Why do I have problems tying my shoes?

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It is two separate issues that has you having poor hygiene and not able to tie your shoes. I can relate to both things perfectly too - it is how I know this. I only wear shoes with strings when I have to.. and they are tied the first time then my foot is forced in and out without untying them

For the hygiene part (and a gaggle of other stuff we have issues with) that is related to executive function Dysfunction.

For the shoe tying and hand writing etc is Proprioceptive Dysfunction.

If you have issues in these areas "trying harder" is not going to do it and parents can nag you half to death and it will make no difference.

Sorry

**edit: Link to a good article explaining Proprioceptive dysfunction

Executive Functioning Dysfunction Link PDF

Last edited by Valkyrie2012 on 01 Apr 2013, 12:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

Likely an AS thing vs "brain damage," as everything you listed are potential AS traits.

Personally, I've never had a problem with personal hygiene as I'm a little OCD about being clean showered vs. allowing myself to be dirty. But I do know others that either just forget about showering, or due to sensory things hate showering, or haven't quite learned that personal hygiene is critical to blending into the NT world.

I thought this thread was going to be about literally not being able to tie your shoes, as it was my experience 6 months ago that my fine motor skills were so shot that I physically had difficulty using my fingers to tie my shoes. Not good times... but, they're behind me.

I thought this was going to be about difficulties with shoe-tying and fine motor tasks too. Those things can be difficult for many people on the spectrum including myself. I didn't learn to tie my shoes until last year.

I thought this was normal?

I got so tired of my shoe laces coming untied I double tie them now and that helps.

I learned to tie my shoes at age six but it took me a while to learn the steps of doing it. Mom had to show it from my perspective. It took me a while to do it well on my own ad one time my shoe laces came untied in PE when I was seven so I spent the rest of the time trying to tie them and putting the shoe laces back in and my aid in my special ed room accused me of playing. I told her what I was doing and she called me a liar. You would think a teacher in special ed would recognize the difficulties but i guess not but this was an aid so what am I saying? What would she know?

Lot of times I just wore sandals so I wouldn't have to deal with laces. I could do the buckles. I was maybe nine when I could tie my shoes fast or eight.

I thought we here were all brain damaged.

I don't recall having a problem with tying anything.

I can relate to the OP about being organized/disorganized. I have always been either extremely organized or extremely disorganized. I don't see any point in being in the middle. It's either all or nothing.

I'm like that with other things, too. I might focus on certain things and do them perfectly while I completely neglect others. I can't spread my attention equally to many things. It's again "do it completely" or "don't even think about doing it at all".

It took me a long time to learn how to tie my shoes and I only learned how to do it in an unconventional manner. And even these days I sometimes have to redo it a few times before it comes out right. I usually put my shoes on and take them off without untying/tying them. Tying them is a chore.

I don't always get the "an autistic person has everything organized and has a set routine". I'm very disorganized and very messy. I'll clean up my place, put everything where it belongs and then in no time it's worse than it was before.

But I'm thinking it's probably more along the lines of "organized chaos". I know I've seen several scenarios on TV where some lady will clean and organize some guy's desk and or office and he'll be all upset because now he can't find anything.

Hygiene is a problem for me too. Especially when I was younger. I pretty much have to force myself to maintain it. I'm often running late because I'll put off taking a shower until the last minute.

Someone invented Velcro strap shoes for a reason. Probably an aspie was behind it

Last edited by briankelley on 01 Apr 2013, 3:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

^^^^^

Yes, they did.

I found it far better to figure out how to improve my fine motor skills than switch to velcro shoes, especially since most velcro shoes are fugly. As much as I don't really care about fashion, I still can't bring myself to wear something that I genuinely think looks horrendous, and almost every velcro shoe ever made fits that bill - save for some made for young children, and the very rare odd one out in adult shoes.

There is a product called Loopeez that is great for tying shoes. And for adults they come in clear and white so you can't see them on the shoe. They also make bi color laces which really help.

If you could improve your fine motor skills that's alright for you but I was in physical therapy for it and no matter how much effort I put into it I couldn't reach the point where I could tie my shoes. Even with the help of therapy it just wasn't happening.

Physical therapy would not correct the fine motor skills problems I was experiencing as it wasn't a matter of will or practice or tense muscles or ligaments that needed to be stretched etc.

It turned out to be dietary/environmental, and by Dr. House-ing the s**t out of my life I figured out what I needed to eliminate, did it, and improved dramatically.

I too was 8-9 years before I could tie a shoelace, but It was mostly about right-left confusion, and I still have to see things being done from my own perspective. Pretty embarassing during conducting class.
At school, I often drew mirrorwise without noticing. It took a longer period to learn to tell time, - also because of the left-right thing My friends have forbidden me to say left or right, when we are out driving
Honestly, I´ve some times wondered if I should have an ever so slight brain damage (difficult birth).

Last edited by Jensen on 01 Apr 2013, 6:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Permanent solution.



I'm serious, actually. I always wear these...

For me it was Velcro till about 10. I leave my shoes tied when I remove them though. My motor skills didn't develop very fast, but now they're excellent.