Can Aspies usually not swim?

Post Reply New Topic

I started swimming at age ten. I one day just started doing it while we were in California going swimming in the pool at our condo. It was my favorite hobby for a couple of years. But I could never pass any swimming tests to swim in the deep end because I could never do it on my back without going under and the life guards couldn't grasp I could swim in the deep end without a problem and my head won;y go under involuntarily. Some places require you to do a test before going to the deep end and even summer camp I went to that one year had that too.

It took me a long time to warm up to swimming, owing to the fact that I was afraid of drowning as a child, but around my preteen years I warmed up more to it, and for a while I was actually pretty decent at it. My skills have gotten rusty over the years though, and I can barely tread water now. It's not that I'm afraid of drowning, it's just that I suck at treading water, and the only way I can keep myself from sinking it to constantly keep swimming. Nowadays, whenever I go to a pool, I head straight for the hot tub or the steam room, instead of swimming in the main pool.

I love swimming and was taught at an early age for safety because I live in a water-surrounded area. I don't really do any of the proper strokes though, I just stick with dog paddling (I can move quite quickly too), doing underwater flips, jumping in, floating, and swimming underwater.

i can swim, my arms and legs dont work very well together but i stay afloat

I can swim and am (at least) decent at it. Not sure if I am actually quite good at it or not as I never did it competitively nor do I want to, it's something I do for fun on holidays only.

However, it took me a while to learn swiming and I was one of the last to learn it in class (there was a girl that I think never managed to learn it at all though), that was by the end of elementary school (sometime during third grade, elementary school is 4 years here). Nowadays I can move around in water naturally and enjoy swimming very much. It's quite relaxing.

As a kid I was really miserable at sports at all (I guess I had terrible gross motor skills back then ).

I was able to swim well when I was younger. I need a noodle to keep me up these days until I get back down to the weight that I'd like to be. I'd rather be swimming with a noodle than not be swimming at all.

The sensation of being in water was too much for me as a child. I'd have a genuine meltdown. I'm uncoordinated, too, so I never learned how to swim properly.

I enjoy swimming(read playing in water) although I have not swam in awhile. I am very poor at it, I failed I think it was level 2 or 3 2 times in my children's learn to swim class and quit trying in frustration, some people could never understand how I could fail such an easy swim course so many times. I like my feet to touch the ground at all times and can't stand getting water in my eyes.

I was never able to learn it either. In my country it's mandatory for children to learn swimming during a year but I was never able to get the basics. As far as I know it's due to autism; it's seen as a specific trait.

I think it has something to do with my coordination. I struggled hard to learn how to ride a bike and then all of a sudden... *poof* I could do it! Or dancing, it'd be a nightmare at first learning the steps and moves and it'd stay difficult, but then all of a sudden I could do it. Needless to say I used to hate such sports and exercises because I was so bad at it that I seemed handicapped.

i can't really swim. i can get from one side of the pool to the other in the shallow end. sometimes i'll swim a little in the deep end if my dad is there to gab me. but I can't swim a lap from the shallow end to the deep end. that's probably my dyspraxia that messes up coordination that keeps me from sustaining a proper stoke and kick. i still usually wear arm floaties.

same here skibum.

am not aspie,but love swimming.
due to very severe sensory issues with water,had not been in a swimming pool until last month and am thirty years old;got a wet suit and body board, started by privately renting a swimming pool out once; next we went to public swimming pools at the quietest times and am there three times a week although trying different ones out to see which is the most accessible,had wrote about experiences with it, have photos;
http://theresidentialautist.blogspot.co ... mming.html

didnt even need the body board at all after two sessions so gave it to mum as she also comes along to sessions and is just beginning to swim herself [although shes extremely phobic of water].
am unable to use legs when swimming,they just lock into one position like a mermaid and can only doggy paddle or breast stroke with arms but am good at it and have been complimented by life guards although they get arsey when ever drift towards half way mark of the main pool as they think am not strong because am not able to use legs.

It's funny that you should say that because I was always the only one in my class who couldn't swim - and I really loved being in the swimming-pool. I think it was because I was always afraid to get my head under the water. I was quite a wimpy kid, also I had a lot of trouble with my ears and nose (still do), which was another reason why I didn't want to get my head under the water. When I was about 11 I actually learnt to swim all of a sudden, but could only do a doggy-paddle where my head was above the water. But I still have never been a strong swimmer.

I nearly died in the swimming-pool when I was nearly 10. I was with all my cousins, and they loved the wave-machine, which was in the deep end. They kept going in there, and I felt left out. So I went in there with armbands on, but was told I was not allowed to go in there with armbands on, so I took them off and went back in there, and one of my cousins let me hold on to her so that I don't sink. But I panicked when the wave-machine started up again, and I was falling under the water, pulling my cousin under too. She obviously came up again, but was trying to pull me out but was too weak. I did not know what to do, I was trapped under the water, and just when I had to accept the fact that I was going to die, I felt myself being pulled out by the life guard (my cousin had got him in a panic). I was all frightened after that and so went into the baby pool with my little cousin. That was a very scary experience, being stuck under the water.

I don't think not being able to learn to swim is to do with Asperger's though. It might have just been a coincidence that I was the only one that couldn't swim. Like I said, I was a wimpy kid, so that might explain a lot of things I couldn't do. Maybe I lacked mind over matter.

Clay Something, I forget his last name, is Aspie and the best surfer in the world. I should think that he can swim.

Kingdomofrats, I just read your blog entry and saw your pics. Those are great pics. It sounds like you and mum are doing really great in the water. I used to teach swimming and one of my specialties was fear of the water students. I know how difficult it is for them to get in and enjoy it. Please tell mum that I am so proud of her for getting in the water. I really am. Thank you for linking your blog. I really enjoy reading it.

I can swim pretty well, but I've never done it in water deeper than 7 feet. Or in the plain ocean for that matter.

I could never learn because I could NEVER stand having my head underwater, I could be in really deep water I could swim pretty well actually but i was always at swimmer level 1 because I would freak out if I tried putting my head underwater