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Disabled Kids
Learn to Lose the Training Wheels

By Kathy Kurtz Ferrari
Staff Writer
4/29/10
Most of us remember when we first learned to ride a bike on our own.

It’s one of life’s milestone moments. Sure, there are some falls along the road to success, but the feeling of finally riding without training wheels is an exhilarating one.

For a child with special needs, though, it’s often a daunting and frustrating challenge. Families with children who struggle with disabilities know learning to ride a bike is not always an attainable goal.

But a special program, geared to help disabled children to learn to ride, made a stop in Milton during school vacation week, April 19 through 23. The Parks and Recreation Department sponsored the camp, called “Lose the Training Wheels,” a national, not-for-profit program developed to help kids with special needs ride a bike.

Lose the Training Wheels staffers travel with a fleet of specially adapted bikes to communities across the country. The camp held at the Copeland Field House at Milton High School was one of only two sites in New England hosting the program this year.

Campers in Milton attended five 75-minute classes throughout the week, and staff and volunteers worked with five different groups of campers, from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. each day. Thirty-eight campers attended the session, some traveling from as far away as Maine, staying over locally for the week of the camp.

Bringing the camp to town cost about $9,000, according to organizers. The cost of the camp was $150 per camper. Funds for the program were also provided by Milton Hospital, Milton Policemen’s Union, Milton Firefighters Union, Sports Turf Specialties, and funds from events run by the Parks and Recreation Department throughout the year.

Dave Perdios, director of Parks and Recreation, brought the program to town after hearing that it was run successfully in Scituate a couple of years ago.

Perdios, who has a special-needs son of his own, knows firsthand the difficulties that families face when helping a disabled child ride a bike. He said he felt it was a great opportunity to bring a service to a population that often gets left behind.

“Learning to ride a bike is a big deal to these kids,” Perdios said, adding that his 20-year-old son, Kyle, also attended the camp at the high school. “You hear about these programs, and you want the best for them. They say 85 to 90 percent of the campers will learn to ride at the camp, but the reality is, sometimes they can’t. You worry that maybe your kid will be one of the few that can’t, but by Wednesday [the third day of camp], Kyle was up and riding.”

Many volunteers, including members of the Police Department, the Fire Department and the Curry College baseball team, helped the program run smoothly. Milton resident Kayla Fagan, a nursing student at Curry College and 2007 graduate of Milton High, helped coordinate the event with the Parks Department, and even brought her mother, Anne Marie Fagan, along to help out during the camp.

“It’s great to see the difference from the first day, when they were on the big rollers,” said Kayla Fagan on the fourth day of the camp. Campers began the week on special bikes equipped with a large roller for a back wheel that helped them balance and “now most of them are getting it,” she said.

The size of the roller on the wheel is decreased on the adaptable bikes in eight steps, so that by the last step the camper is riding on a regular bike wheel. Some of the bikes are equipped with tall grab bars on the back to help the volunteer spotters support the rider. Tandem bikes are also used to give the camper the feeling of riding, with a volunteer controlling the bike’s progress.

“A lot of typical children take for granted what it means to ride a bike,” said Lose the Training Wheels floor supervisor John Thomas Kowalchuk. “This is a form of inclusion for these kids. They can keep up with siblings, with neighborhood kids. This helps them learn how to manage freedom. Riding a bike is an expression of freedom.”

Campers need to be at least 8 years old and have a diagnosed disability. They must be able to wear a helmet, walk without assistance and be able to side step off the bike in case a fall occurs, which inevitably it does. But spotters are alongside the campers, making sure that no serious injuries happen. Volunteers from Fallon Ambulance were also there, just in case.

Halfway through the program on April 21, there were 23 campers who were successfully riding on their own. According to Perdios, staffers from Lose the Training Wheels said they had never had that many riders so early in the week.

Perdios said he appreciates the cooperation from the community in bringing the program to Milton. Police Officer Bob Mason Jr. spent a day going over bicycle safety with all the campers at each session, and many other policemen and firefighters helped out throughout the week. Perdios also expressed his gratitude to Superintendent of Schools Mary Gormley and Milton High Principal Dr. John Drottar for letting the program use the Copeland Field House. The Parks Department is hoping to be able to offer the program again, but Perdios explained it couldn’t run without the school’s cooperation and use of the facility.

“You know, for my son, we bought him a bike for Christmas, and we thought we may have jumped the gun a little,” Perdios said. “You have your doubts, but every day these kids surprise you. It’s a great thing.”