Swimming lessons - what works and doesn't work?

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Hi everyone

I have Asperger's myself, and I am an ex swimming instructor. My old boss and I are starting our own freelance mobile swimming school to work in people's backyard swimming pools.

We want to work with children (and adults) on the autistic spectrum, as we are both very passionate about this.

For me it is a perfect job because it incorporates two of my special interests - swimming, and autism

We see that it would be a great opportunity for kids on the spectrum, and also those with ADHD, as it allows for the lessons to be tailored to the child's needs, and it also takes away all that NOISE and distraction from the swim school environment.

So I was just wondering, do you think this is something that you would consider as being helpful for a child on the spectrum?

And also, what kinds of needs do you think children on the spectrum need with regards to swimming lessons?

What issues have you had with swimming lessons that would be good to approach a different way? What approaches have you found work for you?

Any words of advice would be highly appreciated and would be helping other children out who are on the spectrum too

all i can tell you about is my own aspieness- i could not handle having my head in the water until i was close to adulthood. water getting into my mouth and ears and eyes and nose made me feel acutely like drowning, and i would have a hysterical reaction to it, fleeing as though from present danger. i had to back into it, gradually exposing myself to more and more water around and over my head, before i could relax. i suspect i'm not the only aspie to have these issues. so before somebody can learn to relax in the water they must get used to the feelings of water in places that water normally doesn't go. sudden immersion is a no-go, it must be gradual. thankfully i had a swimming instructor who understood this. i was the only adult in a pool full of little kids, and i was embarrassed, but my physical therapy regime included torso/back strengthening via low impact water exercise which meant learning how to swim, so i stuck with it. it took me almost 3 months but i eventually learned how to do a clumsy crawl/backstroke.

That's awesome, thanks auntblabby! Great insight and advice And well done for sticking with it like you did til you got to the point you had aimed for - particularly as you said, in a pool full of children, as an adult. You are very strong!

We will definitely develop strategies to really help people get used to getting their faces wet/immersed in water. We have worked with people who have these issues before, and yes, step by step, understanding, and patience is definitely the key. Thank you for the reminder that we will need to make sure this is a big component

I did normal swimming lessons, it was hell. However, I don't have a private pool (I don't think it's so common in the UK, too much bad weather for people). The swimming pool I went to taught in groups of 5-8, and one of the first lessons I ever had was how to block your nose with air by either humming or blowing air. For aspies, particularly those who don't like water in their nose, this is THE most important lesson you can teach them, even if they rarely go swimming.

Are you going to teach NTs as well? If not, you might find that you have to have a very large travel radius to get enough customers, I can't really imagine there being a huge number of autistic kids who
a. Want swimming lessons
b. have their own pool
c. Can afford to pay for swimming lessons
d. Aren't going to quit in a couple of weeks because they don't like water in their eyes etc, its a common problem with aspies talking about swimming (but then, I'm probably repeating the obvious for you, apologies)

We are going through this right now with my 5 yo daughter.

First off I will say that most people don't have pools. So you might encounter a problem with that part. Also from a safety aspect... you might want to look into regulations on that sort of thing, I'd imagine that even though it is a private pool you might still be required, by law, to have a lifeguard under these circumstances. Normally what a family does in a private pool is their own business, but when you bring your business to their pool, that might change.

Anyway before we know my daughter had AS we started her in regular old group swim lessons at the YMCA. The first 2 lessons seemed to go "ok". But then the other kids progressed, and she seemed to get more scared and not learn anything. Then I noticed she was zoning out, rocking, etc... when pushed to participate she would melt down especially if it involved water in her face at all, or back float of any variety. OTher things happened and we eventually got a DX. I pulled her out of the group swim and started looking for something else. I found a special needs instructor. The lessons are at the same pool or in a therapy pool and are sort of one on one with the instructor, sort of. What she does is she has one kid with AS just starting out (my daughter) and she is paired up with a kid with AS who has progressed far enough that they can swim independently. So she tells the independent kid what to do and they do it, mean while she works one on one with my daughter. She then uses the more advanced kid as an example for my daughter: "See look at him, hes doing the back float, look how fun that is, do you want to try?" Or "Lets splash, comon guys splash!" She also has a freaking heart of gold and the patience of a tortoise. The abuse the new swimmers lay out is unimaginable. On the first few lessons, my daughter hit her, kicked her, pulled her hair, spit. Etc. She said that another kid had once given her a black eye. She just smiles through it and guides them through the water with a gentle voice and reassures them that they're fine and shes there for them. My daughter has been taking these lessons for 8 weeks and she no longer shrieks and cries. She is happy and laughing MOST of the time. We still have yet to get her to do a back float or put her whole face in the water, but she has come a lot farther in 8 weeks of lessons with the special ed instructor than she did in 6 months of group lessons. In fact really, the special instructor had to undo a lot of damage, which is, from what I understand, pretty common. I'm confident that if we keep with the lessons, she will be able to swim in a year or two.

I'm not sure where the OP is from, but home swimming pools (usually in the backyard) are pretty common in many parts of the US, and almost universal in states like Florida, California, Arizona, etc., so if he/she is from the US, finding a family with an AS kid that owns a swimming pool won't be difficult. It may be only a waist-deep above-ground pool, but it's still something.

Now, for me, when I was learning to swim, water in the face or eyes wasn't a problem. The problem was that I didn't understand the physics of swimming. My parents and instructors would try to teach me by telling to "lay on the surface of the water". But the second they let go of me, I'd lose my balance and try to stand up (usually successfully). Trying to swim on my own was even worse; I just couldn't "lay on the surface of the water". I tried to explain it by saying: "The water is liquid; it's not a couch! It's impossible to lay on it." But all adults in my life said I thought that way because I was lazy or cowardly. I "knew" they said that because they enjoyed yelling at me while teaching me to swim, and therefore would not teach me the "real secret" to "laying on the surface of the water".

What would have helped me? Teaching me the "real secret". Well, I still don't know what it is; I just somehow learned to swim around age 9, and it was uphill from there. I now go swimming every chance I get, and even had a brief stint with being a swim instructor myself when I was in my late teens. I taught NT kids, but they really seemed to enjoy my teaching methods: talking to them as near-equals, using analogies to explain everything, and pointing out what exactly is being done incorrectly instead of saying "no! no! no! wrong! wrong! wrong!"

I took swimming lessons many years ago, and I was the only one in my class that passed. That proves I'm a Seal.

There is a swim school called AquaPros in San Diego that specializes in teaching autistic kids to swim, while also offering small group lessons (1:3) for NT kids. You might consider calling them up and asking about going there to train with them, or assistance from them in setting up your own school (or maybe a franchise?) in your state.

I think I saw that you are in Arizona? A friend of mine moved from San Diego to Phoenix, and was disappointed she couldn't find 1:3 swim lessons like those available in San Diego, so you might really have a great opportunity to open a new school and create a new market there.

One of the things that I think really helped my son was that the teaching is done mostly by physically guiding the kids through the motions needed for swimming, rather than the "watch me and imitate" style at the YMCA.

Thanks everyone

I am in Australia, so it is a little different here. There are probably more backyard pools, and learning to swim is accepted as essential for kids.

As for cost, etc, and how many autistic families will take part in it, we are not sure. But yes we will be teaching NTs also

Thanks for the tips about the swimming.

Interesting zette that you say that your son preferred the physical help. I had wondered whether this would be better or worse with kids on the spectrum. We usually use this style of teaching with NT kids.

One thing I thought would help would be to film them then show them how they look compared with what they need to be doing - to get a chance to visually analyse themselves.

I think one of the best things will be the different environment. For me, I can't stand the atmosphere of an indoor swim school. Even though I have swum my whole life and taught in such an environment, it is hard to concentrate. I see my Son struggle with it also. A quiet, backyard pool should hopefully be better...

We also want to try to involve the child's special interest in how we teach each one

We live in CA, near the beach and lots of pools, and swimming is really important for safety reasons. My DS9 learned to be pool safe several years ago. I started him with mommy and me classes, then about 3 he was taking private lessons (he only took private, but it was in a pool where other kids took lessons at the same time). He also learned best with the instructor physically guiding his arms, etc. The instructors always had some playtime at the end which he always enjoyed. He can swim laps using a traditional crawl, but he is unusually slow at it. He enjoys being in the pool and can easily move around the pool safely, but he is not using a crawl stroke. He doesn't take lessons anymore. When he took classes, I had no idea he may have ASD. My DS has only had one major meltdown in public (he has emotional outbursts/excessive overreactions, but they are short-lived and only at home), and that was at the pool just before a lesson (after he had been taking lessons for at least a year). I was so confused at his behavior at the time and had no idea what the problem was and he was way to upset to be able to express what was wrong.