ASD DS and swimming lessons

[Maryamlouise]

My autistic DS was getting on OK with swimming until recently when the teacher pushed him too much and upset him. Now he is less keen to listen and try new things - he doesn't like his face in the water which is the main issue but there are also problems in transitioning to less buoyant armbands. The teacher is keen to help but is out of ideas and to be honest I don't have any great ideas for strategies to help either. I tend to adopt a low demand approach with some gentle encouragement but not sure how this translates in a class situation and how to get DS to listen to the expert in terms of the steps to actually learn how to swim. He is 8 and I would like him to have the basics of swimming for safety. Has anybody any ideas or things that worked for you?

Hi my 8 year old girl (asd) has only just transitioned from her floatie (she still fit haha) to arm bands the next thing they will use is a pool noodle and sharkfinn once she's ready to move on, this is her swim teacher at her specialist school.

My dd finally learned at 9, also asd. She had 1:1 lessons funded by council (we paid the standard group cost, they paid the rest) as she has blackouts too and needed an instructor in the water.

Thanks so much. He is coping with mainstream school at the moment and diagnosis is very new so we are still working out all the best support. Might be that specialist or 1-2-1 is what he needs for swimming so will investigate options