my autistic son and his shoes

[Mommy2three]

Hi everyone. I have a 8 year old son who is autistic, but high functioning. He has ruined 3 brand new pairs of shoes, he has a hard time picking up his feet when he walks, and then the bottom of the shoes literally rip off. I bought him 3 new pairs of shoes a few weeks ago from walmart and he has ruined them all. I am wondering if i should go to a shoe store and buy him a more expensive name brand pair of shoes, do u all think they will hold up better, or do i keep buying cheap shoes from walmart only cuz he keeps tearing them up? any suggestions?

 

[bookwormde]

There are a few smaller chain stores the have "warrentees" on shoes, I can not think of the name.

bookwormde

 

[1stluvispooh]

I would buy him a pair of name brand shoes and see if they don't last longer. Do you have a Kohl's near by? 'cause they always have a sale going on.

 

[blessedmom4]

My daughter has had two strokes and right sided weakness, shorter leg, etc… and ALWAYS wore her shoes out in a matter of weeks if they weren't Orthopedic shoes...and even wore out a few pairs of those quickly. We discovered Sketchers and they have been a BLESSING! The store told me to bring them back if I had "wearing out" problems...she has had this pair almost five months...woo hoo...we are buying a new pair ONLY because her feet grew! Maybe they would work for your son?

 

[WheeledTraveler]

I don't know exactly how it is that he doesn't pick his feet up all the way (does he drag the toes?), but I agree with the suggestion of looking for something like sketchers which are thick-soled and solidly made. There's also a product called Shoe Goo which a friend of mine with CP swears by for keeping her shoes together just a little longer.

 

[PammieJ]

Think about buying his shoes at LL Bean. (Freeport, Maine), www.LLBean.com. I know they're expensive, but if he's worn out three pair of $20 shoes, and if you can get a $60 pair of shoes with a warranty, you're already ahead of the game.

They will warranty anything they sell. No kidding, I have a 10 year old Goretex jacket....the zipper broke. They offered to replace the entire jacket (a $300.00 jacket, which was a gift from DH, because OMG, I am way too much of a frugal Yankee to pay that much for a jacket, I don't care how much it keeps me warm!!).

 

[Alesia]

Check Sears. I'm pretty sure the KidVantage guarantee applies to shoes.

 

[kimmylaj]

my son destroys so many shoes. i swear by geox. expensive but almost indestructible

 

[RF536]

Sears Kidvantage program covers kids clothes and shoes. The only restrictions that I know of is you have to get the same size and brand and if it is a brand that other stores carry you have to provide a receipt to prove you bought the item at Sears. I have not had to replace shoes yet, but we have gone through a lot of the pants without any problems. They also if the style/brand that you had is no longer available or in stock let you get something different.

 

[Kaewin]

My son used to do that, he would just drag his feet and ruin anything on them. We would tell him to take dinosaur steps and that seemed to help him, but with the autism it took a while. Have you had luck with tying? Still working on that myself with him.