TEACHING CHILDREN TO TIE SHOELACES

In this dyslexia blog article I want to try to give some practical tips on how to teach children to tie shoelaces.

Many dyslexic children find it difficult to learn to tie shoelaces since it involves remembering a series of steps, also they get confused between left and right.

Though many shoes now have velcro fastenings - one day ultimately you will need to teach your child to tie his shoelaces!! I recently bought a new pair of trainers for my son which he really wanted – the only snag was that they had laces… It worked out ok in the end as he really loved the trainers so it was a extra incentive to learn the skill of tying the laces !!

Here are some tips :

Look at Ian’s shoelace site – it contains a page on “Shoelace Tips for Teaching Children” It contains helpful videos ….

http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/tipsforchildren.htm

To help your child differentiate from his left and right - Take two laces in two different colours and cut them in half, afterwards sew them together.

You could cut out an over-sized shoe shape from cardboard and get your child to practice using this :
You could ask your child to decorate the cardboard shoe.
Make holes for the laces and thread through the multi-coloured laces you have made.

If you are left-handed and your child is right-handed (or vice versa) you will always FACE your child when showing them how to tie their shoe laces.If you are both right-handed, or left-handed, you must stand BEHIND them.