Back in the Swim
Last fall, I wrote about our difficulties getting swimtime in for Charlie at our YMCA pool in the later afternoon/early evenings, the time when he’s most ready to go. Our YMCA has three pools, two of which seem to be perpetually in use for the swim teams’ practices, adult lap swimming, or lessons. The third pool is the “family pool” and consists of a wading pool with a slide and spouting water toys, a 3-4 feet deep rectangular pool, and two water slides.
This is a fine set-up if you want to splash around, shoot baskets into the hoop at one end of the pool, wade, or do a few brief partial laps and Charlie’s always been glad to do this. Charlie is a very capable swimmer—in particular in the ocean—and there’s not too much swimming anyone can do in a 4-foot-deep pool. (Charlie does manage to turn the occasional underwater somersault, frontwards and backwards). As many readers urged, Jim and I called the YMCA management and got the same response over and over, to enroll Charlie in the special needs swimming lesson program, and to take him to a Saturday program for autistic kids.
The swimming lesson program does sound like a good idea, but what we’re looking for is just swim time for Charlie. Apparently when he’s 14 he qualifies for swimming in the adult lap swim times; one of us would have to swim with him, as Charlie often can’t resist ducking under the lane markers into another swimmer’s lane. I’ve thought about just jumping into a lane with Charlie and seeing what happens, but the thought of being asked to get out, and of having to drag out a happily swimming Charlie, have given me pause.
And then, last Friday, a solution unfolded that reminded me, sometimes you just have to stop fighting and let be.
Another professor at the college where I teach had mentioned that she’s been taking her daughters to swim in a sort of “kids’ swim team” at the college’s pool a couple of nights of week. She knows that Charlie loves swimming and kept urging me to come. I noted that Charlie might have some trouble following the coach’s directions and doing the strokes as requested, but figured that we could at least get in some good swim time. And so, after Charlie’s IEP meeting and Charlie had had his usual afterschool snack, to the pool in Jersey City we went.
Neither the coach nor my friend were there but several families—speaking several languages—were in the bleachers watching their children have swim lessons. The pool was huge, 12 feet deep in the middle, edged in fading, worn tile. I walked over to the lifeguard, who was sitting at an old plastic table; she was a student on the swim team who knew a number of my students. “Can my son just swim?” I asked. “Sure!” she said. And in jumped Charlie.
He smiled immediately and paced back and forth in water nearing his chin. I got in at the deep end, leaned forward, and moved easily through all that water. “Come on, come on!” I called to Charlie and, still smiling, he put his face i and moved through the water. He swam the other way on his back; he sunk down towards the bottom and shot back up, eyes closed, relaxed. I got out after we’d done some laps together and stood beside Jim (who was wishing he had brought his swim suit) and Charlie stayed in, swimming, somersaulting, laughing under the high ceiling, rather dimly lit.
In the town we used to live in, there was an indoor community pool and Charlie and I used to go there almost every weekday evening. Sometimes he had a private lesson; other times we went back and forth in the one lane allotted for “open swim” (which we had to share with the ladies’ water aerobics class; I spent a certain amount of time hurrying out of the pool after Charlie when he tried to grab the instructor’s tape out of the boombox). We were regulars at the indoor pool (also a little worn around the edges) and knew all the lifeguards, lap swimmers, and water aerobics class members. We were members and—especially after another trying day when Charlie’s forehead was marked with a bruise—-we both felt safe and at home there.
Tuesday night, Charlie went eagerly down the water slides at our YMCA. It’s a shiny place, with a full battalion of lifeguards wearing fanny packs with first-aid gear and bearing red flotation devices. There are storage benches packed with life vests for younger children, new swim noodles, beach balls and balls of all sizes. Charlie did a few flips in the pool and rubbed hard at his eyes from all the chlorine. He went down the slides time after time and got over-excited and started turning over on his stomach (which he knows he’s not supposed to do). It was good fun and Charlie was completely worn out after a dinner of shrimp, vegetables, and noodles and a few dashes of ketchup, and went to sleep with his right elbow tucked under his head.
But still not quite like last Friday, when Charlie was on his back, blissfully kicking his way through several feet of water—more than enough to hold him up.
Image courtesy of Newscom Tags: asd, asperger, autism, autism blog, mother, pdd-nos, pool, Sports, swim blog, swimming, Water, ymca
15 opinions for Back in the Swim
Mouse
May 7, 2008 at 11:25 am
My son gets overstimulated in swimming pools and has only done parent-child classes so far. We’re just about to look into private lessons, since I think that might help a bit. We want him to have some swimming ability at the least, but I also think that once he can swim, it might be a good outlet for him.
Niksmom
May 7, 2008 at 11:57 am
Kristina, it warms my heart to read of this new opportunity for Charlie — for all of you. It is also a great and timely reminder to me that I should not give up hope about that which doesn’t seem possible or probable. Sometimes things just take more time than we (I) expect.
B
May 7, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I can’t say enough how kid swim team has helped my daughter. I too had plenty of reservations about following directions, the strokes, the noise, the frustration, the needing to stay in one’s lane.
This swim team, all they do is swim laps– over and over in various strokes with the coach telling them what to do. I don’t know how or why but my daughter just got in there and swam the laps. She loves it, the repetition. She’s proud of her bag and goggles. We go twice a week now, and get this- for the first time, ever, I can swim my own laps too! This has been a huge life-changer for us.
mayfly
May 7, 2008 at 12:53 pm
My daughter loves the water. She manages a pretty good dog-paddle while wearing inflatable floats on her arms. How did you teach Charlie to swim?
retiredwaif
May 7, 2008 at 1:13 pm
We (the daughter, the little guy, and myself) swim at the Northern campus of Jim’s school all summer long. You should join us sometime.
Lenora
May 7, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Have you ever tried your local Special Recreation Association programs? Ours-the WSSRA (Chicago) - has a swim team that competes in the Special Olympics as well as swimming lessons.
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 7, 2008 at 5:16 pm
@Lenora, tried Special Olympics at our YMCA and were told Charlie has to know the strokes—-will look into your suggestion, thank you!
@Retired Waif, will keep that pool in mind!
@mayfly, Charlie started to swim when he was 6. He loved the water before that but always clung to us. Then we joined a pool that did not allow any flotation devices and this did the trick—-Charlie had to swim (he still does a breast stroke/doggy paddle sort of thing; also swims on his back—-he started that on his own). He’s had some private lessons.
I’m looking up my old journal to see what else we did to get him started swimming.
Daisy
May 7, 2008 at 5:16 pm
What a wonderful story! I love positives.
Marla
May 7, 2008 at 6:13 pm
This is great! We had trouble with sim times at the Y too. I can’t wait for summer. We go to a public pool nearby most Sundays when it is not crowded. M is a great swimmer. I had her swimming as a baby. She has always loved the water.
I think it is great that Charlie is able to swim more with this swim team group. Sounds wonderful.
Regan
May 7, 2008 at 7:06 pm
I’ve thought about your and Charlie’s efforts to get some lane time since you mentioned it way back. Really disappointing about your local Y.
But that is so awesome that there is a solution at the college, and so awesome that Charlie is lovin’ it.
That rocks.
Shawn
May 7, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Christina, does your Y offer a Y Kids Inc. program? We have a small Y here close to home, with only one pool. The other area Y has three pools, but the drive is a bit far. However, all our Syracuse Y’s offer one on ones to those children with IEPs (or some other qualifying evaluation). We haven’t a special needs swim group. Instead, they provide a one on one aide for my son for the full duration of his swim lesson for each weekly class. This has been such a blessing and he is able to take the classes without the aide. These aides are Y staff who have gone through training to be one on ones - for all areas of kids Y programs. However, like you…we run into issues with the lap lanes. It is as much a matter of space (for us) as it is some people’s inflexability/lack of awareness of Autistic individuals and their quirks. Glad to hear you found a way around that! We are getting a new super Y soon, much closer to our house (our two colleges Syracuse, my alma mater and LeMoyne are too far)…hopefully, this will alleviate some of our challenges as well.
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 7, 2008 at 8:59 pm
I had hoped to have better news from our Y. Well, by the time Charlie is 14, we can just swim and no questions asked—-thanks for mentioning that program, Shawn! I don’t think out Y has such a program; I really like the idea of including special needs kids with an aide (and, as I think of it, Charlie would do better in the water with instructions etc. in general).
Bonnie Sayers
May 7, 2008 at 9:40 pm
My kids both did water therapy with OT and speech when they were very young, like 3-5 at the pool at the Hospital. I was just looking at the pics the other day and we used to bring this big blow up whale for the boys to swim on. They did combo therapy in pool.
I plan on taking Nick to swim lessons this month at a nearby pool. Matt needs to be toilet trained for that I believe.
I got some good ideas for Nick for next school year (homeschool) that we can do at the Y perhaps or go to a 24 hour fitness that has a pool and do some swimming there.
Shawn
May 7, 2008 at 9:59 pm
It really does help Jonah attend to what the instructor is trying to do and stim less. This program has enabled him to try not only swim, but soccer, softball and karate. Now that he is getting older, he only needs the aide when he’s transitioning from one level to the next. Hopefully one day soon, he’ll be able to do some of these same sports on our community/school teams because of that “foot in the door” on how to participate in team sports. I know one sport that we are starting now, that allows him his quirks…is running. My husband is an avid runner (me not so much). We are hoping it will have the added benefit of adding more fluidity and balance to his movements (he has some lingering tonal/muscle and coordination issues).
If you would like more information on our mentoring program, I’d be glad to e-mail you the contact information. Maybe they could contact your Y and plant the seeds of something wonderful!
When It’s Hot, Head for the Water
Jun 9, 2008 at 6:02 pm
[…] lovely 97 degrees here in New Jersey today and Charlie just requested to swim in the big pool at my college (ABC filmed him swimming some in this pool last Monday and I hope some of the footage […]
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