Tuesday Morning.
After dropping William off at the day care; I decided to check out the pool and see the new coach Ken. (I did not know the school hired a new coach until I talked to Ms. Angela last week; all the time I thought it was still coach Daniel like last year).
He loved to play with this pot even though I said “no, it’s dirty”
There was only 3 students and the middle-age coach in the pool at the time. I was just standing there and watching because I did not want to interrupt but the coach said Hi first and the conversation started to roll. In fact, it was 30 minutes conversation!
He asked, “Which William was it?” I told him he’s 5 and short. “There’s 2 William, one with Autism and the other one does not.” – “The one with Autism”, I said.
Then the coach went on talking about his background working as a case manager at RCOC; he said he knows most of the case workers at the RCOC in Tustin. He also worked as a teacher, as the “Violence Restrainer” (He’d come to the house of the violent people and if there’s sign of violence, he’d restraint that person to protect the other members of the family. He said but if there’s Behavior therapist is there, by law he is not allowed to do anything, he has to let the BT does the work, even if the violent person attacks and hurts the BT, he cannot interfere. ); and he’s willing to work for RESPITE hours during days or nights. And that he does NOT believe in ABA; he does not believe in the method of “give a coin” for the “good behaviors”.
But there’s only 1 thing he said that really sticks on my mind: William is not a swimmer! My husband Tim keeps telling me to stop sending William to Australian Swim school with lots of different reasons: itchy eyes, skin, it’s been a year and his skill is not improved, etc. I felt sad that he does not support me on this decision.
My argument is simple: William loves water, he’d stay in the pool forever and never wants to get out. Even if he’s not a fast learner in the pool, or maybe he doesn’t learn anything, who cares? he has fun, that’s what matters! I know it costs money and time, but if money can buy my son some joy, then why not? Plus, swimming is 1 of the valuable skills that a parent can give their children.
William started at Australian Swim school since Aug 2018 so it’s been a year now and he still does not how to swim yet. It’s only 30 minutes sessions with other 2 or 3 kids (max 4 in a class); and it’s only once a week (Sunday at 9:30 AM). So during the session, he can only have about 3 or 4 times with the instructor: 1 time to do star fish, 1 time to do back float, 1 or 2 times with the noodle; then the last 3 minutes is Play time, where they can pick the toys from the basket and play. So the fact that he does not have much time to practice and lack of concentration (he has ADHD) contribute to the slow learning process, I believe. What If I sign him up for One-on-One class, would he learn faster?
I believe one day William will be able to swim, but not only that, he’ll be a great swimmer. That certainly answers the question “Will I stop sending William to swimming school?”!
