What sport can you get the best at with early introduction rather than natural talent?
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Anonymous
| Fencing is an awesome workout and attracts all kinds of kids. |
Anonymous
FTFY |
Anonymous
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Running would be perfect, but your little one isn’t going to be old enough for that kind of training for a while. It has so many stress relief and health benefits.
In the interim, there are a couple of players on my sons rec soccer team that are on the spectrum. They seem to really, really enjoy it (we have an excellent coach though, which I think makes a difference). |
Anonymous
| Wrestling gives a lot of pressure feedback, which my child with a sensory disorder loved. It is a sport that few enough kids do around here, there is an opportunity to be successful. |
Anonymous
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1/3 of all adults in America are overweight — it sounds like ASD is not a risk factor unless I misunderstood the OP?
Martial arts like judo or jujitsu are great to start young — they help teach focus, keeping centered, and respectful interaction with others. |
Anonymous
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Swimming, for sure. If you find the right environment, it can be a good mix of individual achievement and team camaraderie. For a lot of age-group swimmers, they'll focus on team fun with summer teams, and personal achievements during the winter season.
Good coaches will put a swimmer in a practice group and lane that fits their abilities, so their day-to-day experience will boost their confidence as well as providing some challenges. Also, the wide variety of strokes and distances means that there are lots of options for finding their niche within swimming as a whole. If they don't have great reflexes and can't get off the block fast enough to be a good sprinter, they can work on stamina and be a distance swimmer. Hate putting their face in the water, or can't seem to get the breathing rhythm down? Backstroke! I learned to swim as a toddler, but didn't join a summer team until I was about 8. I was a decent swimmer as a teenager, could have even swum at a lower-tier college if I'd wanted to. And I have ZERO athletic skill on dry land. Terrible reflexes, no hand-eye coordination, can't catch, trip over my own feet. But somehow I'm effortlessly graceful in the water. |
Anonymous
| Karate or Golf |
Anonymous
Pretty much any sport or activity. You just have to realize that *you* the parent, won't really see any results until middle/high school. Coaches, trainers, and teachers will see results much earlier. The main thing is you and your commitment. Find activities you are willing to support and invest in long term. So many parents drop activities because they are tired and want to quit and use their kids: Larla is just not practicing enough. Larlo just needs a break. Larliloo just isn't interested anymore - as the reason to stop. Most kids don't practice enough. And interest levels rise and fall for pretty much all activities. For a 3.5 year old I would choose soccer, gymnastics, or martial arts. I would also add in a musical instrument. Either Suzuki piano or violin. Don't bother with traditional lessons unless your kid is tone deaf. If you want your kid to eventually read music then be sure to understand the teacher's reading philosophy and understand you have to stick with the program. Switching to traditional lessons before completing the Suzuki program will cause headaches for everyone. |
Anonymous
| If you are looking for fun and social go with soccer. At this age you can find a British soccer class. Then when you DS goes to K, there will be a rec league. Join the one that kids from school join. Once of my children has been playing since preschool and is now 10. He doesn’t love the game and never did any travel clubs but stays for the social aspect. There are always friends from school on the team. It’s a lot of running. Rec is low pressure. |
Anonymous
Op I’m going to bet that most people giving answers here do not have a kid on the spectrum. You should honestly post this on the kids with special needs board. Soccer is just about the worst activity you could sign up a kid with ASD. Anything involving “teamwork”, paying attention to rigid rules, complete sensory overload and trying to track a ball is setting your child up for disaster. I know this because I have a son with ASD. Gymnastics is also a joke. There is so much stimuli in a gym- my son went into complete meltdown mode. Find a sport that does not require a team. Tennis, golf, martial arts- but all these things require private lessons. I’m sorry to say if you want your child to be able to learn anything and to focus you must do private lessons. Do not waste your time trying “teams”. That includes swimming. My son loves to swim but there is no way in hell he is remotely ready to be in an environment with a bunch of screaming and yelling parents and kids and whistles blowing. I wish it were different- as I am a good swimmer and thrived on that. You just have to find a good coach no matter what you do- one that is understanding of special needs. Many coaches do not get it at all. We tried group martial arts- that also did not work. We ended up finding a really good kung fu teacher - and my son focuses a lot on tai chi and centering himself. I would not focus on your child ‘excelling” at a sport. It’s more important to find something they truly enjoy and are willing to do to get some exercise. You need to let go of the keeping up with the joneses when you have a special needed child. Finding something they enjoy is paramount. And post your future questions in kids with special needs forum. Looking at pages like this will just make you upset. |
Anonymous
These things really depend on the child’s needs and the options available. I have taught in an autism classroom and have taught gymnastics classes for kids diagnosed with ASD, however I agree in general some classes and environments (and teachers) might not work. Some gyms have classes on Sunday morning with only one class at a time that are more sensory friendly, for instance. Some have parent participation classes for 3-5 year olds. You would have to research whatsoever the options are in your area and go observe to see if it would be a good fit. I agree there are definitely scenarios that won’t work. Swimming often has options for private or very small group lessons, especially in the kids swimming schools. So I agree that’s often a good option. I don’t necessarily think it has to be only private lessons if your child has been successful in other group settings, but it depends on the instructor, class or activity structure, and environment. I would generally focus more on individually active activities rather than “teams” for a younger child with ASD. With more info like a general city or county the OP wants to look for classes in, we might be able to give more specific recommendations (assuming they’re posting from the DC area like most posters here). |
Anonymous
| When in doubt swimming |
Anonymous
| Swimming and gymnastics great for little kids. Also consider skating lessons - hockey players benefit greatly from getting an early start in skating, sounds like DC has the right body type, and it is a social/life long sport (adult beer leagues are the best). |
Anonymous
| Swimming is great. It is really good for kids who can listen well to directions and are detail oriented, so could work well for a kid with ASD. Also there isn;t the same rec vs travel dynamic. even if your kid is slower, he or she will still get private coaching. |
Anonymous
| Golf |