Jun 09 2008
Swimming When Motor Skills Are Challenging
The temperature right now is around 96 with a heat index of 102 degrees. And we haven’t hit the high yet. It is officially beach season for us - lake beach, that is. And as great as that is, it also gets…interesting with Gus.
Gus loves the water, but swimming is challenging for him. I remember two years ago trying to take him for swim classes at the local gym. I think he got off the steps during the last class because the water was over his head. Even if I held him, he didn’t like that feeling of not touching bottom. The lake classes last summer were better for him because he never had to go any deeper than he could stand. Trying to get him out to the docked raft even in a tube with me took most of the summer. But, once he did get out there, he suddenly thought he was Olympic material! So now the question is, how do we let him stretch himself now that he’s got the confidence to do it, while keeping him safe at the same time? What are the skills he’s got to work on to be safe in the water?
One thing we make sure of is that he’s not allowed to really swim without an adult in the water with him. He can splash around, but he can’t take any floatation devices. So far he’s been pretty good about honoring the rope boundaries. The next step will be to re-teach him how to float without a tube or water wings. It’s so hard for him because he is so anxious about extending his body. He tends to curl everything inward, like a little turtle.
We need to work on things like keeping the fingers together, which doesn’t sound all that difficult, and it’s not unless you have difficulty getting your hands to do what you tell them to. Likewise with teaching Gus to kick. He might tell his legs to straighten out, but they continue to bend and curl in. And of course it’s no easy task to find a balance between pushing just enough and pushing to the point of frustration and meltdown, because who ever knows what that point is going to be from day to day?
When we get the hands and legs working in sync, then the real fun will be trying to coordinate them with the arms. Usually he kicks or paddles, but rarely both together. People without these challenges take for granted how much mental energy can be involved in all these separate steps, let alone combining them all. Fortunately (and I’ll knock on wood here), Gus has had some very patient swimming instructors thus far. And other family members (who are much better swimmers than me) have been able to help as well.
None of this is bad by any stretch of the imagination. Just things I’m reminded need to happen, step-by-step. I think swimming is a valuable life skill - I wish it hadn’t taken me 37 years and two children to get over my own fear of the water. And I only did because I was more afraid to have them in the water without me than I was of the water itself. I couldn’t accept the idea of taking them to the lake by myself and not being able to jump in and save them if need be while the lifeguard was napping. I don’t want either of my kids to have my fears; I want them to be able to enjoy their summer. So we keep working at it, and one day I know Gus (and his sister the fish) will become competent in the water, if not Olympic material.
It is great that Gus is learnign to love water. That is something that he can enjoy.