My son hates to get water on his head and face, so he was very careful in the water. Up until this year, he preferred to "swim" using a tube that kept him well about the water or to "climb" around the pool, holding onto the pool's edge.
Each summer, he got closer and closer to the water. This summer, at age 9, he started to dog paddle, jump in, and swim a little on his back -- in other words, he could control the aversion to getting water on his head/face.
He never had swimming lessons, just frequent pool time each summer during our month-long vacation in America.
Good luck with everything.
Try to stick with it, I feel learning how to swim is a necessity. If physically possible that is. I taut my son myself, but it did take a long time, about 5 years. He now loves the water and can swim. It calms him too. My son is an aspie and cannot tolerate competitive sports, but swimming is something he has in common with other kids his age. It has been a wonderful experience for him. Good Luck and don't give up. Sarah was so fearful of the pool one summer and the next she was swimming under water just seeing her sister do it once!
I think it is the self-regulatory problem that many kids with autism have. What I mean is - a kid who gets on the spinning thing at the playground, spins and spins and spins and spins, will not stop until an adult stops him or he falls off. Kids who wiggle their hands in front of their eyes incessantly. Kids who obsess over trains, trains, trains or talk about such and such a movie.
I dont know whether its the obsessive cumpulsive like behavior or what, but some kids do not know when to stop. They are never sated. That is horribly dangerous in a water setting, because although they may be having a great time, they can wear themselves out to the point of exhaustion. They need to know survival floating, need to know how to swim from point a to b.
My son Cole loves the water, but when we go to the pool he takes a breath and goes under water. Few seconds later, comes up for air. Takes a breath and goes under water. Few seconds later, comes up for air. This will go on, off and on for hours while we are there unless i physically pull him to the surface and get him to play with me. When I take both boys, I'll let Cole do his scuba diving for 10 minutes or so while Im engaged with Jack, then yank him up. He'll engage with us and have fun, but go right back under.
Please keep them in lessons! We are doing so, hoping he'll let go of the teacher and go horizontally across the pool, not just to the bottom.
[QUOTE=LeAnne C]You seriously need to stick with it. Have you noticed the stories about kids with autsim, mild or rough, drowning - even though the parents thought their kids were half decent swimmers?
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I agree with LeeAnn 100%. Stick with it, even if they have to repeat the same class level 5 times. The aren't misearable. They will get it eventually.
My brother was an aspie and was very uncoordinated and hated all sports. My parents never pushed him in anything - except swimming. They insisted he take lessons and learn to swim well enough to save himself. He took the same level over and over again for years, first in a class and later with 1:1 lessons but he evenutally got it. This is a huge safety issue and something you can't give up on no matter how frustrating it is to watch. Hang in there!
Oh, YES! All 3 of my kids are in Y lessons, year-around. And that is a biggie: YEAR AROUND.
If we are out for a month, T gets anxious over the water. It is all practice, practice, practice! Keep them going, all the time, regularly, no long break if possible, and they WILL GET USED TO IT!
Swimming is good for so much -- trust and bonding, sensory, motor, you NAME it!
Fred my son Daniel who is 5 learned how to swim approx 1 week ago. I posted about it the day he did it for the first time. Mind you we did not have him in swimming lessons but, I am an excellent swimmer, grew up with a pool and taught all my nieces and nephews how to swim and also my own two children. With Daniel, it took three summers. He learned on the third summer of me teaching him. We went from him squeezing my neck off and not letting go to water wings and still wanting to be held. Then once he got comfortable with the water wings, he didn't want me to touch him. He would swim around the pool with his water wings by himself. Then I started suggesting he take his water wings off and lets try to swim. The great thing about the water wings is they are a natural teacher because if you watch your child with them and encourage them to use all their limbs while using the water wings, you can tell when they know how to swim and all you have to do is encourage them to act just like they have their water wings on. And I also encourage them to go under water as much as possible. To get comfortable with it, so that if they ever accidentally fell in the water the chances that they would panic from being under the water would be far less. I already having Daniel jumping from the side of the pool next to me, not to me. I want him to know what it feels like to be submerged quickly, and not panic. I also had a hard time getting him to understand that he can't breathe under water, so I would tell him before he jumps to humm, with his mouth closed and that makes him hold his breath. Anyway, at the beggining of the summer the apprehension is always there but by the end of the summer he loves it. And I also agree that teaching your kids to swim is extremely important. Do you get in the water with the girls at other times, not just at their swimming lessons? Do they get to just play in the water with just you and practice their skills. The more the better. I don't know how often they have lessons, but if it is only once or twice a week and that's the only time they get in the water that might be why it's taking longer for the apprehension to go away. Anyway, keep it up, you said they are enjoying it so to me that is a good thing.Just an update - the kids finished with their classes. The girls were not advanced because they were unable to swim without their floatie for five feet, which is the requirement. In fact, I was a little discouraged to learn that for the last several lessons, they were really outside the group more often than not, though the instructor did try to entice them in at times to join the other kids. Doesn't bode well for their regular placement in kindergarten that's forthcoming, but I guess they were dealing with a lot of anxiety, so maybe that's more the reason for them failing to keep with the class than their lack of 'joint attention'.
There is good news, though. Abigail was able to paddle around the pool with her life vest. In the end, she was doing loops of the pool on her own, just circling the perimeter of the pool, going out to the deep end, too! She was rigid with this and would yell at the instructors if they tried to come work with her, but it was good that she gained enough confidence to swim around on her own.
Evie attained a similar level of comfort, though she required a noodle and the life vest in order to swim out on her own.
My son graduated from his class, and at the end, was able to dive off the diving board into the deep end and swim (paddle) without a floatation device from one end of the pool to the other. That's great progress for him and he's on to the next level.
We're signing them all up again tonight - the girls with the same class and instructor.
Edited to to add - ruby - thanks for your post - I just read it for the first time. It sounds like the girls are in that stage that your son was when he started with the wings - just wanting to swim around but wanting no assistence - just to be left alone :)
fred - when you are working with gross motor skills, it is hard for our kids to be in a group class. You have said you were mildly concerned about their gross motor skills, so if they have coordination issues - swimming is VERY difficult to learn. We have had really good success with ds in private lessons. You could maybe try semi-private with just the girls? Our Y in our old town wasn't too bad for the price, but the one in our new town is outrageous. Maybe there is a teenager in town who has his/her WSI and could teach them?
But, if you are trying to work on socialization as well, I'm not sure what to tell you. I would say that swm lessons isn't the time to work on that issue and it's better to concentrate on actually learning the skill and working on social issues outside of that time. But, that's just my thoughts!
Dale is turning 9 in 2 weeks and is just now getting the swimming thing. He was in lessons for years but really refused to participate. He can dog paddle now and thats about it. He still will have a meltdown if he gets splashed with water on his face. The girls are in introductory swimming lessons at the 'Y' and struggling. They're not miserable - they enjoy it well enough and like going to the lessons - but they're very apprehensive in the water and have a hard time 'letting go' of the instructor and floating around on their noodle. So, they're enjoying themselves, but not progressing at all because they're afraid to do anything. Anyone have any success stories about kids who overcame this pretty significant anxiety and went on to succeed in learning to swim, or is their anxiety a good indication that I should probably be looking at another activity for them?I think it is important for all kids to be comfortable around water. I would stick with it for a while .After they gain confidence and learn safety skills, if they still don't like then I would take them out. Many kids stay in the same class for a very long time. They are still pretty young. I have a brother who was terrified of the water as a young child and turned into a competitve swimmer in HS who even went to the state meet.HI THIS IS A BIG SUCCESS STORY FOR US. WE RECENTLY PUT OUR 5 YEAR OLD IN SWIM LESSONS FOR THE 3RD SUMMER. THIS YEAR WE DECIDE TO DO PRIVATE LESSONS BECAUSE HE REFUSES TO GO IN THE POOL WITHOUT HOLDING ON FOR DEAR LIFE TO SOMEONE. ANYHOW I TOLD THE INSTRUCTOR HE DOES NOT LIKE TO BE DUNKED & THATS OK WITH ME I JUST WANTED HIM TO NOT BE SO TERRIFIED OF THE WATER. LONG STORY SHORT YESTERDAY AFTER A MONTH OF SWIM LESSONS THE INSTRUCTOR WAS ABLE TO GET HIM TO GO UNDER THE WATER LIKE 10 TIMES I WAS FLOORED. SHE USED TOYS UNDER WATER & HE WAS EAGER TO SAVE THEM. I THINK THE INSTRUCTOR WAS AMAZED & PROUD SHE THOUGHT SHE HIT A DEAD END WITH HIM BEFORE. SO HANG IN THERE!! MIRACLES HAPPEN!!Fred, my 4 year old son Quincy just hated the water prior to this summer and lessons. For the first entire week of lessons, he would cry and scream everytime we got near the pool or someone splashed him. Like your daughters, he had a hard time relaxing and trying the things the instructors were asking. We kept him in lessons for 6 straight weeks and by the 2nd set of lessons, he was no longer crying. He didn't learn a lot but he got over his tremendous fear.
Fast foward a month or so and last weekend we went to a water park party and he was a bit apprehensive. He didn't want to get in so I just say on the side of the wall and let him acclimate. Within 20 minutes, he was lying down in the water, getting splashed and not crying and just having a ball. He enjoyed himself so much that he's asking to go back this weekend and by George we are taking him.
Keep the faith and stick with it. If I knew how to search for my thread, I'd add it so you could see just how afraid he was and see how far he has come.
Karman