Expert: Trey McGowan - 10/25/2008

Question
Hello,
I teach swimming lessons and there is a boy in my class who has I believe mild autism. He is in my higher class which consists of arm strokes on front and back. Basically he knows how to swim and I'm just showing him techniques. He doesn't want to be there and a lot of the time he doesn't listen. I know he knows how to do the techniques but sometimes he just won't do them correctly. I don't want to be one of those teachers that just kills time until the session is over and not really care whether he gets better or not. I really want him to succeed. Our sessions last 2 weeks and I really want him to get something out of it and really make some good progress. Sometimes I get frustrated when he doesn't do what I tell him and when he doesn't listen. Do you have any tips or suggestion that would help me to help him progress?

Answer
Hi there, Stefanie!

Please excuse my not answering this sooner; a couple questions got lost in the winds of The Internet, apparently, and yours happened to be one of them. Thank goodness for 'reminder letters'!

If you'll forgive my answering a question with a question, what makes you think that the child has mild autism? Is this something his parents have said to you? Or is it something that you yourself have observed or are observing in the child?

Probably one of the first things you can do that might help out in a situation like this, especially if you are observing something in the child, is to approach the parents. You don't have to come up to them and say 'Hey! I think your kid is autistic...', but mentioning to them 'It often seems like your child's spacing out...' or 'He really gets distracted when...' or whatever it is that is 'keying in' for you. Ask them whether there are any tricks that they have used to be able to teach him. After all, who knows their child better than a parent? Or so most parents would like to think. Plus, by approaching them in this way, you can show them that you do have a strong interest in teaching their child, and teaching him in a way that is effective and fun. It can look really good to parents that you're willing to include them, even in a small way like this.

If you aren't comfortable with dealing with the parents (and no one will blame you if you aren't; at least I wouldn't), or if the parents have no suggestions on how to give it a try, then one thing you might want to do is to try incorporating something a little more fun into the classes. Try some swimming to music. Maybe invent a simple game where they have to be swimming with those strokes if they are to score; maybe something as simple as a soft, floating ball and the ends of the pool being the goals. By making the swim into a game, you are hopefully teaching the child that not only is it good they are using these swim strokes, but that it can be fun as well. And a lot of the time, a child losing interest is doing it because they don't care, and/or don't find it fun.

I'm not sure if any of these will help, as there's a lack of detail in how you do the classes and what level of autism the child is. But hopefully those general suggestions should give you a leg up on teaching your little one! If all else fails, maybe look around for an instructor who has done special education swimming classes and ask them for a few more direct hints.

Questions, comments, feedback, et cetera, are always welcome! Good lukc with your teaching, and I hope that it will go well for you!

Trey