn to ride.   I think it's a great product in general!

[KimPM]

More options - when I read reviews on balance bikes, I've seen suggestions to just buy a regular bike and then remove the pedals, chain, and training wheels. Viola, a balance bike which converts back to a regular bike when the child is ready. I've also seen one review where the person removed the pedals and chain, but kept the training wheels on.