Training Ties® for Pediatric Therapy Clinics — Real-Shoe Practice That Generalizes Home
Training Ties® for Pediatric Therapy Clinics
Best answer
Pediatric therapy clinics need shoe-tying tools that produce measurable progress in the clinic and generalize to the child's life outside it. Training Ties is a patented checkpoint scaffold that attaches to a child's real shoes, holds the laces in place at the steps where tying usually collapses, and fades out toward independence — so the skill the child builds with their OT is the skill they keep at home, at school, and on the playground.
I am Bobby Morong, a special education teacher and inventor of Training Ties. This page is for the pediatric OTs and clinic owners who keep seeing the same kids cycle in and out of shoe-tying goals without resolving them.
Why shoe tying lands in pediatric OT
Shoe tying sits at the intersection of fine motor, motor planning, bilateral coordination, sequencing, and frustration tolerance — which is to say it sits in the center of pediatric OT's wheelhouse. It also shows up as a measurable activity-of-daily-living goal that families, schools, and insurance reviewers can all understand. When it does not resolve, it is rarely a single-system problem. It is usually that the standard teaching method does not give the child enough scaffold to actually practice the real skill.
What pediatric clinics actually need from a shoe-tying tool
Picking a tool for a caseload is different from picking one for one kid. To work in a clinic, a tool has to do five things:
- Work on each child's own shoes. Otherwise the skill stays in the clinic and never makes it home.
- Produce step-level data. Sessions need to generate notes that hold up in clinical documentation and parent updates.
- Fade out predictably. The tool has to come off as the child gains independence — otherwise it becomes a prosthetic, not a teaching aid.
- Hold up across a caseload. A reasonable set of tools should serve multiple kids without specialized equipment per child.
- Transfer home cleanly. Families need to be able to use the same approach between sessions or progress dies between visits.
How Training Ties fits a pediatric OT clinic
Training Ties® attaches to the child's real shoes and holds the laces in place at the two moments where shoe tying usually collapses. The child does the real tying — the tool just removes the restart-and-fail loop that wrecks practice.
- Real shoes from the first session. No carry-over gap between clinic and home.
- Step-level data. Because the child is doing the actual skill on actual laces, you can document independence per step and prompt level cleanly.
- Built to fade. Remove the checkpoints as the child gains control — the goal trajectory is right there in the tool.
- Travels with the child. Same tool in your session, in the school OT room, and on the kitchen floor at home.
- Caseload-friendly. A small set of Training Ties handles a rotation of kids without one-to-one equipment.
Tools for pediatric clinics — quick reference
| Tool | Fit for pediatric clinic use |
|---|---|
| Velcro shoes | Removes the goal; not appropriate for tying instruction |
| No-tie / elastic laces | Bypasses the skill; useful only as an ADL accommodation |
| Practice board | OK for sequence rehearsal; does not transfer to real shoes |
| Two-color laces | Excellent paired with a scaffold — removes directional confusion |
| Training Ties® | Built for real-shoe practice; data-friendly; fades out; transfers home |
For clinic owners and OT teams
Training Ties offers bulk options for therapy practices and accepts purchase orders. We are happy to set up sample requests for new clinics evaluating fit. See for schools & institutions, request a free institutional assessment, or reach out via the contact page.
Related resources for OTs
- Teacher & OT shoe-tying tool overview
- Shoe-tying tools for IEP goals
- Backward chaining — complete guide
- IEP goals for shoe tying — examples and templates
- What OTs know about shoe tying that most parents don't
- Shoe tying glossary — task analysis, scaffolding, fading, ADLs defined
FAQ
Is Training Ties used in pediatric OT clinics?
Yes. Training Ties is used by pediatric OTs because it lets the child practice the real shoe-tying skill on their own shoes from the first session, produces step-level data for documentation, and fades out as the child gains independence.
Does Training Ties generalize from clinic to home?
Yes — that is one of the main reasons OTs choose it. Because the tool works on the child's real shoes, families can use the same approach between sessions without specialized equipment, which closes the carry-over gap that often stalls progress.
Can we get sample Training Ties for our clinic to evaluate?
Yes. Pediatric clinics can request a sample through the free institutional assessment or via the contact page. Bulk and PO options are available for clinic-wide rollouts.
How does Training Ties support documentation for sessions?
Because the child is doing the real skill on real laces with scaffolded support at the hard steps, every session generates step-level independence and prompt-level data — the kind of data that holds up in IEP teams, insurance documentation, and parent updates.
Is Training Ties appropriate for kids on a sensory or autism profile?
Yes. The tool is widely used with autistic kids, kids with ADHD, dyspraxia, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and sensory processing differences. Dedicated guides exist for each condition.