Autistic kids + learning disabilities: what kind of sports helps them?

[Soumia]

Dear mums...

I have done an extensive research on autism..etc as I have 2 autistic kids.

I met many parents who advised me to try swimming and horse riding/equine therapy.

Other parents advised me to try Karate Nd judo...

Luckily my daughter who is in year 1 is benefiting from after school club on judo for 45 mints for 5 weeks.

I am hoping to start swimming for my autistic son soin...but the classes are too expensive :( and he is still potty trained..

Can you share your experience please.

Thanks brave mum

I don't have an autistic child but my son does have additional needs and I work with children with complex needs. To be honest, I've expended a lot of energy encouraging my son to do thing because they will be 'good' for him. Often I've felt they will be good because the activities allow him to practise the skills he struggles with. But this has meant he spends even more time doing stuff he finds hard. This impacts on his self esteem. I've come to the realisation that the activities that really are good for him are those that he genuinely enjoys and that boost his fragile self esteem. For us ( at the moment), that's climbing, long adventure walks, scooting, cooking, craft activities ( nothing too fiddly) and swimming ( but not classes). These are the things he does not need to be persuaded or coerced into doing, which is a blessed relief to all of us!

it depends on the child, but a lot of kids like trampolining and swimming. Some children like horseriding.

Theyve all gone through phases, but between them we have tried karate, kung fu, climbing, trampolining, swimming, crossfit, and football

We don't do any formal lessons for any sport. It's is difficult to persuade / coerce my son into trying something new so generally we just stick to things we can incorporate into our home routine easily. Trampolining in the back garden has massively helped my kid's core strength and balance (and he loves it.) . Climbing in the park has also done wonders for helping reduce his asymmetrical tonic neck reflex....

We do swimming classes every Friday after school. It's taken me years to find a decent pool and teachers who understand the boys needs! That said it's working brilliantly for us. The pool is at a disability school/gym and the lights in the pool are down low, the water is warmer and the echo is far less than a normal pool (all of which have helped). See if you can find a similar set up local to you as I'd highly recommend it.

Also trampoline in the garden seems to help massively! Apart from that I can't get me two boys to actually do any after school activities 😐