Feb 11 2009
Tying Shoes: A Tough Goal
It’s great to be in sync with service providers without even knowing it. Apparently Gus’s Occupational Therapist (OT) has been teaching him to tie his shoes. For a child with a short attention span and trouble with fine motor skills and coordination, this can be a difficult life skill to learn (tying in general, not just shoes). Gus had said a while back that he would learn to tie them by the time he turns eight. Well, that’s coming up pretty quickly, and he might just do it!
I know there are a few strategies used to teach kids to tie shoes . We’re using the single loop method. We tried bunny ears, but that just didn’t work for some reason. Some people use elaborate stories, but ours isn’t too complex. He sings She’ll Be Comin’ Around the Mountain while he’s tying, which is a double edged sword - he gets the gist of the story, but he also loses focus because of the singing.
- “She” is on a train coming around the mountain. So we need to make the train tracks. Make an X with the laces.
- The train goes through the first tunnel. Take the tail of one lace, through the tunnel and then pull them apart.
- Make a mountain. With the dominant hand, make a single loop and hold in place. (I find that Gus sometimes forgets to hold onto the loop.)
- Now the train goes around the mountain and through another tunnel. Take the straight lace around the loop, and then push from the middle through the second tunnel. Pull the loops apart.
It’s not a foolproof method, but he’s getting it. Because he tends to learn well with a musical component (musical intelligence) the song does it for him, but use whatever works for your child.
Has your child learned to tie shoes? If so, what method worked for you?
