With only two weeks left in the summer, we decided it would be a good idea for the Monster to spend it working on his swimming.

The wife’s still trying to find somewhere specializing in autistic children for swim lessons, but in the meantime, nothing is really harmed by putting him in a 40-minute-per-day swim class.  

So, since she had elsewhere to be this morning, I took him to the JCC for said class.

The class is a decent size – an instructor and aide for eight kids.  They’re sticking to water where he can stand, and I know he’s not inclined to go in over his head (he dislikes going underwater), so I’m not too worried yet about him getting away from them and into trouble.  The problem is, he’s inclined to get away from them if he can.

Thankfully for me, a friend was there (her two kids are in the same class as the Monster) to watch the baby so I could stand by the poolside and try to keep him a bit under control while the instructors were concentrating on other kids.  He didn’t get too out of hand that way.  I’d rather he figured out how to behave and stay in the pool at the side like the other kids his own age, but that’s something that’s going to take practice… and probably won’t be developed before the lessons end in 9 more sessions.

I also thought to talk to the instructors afterwards.  My wife had mentioned to the head-of-pool that the Monster’s autistic, but that hadn’t gotten communicated down to the two instructors.  Being a WSI myself helped with explaining what I know of what he is and isn’t capable of yet, since he can’t tell them himself.  I think they have some idea of what they’re in for, and we talked about what I do know of strategies to get him to concentrate on them a bit more.  We’ll see if it helps.

Still, I also suggested to my wife that when she goes with him from here on out, she might wear a suit under her clothes, just in case she has to go in after him…

—-

Sorry for not having been around for a few days, by the by.  The baby’s teething, and has been deciding every few nights to wake up in the middle of the night for play-time, taking a few hours to get back to sleep.  I’ve been absolutely, devastatingly exhausted and not in a mode where I could write.  Things are better now, so I should be back on my normal schedule for a while.