Swimming lessons for my little boy with autisum

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my 6 year old has been in lessons since summer heis in the first level and doing well at swimming but really struggles in listening and following instructions he struggles with loud noises to, he was asked to leave at one lesson, i had a word saying that if heis looking as if heis not listening its because hes not understanding whats been asked of him, to a child with out autism it looks as bad behaviour but with my 6 year old its because heis anxious, not understanding what's asked of him, ive explained to the teacher how to regain his attention and help him to understand, and i do understand there are others in the lesson and they need just as much attention..Lessons returned after the winter break and his still in leval one with 3 and 4 year olds! even tho he can do what's required to go to level 2. i asked why this is and they said its because heis not listening to or following instructions so they won't put him up till heis doing that...so cross people who don't have an understanding of autism see it as bad behaviour and hold them back from moving on, am i being over protective neurotic mother, but i feel this is not fair on him Help any advice x i have also thought abot 1-1 lessons but i kinda thought lessons with a group would be beneficial.

This could have been my boy last year- and he was kept back with a group who were younger than him. He was also able to swim better than he was showing in class but not able to perform because he was being overwhelmed by noise/movement. So if I brought him to the pool alone, he was confident, happy to try diving, swam longer distances etc.
I tried not to get irritated about it (easier said than done) kept explaining to the instructors. I decided to stick at because when I spoke to my son, he loved swimming, he was delighted to be one of the better ones when school went swimming.
He has now been moved up a level and I am nervous about how it will go- but I feel the benefits to him outweigh the disadvantages.
Dont know if that helps- perhaps someone else will be along with constructive advice.

Definitely try 1-1 lessons my nt ds1 struggled in groups and has come on in leaps and bounds with 1-1. Will certainly be doing 1-1 for my ds who has ASD.

My local council pool run classes for disabled children and a group specifically for ASD. Have not tried it yet (DS is just 5), and they have 10 in class which put me off, although 4 helpers in pool. At least they are trying.

Social services may fund extra support / 1:1 lessons via short breaks.

Our ABA team often accompany their children to swim lessons and in effect 'translate' between the instructor and the child, and obviously are adept at keeping the child on task.

You need to find a way of importing how your child learns eg use symbols, written instructions, 1:1 imitation into the pool. Can your child learn from group instructions outside the pool? If not then its probably unrealistic for him to do it in such a noisy environment

I think it is probably an issue of the teachers not knowing how to teach your DS and expecting him to learn in the same way, when clearly he doesn't.

My older boys have lessons (4 in a class) and when I have raised DS3 (ASD) with the lady who runs the company she said that only 1 or 2 of her instructors would teach kids with ASD, dyspraxia etc etc as the others felt that they didn't know how and felt bad when the child did not make progress and wrong for taking the money. I actually felt that at least they were honest, although a bit down she was putting me off. I would rather they acknowledged their lack of ability to teach than blamed my child for not listening! She was willing to give it a go if we got our ABA team to be involved / do some training.

I would probably start again with a new instructor as this one does not seem very inclusive, perhaps find a small class (many private ones are 4 children only). But perhaps approach it more systematically eg that they give specific 1:1 instructions perhaps simply saying 'copy me' and demonstrating, explain how to get your child's attention, use rewards, perhaps use laminated symbols or a visual schedule. Whatever works outside the pool. Perhaps you could do a 1:1 lesson first to train up the teacher first?

Your council should have an inclusion leisure person who can help and maybe provide training or support so your child can be included.

If you have a council pool then you can probably insist they make reasonable adjustments.

First of all thank you peeps for replying so quick
he said staright away when he came out of the lesson why was he with little ones and he said he didnt like it he wanted to be with older ones he started with he started getting quite anxious over it and took a bit of calming down..sadly we olnly have one swimming pool the next one is 40 miles away so changing pools isnt an option, i think going for the 1-1 lessons is the only options..im sure ur son will do just grand WannabeMegMarch...

i just wish tho that anyone that works with children shouls have a grater understanding of autisum and other disabilitys. ill not start again or ill get cross agiain.

Thank u AgnesDiPesto this was really usefull, im going to give the council a ring tomorrow as there are a few children in our area with ASD who would benift greatly from teacher who has had training in it, i never even thought of doing that..we use symbols quite a lot at home but i think the class is just to big for him to be able to focas on one and pluss i think the teacher just wount have the time to do it but mabye with some training it would help

That fine, you should suggest they run smaller classes then. You can only ask and be turned down! Like I say my council provides extra helpers in the pool but only for the SN class.

Definatly go for 1:1 lessons - cost twice as much as group lessons but the progress more than compensates for it. We struggled on with group lessons for far longer than we should have done, but have not looked back since we've gone 1:1. Weve been lucky the teacher (council pool) that does the 1:1 says that most of her pupils are SEN so whilst not marketed as being for SEN, they are absolutly perfect for SEN.
Some other pools near us only hvae 1:1's for SEN but there was a waiting list (not excessivly long though). So time to start asking about what the pool can offer, if theres a need for a few of you then see what they can do - maybe this is your calling to bring SEN swimming provision to your local pool - I can see the headlines now - local mum successfully campaigning..... Good luck! Failing that other route is to find a suitable swimming teacher first and then see if they would be willing to put lessons on for you there.

I don't think swimming teachers have much training in the grand scheme of things - the ASA for example is 21 hours theory and 11 hours practical, some are just totally unequipted to know how to handle (or even understand) SN.

I think its not about the lesson but the person teaching, if you find a great one then group or 1:1 will work - as others have suggested could you let the lesuire centre your concerns and see if they have any suggestions? Some times centres do intensive swimming courses some places do over the holidays, ds did one during the Oct half term, it was a group session but only 2 children signed up for the 9am session was quieter for him and easier to stay on task

I take DS to sen swimming clasees out of borough, so it may be worth calling few other councils...one way trip for us is about 30 mins but so worth it.

DS learnt to swim unaided in less than 6 months, he attended 1:2 followed by 1:1 lessons once a week during school terms. lessons were £5 or £6 each which is so less comparing to £20+ for a regular 1:1 lesson that is quoted in our area and were delivered by swimming instructors that wanted sen experience.

My DS is 7 with ASD and is now doing well in swimming lessons in a small group of other children at the gym where I go. I thought that the social side might help him and also he could watch what the other children were doing.

He previously had 1:1 lessons and his swimming instructor also had a 19 year old DS with AS so she knew what to do.

Its been a bit hit and miss with DS as some of the instructors don't even know what ASD is but I have always explained that you have to try to demonstrate what is required visually as well as orally and on the whole they have tried to meet his needs. Would changing instructor help? My DSs LSA is also a swimming instructor and she said she has quite a few children with ASD and she knows a different approach is required.