Rifton therapeutic Tricycle Need help

[Heather167]

I was wondering if any one has any info that may help me get a Rifton Tricycle, for my son who is almost 3yrs old.
His OT had him try one, and she feels he can really benefit if he would use it on a daily basics.
The web site for the Tricycle is called Adptivemall.com
unfortunately I can not afford one for my son
I looking for any kind of help/info so I can get one for him.
I would greatly appreciate any information anyone may have.
Thank You

[F-Litz]

Heather - I am curious - and I don't want to offend at all - but why can't he ride a regular tricycle?

look at this picture... it's the one at the way bottom
http://www.injurednewborn.com/maia8/splints.html

this is maia riding her tricycle post surgery - only one arm necessary - she rode it for a LONG time and loved it. She was in that post surgery splint for 6 months.

-francine

[ironmansmom]

when my son was 3 we got him a tricycle that you use your hands to "pedal" that was a great therapy tool. telephone pioneers of America donated it to him. When we were done with it, we donated it to our local Easter Seals. Do a search for the telephone pioneers and see if it may be something you are interested in. Good luck!!

[F-Litz]

Maia got that hand-pedal bike but she couldn't use it until she got way older and stronger. Basically you are pushing your body weight with both your arms - so for her, the affected arm was weak and postured and she was a larger child. She had to do some major compensation to even get it into that position and it was impossible for her to turn the pedal. By the time she had enough power to be able to compensate enough to get it to move -- she was too old for the trike. And doing compensation at that level just didn't make sense. I donated the bike to her therapy organization for other children to use.

The position of the arm and the strength of the muscles means everything for a tool like this.

[Remember that just because something - anything - is good for one child or even a group of children, it still needs to be investigated for the specific needs and abilities of an individual child.]

I certainly thought it was the kewlest thing since sliced bread and I just had hopes that I'd see her bicycling with this trike up and down the street.

[Heather167]

I'm not offend at all. The reson why my son needs this specal tricycle, is because he uses his hands to pedal.
His OT had him try one and he is able to do it she also seen that he moves his arm in a better way when useing the special tricycle.
She feels he can really benefit if he use it on a daily basis.

Thanks
Heather

[Heather167]

Thanks for the info,I'm definatily going to search that site.

[Lauren (Brooke's mom)]

http://newoutlookpioneers.org/

Here is the site. They made my daughter one to her size in about a week. They are wonderful and we did not pay anyting for it!!

[jill's mom]

Did Brooke like to ride the trike?

I have never heard of this and will ask Jill's PT about it tomorrow. Sounds like a cool idea. Jill's legs are not quite long enough or strong enough for our bikes. Maybe this would be good for her arms and shoulder.