Swimming for children with Dyspraxia

[Dee39]

Does anyone know of a good swimming teacher in West London who is sensitive to children with Dyspraxia? My DS (10) is nervous about putting his face in the water for any length of time and school group lessons have put him off completely. He won't even swim with me now and his confidence is low. Am desperate to get him swimming confidently.

[jetcat32]

Sorry, dont know West London (mainly bumping for you) but is 1-2-1 lessons a possibility? Not sure of the cost, but a few parents i know with children with ASD and/or Dyspraxia have gone down this route. Alternatively, my DD has lessons in a very small group (around 6 kids) who have a variety of needs. This seems to help her feel less self-consciouss.

[ChopsTheDuck]

I don't know about west london neither, but I had to call round LOADS until I found some that were suitable and prepared to teach ds1.

I think 1to1 might be better given his age. Mine is in group lessons, but two teachers to 6 children and they are all a lot younger than him. Might be bit hard for a 10yo to deal with that. I also think 1to1 is better for a hands on approach which helps with dyspraxia, only problem is the cost.

If you contact your local leisure centres they should be able to put you in touch with local teachers, and hopefully you should be able to find someone with relevant experience.

[Pixel]

Dee, what a shame you don't live nearer to me (Brighton area), I could recommend you a fab swimming teacher. A year ago dd was at exactly the same stage as your ds, school swimming lessons hadn't helped, we'd tried a group lesson where she was by far the eldest but still couldn't do as well as the others and her confidence was zero. If I took her with me she would get completely hysterical if some water went on her face or I asked her to take her feet off the bottom (even with floats). I was at my wits' end.

Anyway, one of the other mums at the group swimming lesson recommended a good teacher for 1-1 and dd hasn't looked back. By the fourth lesson she was swimming with her face in the water and last night she was learning the butterfly!

Lessons cost £9 for 20 mins, I don't know how that compares with other areas but it seems like a bargain to me .

[Pixel]

Sorry I couldn't help with a recommendation, I just wanted to give you a bit of encouragement and show that it will be possible for your ds to get over his fear if you can find the right teacher.

[flyingmum]

My dyspraxic who has always managed breast stroke fine is now (aged 14) having individual lessons with a brilliant teacher and he can now do front crawl which I never in a million years thought possible.

We are not in WEst London but not as far as Brighton. In between if that is any good to you but probablly at least an hour a way and a two hour round trip for half an hour swimming lessons seems a bit much!. There is also a lady at our pool who specifically does lessons for special needs and has worked wonders with a really timid S&L little girl - she got her swimming lengths and when she started she wouldn't go in the water.

I'll happily give you names but we are near Gatwick.

[Trainmuma]

Can I possibly have the name of the teacher in gatwick, we have the same issues! Thanks

[Theironfistofarkus]

Sorry to revive a thread but I wondered whether Dee found anyone in the end and if not, whether anyone else can help with the question Dee asked.

Would be really, really grateful. DC starts swimming lessons with the school very soon and want to do what I can to spare my DC the upset of being the only non-swimmer.

[Theironfistofarkus]

Just giving myself a little bump here in case anyone is around now.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Didn't see this thread at the time, my DS (9,AS and coordination difficulties) started 1-1 at our local sports centre with a very experienced teacher recently, having struggled in group lessons, there is a big subsidy for SN children in my county (I pay £22/month for weekly 1/2 hr 1-1). Worth enquiring, I only found out by chance.

[HermonieGranger]

I can't help with specific area as am not in the UK but would also suggest someone who does one to one and who gets into the pool themselves.Also I know lessons are normally once a week but of you got a chance during holidays to go everyday for a week for lessons this could give a huge push forward .

To add in my bit of encouragement my son swims with swim club now - can't fasten a button but can swim like a fish

good luck

[Igottaproblem]

whereabouts are you - also in west london?
We are a bit further away, but have also found 1-1 swimming really helpful - my 4 yo ds loves it now and has really benefitted from it
we pay £19.50 for 1/2 an hour though, I hadn't realised how expensive it was in comparison to other 1:1 lessons! Still it has been a worthwhile investment and really made a difference to tone, confidence etc

[Theironfistofarkus]

Thanks so much Hermione and WhoKnows. Did you find out about subsidy from local authority? Think we do need 1 to 1 but want to get someone who has right balance between sensitivity and progress.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

In our case, DS started group lessons age 3 at the sports centre and did well, they changed his instructor and he stopped making progress. We switched to a private school, which was fine up to a point but was a very small pool, so at Christmas we changed to the local swimming club, but he struggled there, it was a very noisy environment (a different group in each lane of a full size pool). So, I decided to enquire about 1-1 at the sports centre, they told me about the subsidy and allocated him back to the original instructor he had at age 3, who we had kept in touch with informally and is v. experienced with SNs. DS had to be a member of a scheme run by the county council (Gateway, Hants) which is open to any child with diagnosed SNs, just a case of filling in a form and getting a card.

[Theironfistofarkus]

Thanks Igotta - yup, west london. Will pay if I need to - have been doing group lessons for a long time now without much progress.

Thanks WhoKnows. Great advice.