By MiriamM |

I have a 10 year old boy who is homeschooled. He is (mostly) unaware of his difficulties and is in fact a very happy boy. He does karate at the local hall and enjoys it very much. But he is not advancing due to his physical limitations. He wants to be fit, he wants to be healthy. He enjoys the water but we have gone as far as we can with lessons, he is simply not a good swimmer. His body just won't play the game. Team sport will not be an answer for him. Can anyone suggest something he can participate in (we are South of the river in WA), that may be appropriate (not skills based, not competitive). Perhaps a gym class for kids, or a group fitness for other aspergers/ autism kids (does anything like this exist?).

My boy is now 11 but last year he joined a kids yoga class. It was recommended by Tony Attwood. It taught him how to do "calm breathing" and relax. It gave him body confidence and skills he could "show off" with. He seemed a lot more relaxed after class. A physio assessment identified a lot of muscle weakness except for those areas he was using in yoga! He also previously did a lot of bike riding with his dad. We referred to yoga class as his "fitness class" because he was a tad embarrassed for his male friends to know about it.