Re: Re: sports and aspergers-hated soccer, loves to swim

[Guest guest]

Our experuiences are probably different b/c her age varied. At 3 when

we tried soccer (she was already very behind socially and completely

withdrawn so our hope was the structure would help) her coach was very

experienced and awesome, she even had a " friend " the same age on the

team (meaning she had seen her before as I was friends with her mom

but she still wasn't willing to play with her, the girl was a week

younger). She practiced at the 1st practice but wouldn't even go out

on the field for a game without one of us holding her hand and even

then it was brief and nowhere near the ball. After that she became as

clingy for practice even. She loved/loves soccer and really wanted to

be on the team and play but just wouldnt/couldnt.

We gave up but knew the coach when she was 5 and he needed an asst so

asked dh, even with dh and a coach she knew and again a " friend " the

most we could get her to do was run around the field looking like she

was running from the ball or trailing away from the other kids.

Haven't tried soccer since.

Between those, at 4, she tried ballet/tumbling. She had wwanted to

get in that dance room since she could crawl (her sister took dance

from before she was born). With some accomodations (making sure he

was the end of the line, making sure she was next to the teacher if

they did a circle, etc she was able to participate for the most part.

However at parent open house she hid under the bench the whole time.

However surprisingly enough she did the dress rehearsal and recital

though when I went back stage to pick her up 30 mins later (as you can

only pick up at intermission or the end) she was curled in a ball in

her seat (there were tons of kids down there).

We didn't repeat dance as she seemed to like tumbling best so at her

request, that summer we tried cheer camp. The 1st day the

cheerleaders carried her around and she never went back (however she

also covered her ears any time we entered the gym as we still had to

go for her sister).

So we tried gymnastics and she did well in a preschool class but once

she started full day 4k she had to go to an after school class. At

that time of the day multiple classes ran at once which she couldn't

handle so back to just curling up in a ball.

So we moved her to little gym and she did well there (one class at a

time, 8 students max).

At 9 she tried baseball and for the 1st time was ok practicing with a

team and playing with parents watching her. So she wanted to try

soccer again but decided on horseback riding instead. We do the Y

very recreationally so it is laid back, a sport, a class but also

therapuetic I would imagine, she is quite confident on a horse, not

herself at all

Oh and last summer we did do swimming lessons and she did do well in that.

Looking back I preobably could have guessed the outcome of most of

these based on her difficulties so really it is a matter of knowing

your child not just what they are asking but what they can handle

On 3/18/10, andie <andie6294@...> wrote:

> In soccer, she stayed back, as far away from the ball as possible - not

> exactly the idea of the game. She would just kind of run behind and follow

> the yellow shirts. She later told me that she felt like everyone was going

> to run her over and that she never wanted to be near the ball, because they

> would come after her. I guess it felt like an assault to her. Looking at it

> under a sensory lens, I can totally understand why she didn't like it.

>

> She didn't have the patience for t-ball when we tried that out. Wanted to

> spin endlessly in ballet (NOT good - the snooty teacher didn't find her as

> cute as she thought she was).

>

> She loves to swim though. I think it feeds the sensory seeking, and helps

> block out everything else. She can be in her own world under water!

>

>

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