It is believed that one does not forget certain skills such as swimming, driving, and cycling. This did not apply to me when I decided to start riding a bicycle after a gap of almost 2 decades. Needless to say but important to remember that I am heavier, older, and less agile. The fear of falling was so profound when I first mounted the new bicycle. On attempting to peddle, I froze with fear when the feet needed to be lifted off the ground. It was difficult to find my footing with the second pedal while one foot was on one of them. Feeling very much scared, I yelled at my husband when he verbally instructed me in an attempt to help me. The experience reminded of gravitational insecurity that I observe in young children as a clinician.
I felt as if I had no balance since I was
perched on a very narrow base of support that a bicycle offers. My eyes were
glued to the handle. Steering the handle and balancing on the bike seemed like
an unachievable task during the first few rides. I would hold my breath while
balancing and consciously remind myself to breathe. It took many rides of
practice just to take off, pedal, and keep my balance.
While looking at something far away while
cycling, I felt a loss of balance that increased my heartrate. On a quiet
street, cycling by a pedestrian or a parked car increased my anxiety (open
environment). And making turns was a totally different challenge that took
weeks to learn.
Coming up the slope made me realize how
decreased were my strength and endurance although I do lead an active
lifestyle. I now cycle on a relatively
busy street; but with low confidence, and very well understand that it will
take much more practice and effort on my part.
So why am I sharing this experience of
relearning a skill that I was pretty good at?
Relearning to cycle has been a great
experience from an adult perspective, albeit filled with fear and anxiety. It
confirms what children experience while balancing and engaging in challenging
movement tasks during physical therapy sessions. My personal experience of
cycling after many years can be extrapolated to special needs’ children
learning to pedal.
Learning the skill of riding a tricycle,
and later a bicycle with training wheels is a perennial issue seen in children
with special needs. Cycling requires the
following components-
- ability to sit upright and
balance
- pedal the wheels that needs
good strength of the muscles of the leg and the lower trunk
- the alternate reciprocal
movement of the legs requires bilateral coordination between the two legs.
- maintain the balance while the
cycle moves forward (dynamic balance)
- steering the handle to make
turns
- looking sideways or far away
while riding
All of these components are further challenged when the child graduates to a bicycle with training wheels because the base of support narrows drastically from a tricycle to a bicycle.
Many children receiving physical or
occupational therapy, although having achieved the ability to walk, still
present with abnormal muscle tone, deficits in balance and vision-perception,
gravitational insecurity, and weakness. Most of them have learned to sit and
walk at a much later age than typically expected. Therefore, it should follow
that higher gross motor skills such as cycling and jumping are going to be
delayed.
Children with special needs should be
provided more time and increased practice to learn cycling. Ample patience is
warranted from parents and therapists alike. It helps if learning to pedal is practiced on
a stationary bike such as a peddler or a floor bike.
http://sensoryintegrationbangalore.blogspot.com/2016/03/peddler-in-pediatric-therapy.html
Most children at our center have learnt to
cycle by practicing on a peddler during therapy sessions. The age range of
these children has been 4 years and above, whereas developmentally a child may
learn to ride a tricycle much earlier. The time taken to learn cycling has
taken anywhere between 1 to 6 months of
practice with the peddler. Motor learning of any skill requires repetitive
practice of 100s of times.
It is a joy for the parent and a liberation for the child once cycling is learnt. The cycle provides physical exercise, movement, balance, bilateral coordination, and becomes a sensory motor activity.
