The Best Shoes for Kids with Disabilities – Supportive, Comfortable, and Accommodates Orthotics!

Are you looking for a pair of shoes for your child that is dealing with a specific foot condition? Finding a pair of shoes for a child that is dealing with a particular type of disability can be a frustrating and time-consuming experience. If your child has a specific disability that doesn’t allow him or her to easily get the shoes on and off or express how the shoes feel, you need to make sure that you are providing your child with the correct shoe style in the correct shoe size.

Certain shoe styles are more supportive than others, provide more padding around the ankles to make your child feel more comfortable, and are lightweight and flexible at the same time, to prevent your child’s feet and legs from easily getting tired. Certain shoes also have oversized openings for easy on and off. These are the type of shoes I will help you find.

Most children with disabilities are not able to express if their feet, legs, or hips hurt. The correct type of shoes can improve your child’s body posture, allowing your child to walk and run straighter. Let me prove it to you!

What a Difference the Correct Pair of Shoes Can Make!

Let’s take a look at a picture of a flat-footed child standing barefoot. Do you notice how the child’s feet are collapsing and turning inwards?

Now let’s take a look at a picture of the same child wearing pair of shoes that are too flimsy and unsupportive. Do you notice how the child’s feet are still collapsing and turning inwards?

The final picture shows the same child wearing a pair of shoes that are supportive. Do you notice how much straighter the child’s feet are? What a difference the correct pair of shoes can make!

This proves that something so simple such as providing your child with the correct pair of shoes can significantly improve your child’s comfort and overall posture. 

Does Your Child Need to Wear Orthotics Inside His or Her Shoes?

Children with disabilities require particular shoes that in most cases need to accommodate an orthotic. This means that the shoes must provide a certain amount of support, stability, and most importantly: extra depth.

Did you know that how deep the shoes are plays a key role when trying to fit an orthotic inside the shoes? I will expand on this shortly.

I will show you a selection of the best shoes for kids with disabilities shortly, but first I want to show you what features these shoes provide and how you can figure out your child’s exact foot size from home.

Keep in mind that the shoes I describe in this article are not orthopedic, they are regular everyday sneakers that are the deepest and most supportive ones that I have fitted before, and they are all reasonably priced.

Shoes that Accommodate Orthotics – 6 Important Features!

There are certain features that the shoes must provide to help your child with disabilities walk and run more comfortably, confidently, and straighter.

1️⃣ Supportive Outsoles: Supportive shoes help minimize the impact that your kids’ feet take every time they become in contact with the ground. If your child wears an orthotic then this is a key feature as the shoes must be supportive or your child won’t get any of the benefits that the orthotics have to offer. Let me show you the difference between a shoe that provides a supportive outsole versus one that doesn’t:

2️⃣ Lightweight and Flexible: The shoes must be supportive but lightweight and flexible at the same time to prevent your child’s feet and legs from easily getting tired.

3️⃣ Firm Heel Counters: Do you know what the heel counter of the shoe is? This is the part of the shoe that provides ankle support. The firmer the heel counter is, the better ankle and heel support that it provides:

4️⃣ Extra Deep: Deeper shoes allow the feet to fit deeply inside the shoes, preventing from giving your child the impression that the feet are coming out of the shoes. If your child wears an orthotic then this is an extremely important feature, as orthotics always fit better in deeper shoes. Below you can find the difference between a shoe that provides extra depth versus one that doesn’t:

5️⃣ Rounder Toe-Box: Shoes that come with a rounder toe-box are important because they make the orthotics fit better, and they also help prevent your child’s toes from overlapping against one another or rubbing against the side of the shoes. Below you can find the difference between a shoe with a rounder toe-box and a shoe with a pointier/narrower toe-box:

6️⃣ Wider Opening for Easy On & Off: This feature allows parents and children to easily slide their feet inside the shoes.

Can we find a pair of shoes for your child with disabilities that provide all of these features? Yes, we can! I have fitted them before, and I will show you which ones they are.

Keep in mind that I only review shoes that I have fitted before, as that is the only way for me to test the quality and the amount of support that the shoes provide. Disclosure: Some links in this post may be affiliate links and we may receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) when you click our links and make purchases. This allows us to create free content and resources for many families around the world.

The Best Shoes for Kids with Disabilities

Below you can find a selection of the best shoes for kids with disabilities. These shoes are available in medium (M), wide (W), and extra wide (XW) width.

Keep in mind that if your child wears orthotics, you might need to go a whole size longer to a whole size and a half longer than the size that your child measures in the shoe measuring scale (as orthotics take a lot of extra space inside the shoes).

Does Your Child Prefer Velcro Shoes?

As I mentioned before, velcro shoes are not as effective in helping treat foot conditions. However, if your child must wear velcro shoes there are certain styles that are ideal for children with disabilities as they come with oversized openings and provide good support:

Are Any Other Shoe Choices Available?

If none of these shoes are available in your child’s shoe size or if you need the shoes to be made of a specific color don’t hesitate to email me at:

fittingchildrensshoes@gmail.com

Shoelaces or Velcro Closure for your Child with Disabilities?

Most parents stay away from shoelaces as they don’t want to deal with their kids’ shoes becoming untied all the time. I strongly recommend parents provide their kids with shoelaces instead of velcro closure as they provide better support and more stability.

If you are investing in a pair of orthotics for your child, it’s worth it to take the extra time and help your child with tying the shoes. Please remember that this is the only way to get the full benefits of the orthotics.

Are You 100% Sure of Your Child’s Foot Size? – Let’s Find Out!

I always recommend parents take their children to their local fitting children’s shoe store that they trust. The issue is that most fitting stores have been closing down and parents need to end up buying their kids’ shoes online. There is nothing wrong with this, but you must know your child’s exact foot size to know what size to order.

I created simplest, yet most effective way to figure out your child’s foot size from home. In that article I help parents determine their child’s exact foot size and whether the child has narrow, medium, wide, or extra wide feet. I also will be able to tell you whether your child has a high instep or not.

Have you found a particular shoe style that has worked well for your child with disabilities that wears orthotics? Please share your findings below so other parents can benefit from them.