I am thinking of buying a tandem for my special needs adolescent son to encourage more purposeful movement and purposeful movement stamina. He can easily ride a bike and biking has become quite relaxing and automatic.
Recently, he has tried a tandem as a stoker which he seemed to manage. I am always looking for challenges where he has to "think" with his body as opposed to his usual default of being impulsive with his movement. From my research, a stoker has to be relaxed but must respond among other things to the captain's movements.
My questions are:
- Does the role of stoker encourage a calm mind but also demand that his reactions be purposeful
- Does the role of stoker become a passive activity or does it continue to be quite an active role. ( With autism, often they have issues with calmness and purposeful movement).
I hope that I am making sense. Thanks!