The mother of a boy with learning disabilities says taking him to swimming lessons has been a huge help and stressed the importance of them to other parents.

Amy Collins and her son, nine-year-old Jack, from Rodmersham, have been attending Swallows Leisure Centre in Sittingbourne since 2018.

Jack and his mum, Amy, speaking about his swimming lessons at Swallows Leisure Centre

The 40-year-old Demelza House nurse said: “Jack has XYY syndrome, a rare chromosomal disorder that affects males, and with that he’s got autism and developmental delay.

“We’ve been coming here for a few years with all three of my boys and they love coming here.

"Jack absolutely loves swimming, but on his terms, if we’ve had a difficult day at school, if he’s tired, we’ve had a couple of meltdowns, he just won’t want to come which I get as it is part of the autism.

“But swimming is such a key life skill and it is so good for him. It’s something that we really encourage him to do every week, but it can be challenging.”

Amy, who is also a one-to-one diet consultant, explained how daunting taking a child with learning disabilities to swimming lessons can be.

She said: “I think it’s really difficult to know as a parent, what the best thing to do is.

“I know personally anything I want to do with Jack I need to plan ahead. I look into whether it’s going to be busy, whether it’s noisy, what kind of lighting they have and whether he’d be able to manage it.

“I think we get on so well at Swallows because I already have two other children that come here, I knew the teachers were really good and I thought I’m just going to give it a go.

“By showing him some pictures that Swallows gave me of the pool to prepare him about coming here and encouraging him to come with his brothers and give it a go was the way I got around it.

“I think for any parent that isn’t sure if swimming lessons are worth the tantrums or if they’re worried about it, just give it a try because the teachers here are so brilliant.

“They will work with you, you can tell them your child’s diagnosis or your worries and the staff are just amazing, they’ll make the transition easy.”

Jack, a Year 4 Rodmersham Primary pupil, had a difficult time getting in the pool after getting a scrape on his knee at school. He was upset about getting his cut wet and going swimming leaving Amy conscious of staring parents.

She said: “Sometimes it’s easier to just take his hand and walk away, but his swimming teacher, Leah Trent, was brilliant.

“She spent 25 minutes talking to him trying to get down to his level and work out what was wrong. He dipped his toe in the water, had a little splash and then hurried away, he didn’t want to go in.

“So she got his hand and encouraged him in, she was amazing, she let his lesson overrun and ended up having a one on one session with him even though her shift was over.”

Leah started coaching at the leisure centre in January and is currently studying understanding autism with the Open University.

She said: “When Mrs Collins explained how a change of routine had made her son nervous about doing activities he had previously enjoyed, it reminded me of my daughter.

“I knew how challenging it must have been to do something as simple as just leaving the house.

“Jack had previously missed a few lessons, which was making it harder for Mrs Collins to persuade him to attend again, but she did and I’m so glad about that.

“When I saw Jack for his lesson I was determined he would not leave the swimming pool that day without getting into the water and remembering how much he loves to swim.

“I don’t see Jack as a boy with autism, I just see him as a young lad nervous about doing something, who simply needs a different approach than another child to get him swimming and loving the water again.”

“Swimming is a wonderful activity, great for physical and mental health, so I feel blessed to teach people this vital lifesaving skill.”