unable to do shoelaces at 7 years old

[cutie]

Hi I was wondering if someone could give insight as to this inability I used to face. I remember being in the top class of infants (6 - 7 year olds) and being told by my teacher that she was shocked that i could not tie them at my age.

 

Could someone tell me what age a child should learn to tie there laces? Is this a potential early sign of aspergers (one of many that the school did not pick up on)?

[LKU]

My son can't tie his laces properly and he is nearly 9.

I don't know if this is to do with asd or not.

[loulou]

Hi,

 

My son is seven next month and he can't tie shoe laces. He even struggles with velcro . He tends to try to get away with wearing flip flops or wellies cos they are so easy to put on.

 

I think the teacher was very insensitive to say that. All children have different abilities (for example my son can't read but he learnt to tell the time when he was 4).

 

Loulou x

[pennyindorset]

My son was about 10 when he started doing his laces after a few visits to the OT, he has dypraxia and i think they find it hard to do more than one fiddly thing at the same time, he finds it hard to steer and brake on his bikd at the same time, its very common so don t worry, also my son even now that he ties his laces doesn t do it the normal way but another way the OT showed him which is to make two loops and then tie. Sop hang in there they ll soon catch on to doing it.

[bid]

Well, what a silly thing to say to any child!

 

My son has Dyspraxia, too, and I can remember that it was only after a year of regular physio and OT that he was finally able to do zips and buttons at 7.

 

He could do laces slowly by about 11, but it was always difficult.

 

Now at 16 he opts for slip-on shoes or keeps the laces of trainers always done up..

 

Bid

[jools]

my 7yr old has dyspraxia and can't tie shoelaces....and at the moment won't even try so we make sure his shoes/trainers are velcro

[lil_me]

My son is 6 1/2 and can't do laces, struggles with any shoes and sock, clothes full stop

[baddad]

Hi all -

 

Fine motor skills are generally NOT a strong area for our kids. So What?!

Ben can do his now, but it was a slow process and the only reason he can is because HE wanted to...

We got a plastic 'shoe' from ELC with an oversized lace which got him started, and then 'back-chained' from there.

For anyone who doesn't know back chaining: teach your child the FINAL stage of a task (i.e. the final 'pull' on a pair of correctly tied laces) then work backwards in stages to the start (Final loop... then figure eight... then first loop... then crossover...). The absolutely HUGE advantage of this method is that the child is always achieving the end result, rather than failing at each stage. Amazing the difference that makes in terms of self esteem/determination...

NB: Ben now 'obsesses' about his shoe laces. He'll do/undo them at least five or six times to get the pressure 'just right'

The road to hell...

BD

[cutie]

Thanks for your responses. So it does seem apparant to me that those of you with kids that have AS or Dyspraxia seem to face similar issues.

 

I agree it that it was wrong for the teacher to say what she did now I look back at it.

 

My question now is...what age does the 'normal' child begin this? Is the an age that they should be doing it by? Because from the teachers reaction you would of guessed so!

 

It would be interesting to hear from those of you with kids that are 'normal' as to how they managed and wby what age.

 

Thanks again.

[bid]

Mmmm, I think my two NT girls were around 6ish??

 

Bid

[Amanda32]

Hi Cutie

Your not the only one with a child that cant do their shoe laces up. My son is 9 and cant do them, to be honest most of his shoes or trainers he chooses is velcro straps etc so not had much chance of learning. Im trying more now with him as just bought him a pair with laces. Not sure if its because he cant do them or maybe it's having patience to sit there and he hasn't gets very frustrated... I think there is not an age to do laces up and many otheres things as our kids are all different and many other children that haven't got problems still learn things at different paces.....Just need patience, well my son anyway in which he lacks.

Take care

Amanda

[smallworld]

Hi,

my NT daughter was around 6 when she learned how, AS son was 7 (same ages for learning to ride a bike) it seemed with both these skills that we spent ages trying to teach them, and then one day they themselves decided it was achievable and learned within space of an afternoon.

asd 5 yr old can't do laces but will do fantastic impression of us trying to teach him

he keeps getting shoes(there's lots to choose from, bit of an obsession )

takes out laces whilst saying " cross them over, make a loop..."

So now we all have to start lacing shoes up before we can even think about tying em

Fortunately, I am expert at this due to child slavery in family shop

I see my youngests two's bendy hands and think how can they possibly do anything with fingers and thumbs going in all directions ? but they get there in the end.

 

wac

[CarerQuie]

I don't think there is a standard age;one of my children did it at 4 and then helped the teacher in reception tie everyone's laces!!!(She's actually been dx dyslexic at 16),my 7 yo with ASD just hasn't a clue,my other 4 were all somewhere in between.xx

[Lucas]

I did not tie my shoelaces until I was about eight or nine. I still prefer velcro, which I am suprised is available in my size at TK Maxx.

 

Velcro must have been invented by an Aspie. It is in everyway considered to be a space age material with a mechanism so simple it takes a genius to see it. It's basically the same random phenomenom which gets the wires tangled behind the TV and computer.

[TuX]

Velcro must have been invented by an Aspie. It is in everyway considered to be a space age material with a mechanism so simple it takes a genius to see it. It's basically the same random phenomenom which gets the wires tangled behind the TV and computer.

Not an aspie,alas...but still a genious:

One lovely summer day in 1948, a Swiss amateur-mountaineer and inventor decided to take his dog for a nature hike. The man and his faithful companion both returned home covered with burrs, the plant seed-sacs that cling to animal fur in order to travel to fertile new planting grounds. The man neglected his matted dog, and with a burning curiosity ran to his microscope and inspected one of the many burrs stuck to his pants. He saw all the small hooks that enabled the seed-bearing burr to cling so viciously to the tiny loops in the fabric of his pants. George de Mestral raised his head from the microscope and smiled thinking, "I will design a unique, two-sided fastener, one side with stiff hooks like the burrs and the other side with soft loops like the fabric of my pants. I will call my invention 'velcro' a combination of the word velour and crochet. It will rival the zipper in its ability to fasten."

 

Mestral's idea met with resistance and even laughter, but the inventor 'stuck' by his invention. Together with a weaver from a textile plant in France, Mestal perfected his hook and loop fastener. By trial and error, he realized that nylon when sewn under infrared light, formed tough hooks for the burr side of the fastener. This finished the design, patented in 1955. The inventor formed Velcro Industries to manufacture his invention. Mestral was selling over sixty million yards of Velcro per year. Today it is a multi-million dollar industry.

 

I did not tie my shoelaces until I was about eight or nine. I still prefer velcro, which I am suprised is available in my size at TK Maxx.

Velco is still quite common in adult sized trainers,puma seem to be using it a lot in their trainers.

Edited July 31, 2005 by TuX

[KarenT]

J is six and a half and I have absolutely no intention of even attempting to get him to tie laces, because I know what the outcome would be and it's not worth having a tantrum over something so trivial. Like others, J even has trouble with velcro fastenings at times and refuses to pull them tight enough - he's only now beginning to get the message that if he doesn't he might hurt his ankle if he falls over. For me, it's a priority thing - there are dozens of other issues that J would benefit from coming to terms with long before laces so I'll be putting my (and his) efforts into those for a while yet.

 

It does depend a lot on the child as an individual, and I'm not even sure it depends fully on fine motor skills. J's pretty good in that area but his problem is that he simply can't take an instruction, and attempting to learn something as fiddly as that would flip him out. He expects to be able to do things instantly and would really panic if he tried once and found that he couldn't. I know this from giving similar instructions (eg balling two socks together) - he just can't handle it.

 

Karen

x

[jools]

my adughter was about 7 and i haven't even tried with my 6yr old.

 

i work in a class of 7/8 yr olds and spend alot of the day tying laces so it isn't uncommon to find they can't do it at this age

[Mother in Need]

My NT son of 8 is only now learning to tie his shoe laces. I think it is a matter of being ready and motivated to do it. I've tried loads of times before but he never caught on, but now he seems ready and is doing them!

We got a plastic 'shoe' from ELC with an oversized lace which got him started

They look nice, but I simply used a piece of card board, made some holes in it and tied an old shoe lace through it. I am giving him a sticker for every time he manages to do it (with lots of help at first but by now without any!) and it seems to have done the trick.

[niki]

i was 9 when i learnt (as far as i know i dont have an asd)

my brother still hates doing them now (aspie)

my son is 8 and laces freak him right out (aspie)

I LOVE VELCRO what a wonderful invention id be lost without it!

[~Jonathan~]

Wow, I forgot about Velcro. I had some green velcro-fastened pumps when I was a kid because I couldn't master shoelaces for ages. I could tie a tie (!) by 4 but shoelaces confounded me for years and even when I did get them tied, they would come undone soon after. I was always tripping up

[Guest flutter]

the tie thing is strange too

i though it was gonna take us forever to get that right but it was very quick ( but i suppose it oculd be forgotton that quick again)

according to my darlin she ties shoeslaces the french way!?!?!?! and we to have to keep making them tight and even