Originally Posted by
RyanAK
Had to wait until 10 posts to post this. Last Friday was an unexpected FIRST Bike Day for 4 year old Spencer. He went along with Daddy to the local Amish-owned bike shop to pick up a headset wrench. He’s been having fun helping to tear down my old Trek. Guys gave him a balance bike to try and he took to it like a duck to water. He’s on the spectrum, and I had been recently reading about autistic kids and bikes. Absolutely pumped to see the connection he’s made with his bike.
Way to start em young!
Great to see him helping with teardown and rebuilds.
My daughter's do both for the bikes we built for them and its a fun process to see them gain ability and understanding thru each build and from one build to the next.
I spend most of my riding time with a mentorship program for at risk youth.
At risk is purposely a broad definition, so we have kids that come to the team with counselor recommendations for all sorts of reasons(lack social confidence, bullied, unstable/abusive home life, foster care, etc). Anyways, a few kids in the last four years have been on the spectrum and its been both fun and challenging to work with them. Really great experiences though. They really took to the routine(we ride 3x per week in the same days), the physical exhaustion, and the social aspect of the group being a team. All were(are) verbal and mainstream in school, so that obviously helped with the success.
Helping Youth Set and Obtain Goals
Good luck with the 'help' that kids offer! It's a blast.