He hasn't had many lessons ever since he started in Aug 2011 because he often had colds. His runny nose would continue for 2 weeks at a stretch. Back then, his therapist Fezia, hadn't built a pool yet and I had to drive 2 hours through traffic from school to the club for his swimming lessons. Obviously that was unsustainable and we stopped after 2-3 months.
Now that Fezia has built her pool, she has very very gradually built up his confidence in the water. She's absolutely great with him because she already knows his character and abilities. She's also superb because she has such a wide and varied selection of "tools" in her toolbox (ie. techniques learnt over the years from various courses she'd attended) to use in helping him.
But because he still often had a runny nose, swimming sessions at Fezia's place was infrequent and irregular. The unpredictable frequent thunder and lightning storms in Malaysia also works against us.
However, there was a wonderful stretch of a week last Dec where we managed to put in 4 sessions of about 1-2 hours each.
This video shows what he achieved by the end of it. I cannot yet say that he has learnt to swim but he's come a long way from the days where he'd stiffen his body when in the water; where he'd gulp mouthfuls of pool water because he forgets to close his mouth; where he chokes and vomits because he breathes through his nose underwater; where his legs float up in front of him because he can't keep them down or behind him; where he couldn't even submerge his face for a split second without vomiting because of fear.
Hopefully, by the time he reaches Year 3 (Sept 2013) he'd be able to doggie paddle and swim. That would greatly add to his self confidence as his classmates are already not only able to swim but swim well.
