Bicycle Lessons 4 All

PHOTO CREDIT: Yan Krukov

This episode’s guest is Tammy Bishop in Florida who has been an occupational therapist since 1999. She operates a service called ⁠Bicycle Lessons 4 All⁠ where she teaches autistic kids and individuals of all abilities to ride a bicycle. We met in a Praxis course at the STAR Institute and I like the idea of including a Floortime-adjacent topic on the podcast from time-to-time.

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The Origin of Bicycle Lessons 4 All

Tammy has worked with children her entire career. In 2013 she started riding her bike pretty regularly and decided to teach her clients how to ride a bike. She saw that they were all learning in similar steps, so began to break it down–something called “activity analysis” in occupational therapy. Tammy figured that if her system worked with her clients, maybe it would work with a larger population. It was a side project of hers until last year when she decided to pursue bicycle lessons full time because she realized it brought her the most joy.

Teaching Autistic Children to Ride

I shared the history of my son’s bicycle riding and wondered how she works with autistic children who struggle with pushing the peddles with enough force, and balancing on two wheels. Tammy gave the example of teaching a 15-year-old to ride. At the start, he couldn’t sit on the seat for more than five seconds. She was trying to make it fun and provide the “just right” challenge, encouraging the child without them feeling like they’re being pushed.

Once her client could sit on the seat, they worked on coasting. Could he take a couple of steps and pick up his feet while sitting on the seat? She takes off the peddles so they can walk the bike and coast, using their lateral muscles for balance. When they start, they are using their feet for balance. Tammy’s trying to get them to use their body so their feet don’t have to do anything but stay up.

Once he was able to coast a decent distance, she would put one peddle on and take a few steps to get some speed and put the foot up on the peddle. Then she adds the second peddle, and so on. The time frame depends on the child. Some learn in two to three lessons and some take six months of weekly lessons. There is a video of him riding on Tammy’s YouTube channel. Finally, Tammy generalized it to his home environment so he could ride in his neighbourhood.

The Mechanics of Learning to Ride

I was puzzled, thinking that learning the peddling would be the first step so you know how much pressure to use pushing the peddles. Tammy says that she had a family recently come with a 4-year-old. His bike was too big for him, so she said to practice peddling at home with the training wheels on. Often, when you take the training wheels off, the bike is too big for the child, even with the seat all the way down, she says.

A lot of students come to Tammy without having practice peddling, though, and when she’s working with them, she’ll do hand-over-foot to get them to learn the movement, but it’s the lateral muscles that keep you safe, so you need to train the brain to use those muscles, she says.

Teaching Hesitant Clients

I asked if it’s typically the individuals or the parents who want the lessons. She said that it is mostly the parents who want their kids to ride a bike. For kids who might not be interested in being there, Tammy incorporates games into all of the lessons to make it fun, and it distracts them from the work that they’re doing so they don’t realize how hard they are working.

Tammy explains that many kids are very anxious arriving, not knowing what to expect, so she really wants to show them that it’s going to be fun and that it won’t be as scary as they thought it would be. Especially if they have fallen in the past, they might be anxious about trying again. She assures them that they won’t fall.

What About Sensory Challenges?

What about kids with sensory challenges who won’t wear a helmet? She tells them that it’s the law for children under age 16 to wear it, but lets the parents decide if they really find it challenging. One child didn’t want to wear the helmet, and Tammy said, “Uh oh. No helmet, no bike!” and the child then put the helmet on to ride the bike because he was motivated.

Bicycle Safety

Tammy says that the bigger the space the better, with the least bit of obstacles and traffic, is the most safe. She will use a vacant shopping mall parking lot during off hours. Find empty large parking lots with no traffic. She doesn’t recommend sidewalks because the narrower the path, the harder it is to maneuver the bike. A tandem bike could be an option because the parent balances the bike but the child feels like they’re riding.

I also asked about wearing knee pads and elbow pads. Tammy also leaves that to the clients to decide, but she doesn’t recommend the wrist guards because they interfere with holding the handle bars. When kids do fall, Tammy finds that it’s due to the front wheel turning too much, so she watches and will warn them if the bike tire is turning too much. She tells them to keep the wheel as straight as possible when they are slowing down.

Tammy works with twin brothers. One is speaking and one is non speaking. They go on the roads and on bike trails. They work on road rules and trail etiquette. When they pass someone, he’ll say, “On your left!” as they pass walkers. They work on following stop signs and looking both ways. The non speaking brother struggles with stop signs so for kids who have a tough time controlling their body, the chaperones need to be very aware for the individual and stay on guard. The one brother has now even generalized the rules of the road to driving the family golf cart, which was super cool, Tammy says.

Scholarships and Finding Lessons

In Florida there is a state scholarship that families can use for enrichment and therapy activities so bicycles lessons is covered for children with unique abilities or home schooled. In addition, the Downs Syndrome Foundation hosts a week-long bicycle course near her. Tammy suggests doing a “bicycle lessons near me” search on Google or look on Tammy’s website to grab a copy of her book or look at her course.

Thank you to Tammy for sharing her bicycle lessons with us! If you found this episode interesting, please consider sharing it on social media.

Until next time, here’s to choosing play and experiencing joy every day!