The Effects of Learning to Ride a Two Wheeled Bicycle on Social Skill Development in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Background: Teaching age-appropriate social skills to children and youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is of particular importance.  The wider the gap between a child with a social skill deficit and a child with age-appropriate social skills, the more quickly a child can be rejected amongst their peers.  Although generalization is a primary goal of social skill intervention programs for youth with ASD, findings indicate the contrary; generalization is not occurring in ‘real life’ situations and because of this youth with ASD are missing out in reciprocal interactions with peers (Meier, 2006).  The ability to ride a two-wheeled bicycle is considered a societal norm in (Klein, 2004).  Most children learn how to ride a bicycle by the age of 6- 7 years. Since age-matched peers and structured activities tend to play a key role in the retention and generalization of social skills, physical activity seems to be an appropriate vehicle for this type of practice.
Objectives: This study aims to understand the impact that learning to ride a two-wheeled bicycle has on social skill development in youth with ASD.
Methods: Data for this study came from four parents of youth with ASD between the ages of 11-16 years old.  All of the parents had a child who successfully learned to ride a two-wheeled bicycle in 5 days of training.  Semi-structured interviews were used as a method of data collection.  The interview questions addressed areas of social skill development occurring as a result of learning to ride a two-wheeled bicycle.  Each interview was transcribed verbatim and open coded.  Open codes resulted in 28 axial codes from which two primary themes emerged.
Results: The primary themes that emerged from the data indicted that the generalization of social skills and family and peer relationships were impacted upon because of the youth with ASD’s ability to ride a two-wheeled bicycle.  The generalization of social skills included more independence, confidence, communication and coping.  Learning to ride a two-wheeled bicycle also had a positive impact on family relationships, but particularly sibling relationships.  Parents indicated that obtaining the ability to ride a two-wheeled bicycle aided in creating an environment for family activities without making special accommodations for their youth with ASD.  Peer relationships were significantly increased in two of youth participants based on their ability to ride a two-wheeled bicycle.  Peer relationships consisted of positive changes including spending more time with age-matched peers and having the ability to participate in neighborhood riding activities with children of similar ages.
Conclusions: Learning an age-appropriate motor behavior, such as riding a two-wheeled bicycle is helpful in establishing an environment to enhance social skill generalization and peer and family relationships.  Future research will involve randomized trials designed to teach youth with ASD how to ride a two-wheeled bicycle and monitor social skill generalization longitudinally.