My Son's first swim meet- *Warning: Parental Bias*

[Mosbonian]

As most of you who are regulars know, my son has been diagnosed with Asperger's Autism, which is what is considered a "high-functioning" form of Autism. Still, it has been a bit of a struggle helping him to find a sport he likes and can do with some sort of capability that keeps him from getting discouraged or made fun of by the other kids. One thing he has always been able to do naturally is swimming, so we have encouraged that as much as possible.

Well, earlier this year my wife was told of a swim club/class begin held here in Columbia at MU for kids who are physically or mentally challenged that trains them for Special Olympics competition. We enrolled Jacob with the thought of putting him in the Beginner's class to have trained correctly, but were informed that his skill level (even though he never received any formal training) was more on the Advanced level. So he has been training with kids 3 or more years older than him who have been in competition for several years. (A couple actually swim on one of the local high school swim teams).

Today was the Sectional's qualifying meet held at Bridger Junior High in Independence. Any of the kids who medal qualify for the State Special Olympics which will be held here in Columbia. The goal for my wife and I was just to let him compete and learn from the experience. Little did we know....or believe...especially since his I, his father, only managed to medal in the Boat Anchor Division.

He was scheduled to swim in 3 different races....the 50 Meter backstroke, the 50 meter Freestyle, and the 4x25 Mixed Relay. I got there about a half hour before he was supposed to swim, and when i arrived I was as nervous as anyone, while my son was as calm as could be.

con't....

[Logical]

First congratulations!!!

Then thank you for the wonderful story. I am sure no matter the future your son will remember this for the rest of his life and also how proud you were.

[cheeeefs]

Originally Posted by mmaddog

Thanks cheeeefs.....

Your description fits my son to a "t".....he can tell you most anything you want to know about dinosaurs, marine mammals, Civil War battleships, or anything Star Wars/Lord of the Rings. I am hoping that his love for marine mammals will get him a scholarship to Coastal Carolina, where they have a program for that.

mmaddog
*******

I suggest that you do some research and I bet you there will be programs out there that will allow his talents in marine biology to become recognized, and that's the first (and usually only step) out there to getting scholarships. I've done some quick look arounds and have earmarked some sites that you could check out, I'm not sure what is applicable... if anything, but I'm hoping it can open your eyes to the types of things that are out there. I think that looking at the application forms, and getting in touch with the people who know what is looked at and knowing those things now, can help you make sure that he does everything that he needs to instead of trying to apply later and finding out "If only" he had done this or that a few years ago...

I know it would have been nice for me to know a few of these things going into highschool.

heh I have no idea how old your son is, it may be way to early to worry about this stuff, but if he's in or near highschool age it doesn't hurt to spend a few hours empowering yourself with this kind of stuff.

Best of luck, I'm sure everything will turn out great.

http://www.collegeboard.com/article/...-23619,00.html

http://www.coastal.edu/financialaid/

http://www.flseagrant.org/students/r...al/private.htm

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Congrats, mmaddog. It's great that your son has found an area of talent.

(This is starting to make me feel guilty for never doing a single thing that made my dad proud.)

Your dad wasn't big on internet polls, huh?

[patteeu]

Heartwarming story, mmaddog. Thanks for sharing. It's great to hear that your boy had a positive experience.

[redsurfer11]

Congrats MMAddog, now you can bring him to the east coast to learn boogy-boarding in the surf. My wife and kids spend every spare minute down at the beach all summer. Swimming is one thing, owning the waves is another.

[Ultra Peanut]

And so he kept fighting his way up the ranks of the swimming world and kept winning and the costs got higher and you all sold your stuff and struggled to make it and he kept doing well and then he was on the boat to the Olympics and fell head-first onto the deck of the ship from a balcony and got up and was fine and he said, "I told you. I'm used to hard ships."

[Mosbonian]

Originally Posted by cheeeefs

I suggest that you do some research and I bet you there will be programs out there that will allow his talents in marine biology to become recognized, and that's the first (and usually only step) out there to getting scholarships. I've done some quick look arounds and have earmarked some sites that you could check out, I'm not sure what is applicable... if anything, but I'm hoping it can open your eyes to the types of things that are out there. I think that looking at the application forms, and getting in touch with the people who know what is looked at and knowing those things now, can help you make sure that he does everything that he needs to instead of trying to apply later and finding out "If only" he had done this or that a few years ago...

I know it would have been nice for me to know a few of these things going into highschool.

heh I have no idea how old your son is, it may be way to early to worry about this stuff, but if he's in or near highschool age it doesn't hurt to spend a few hours empowering yourself with this kind of stuff.

Best of luck, I'm sure everything will turn out great.

http://www.collegeboard.com/article/...-23619,00.html

http://www.coastal.edu/financialaid/

http://www.flseagrant.org/students/r...al/private.htm

Thanks for the links...we have done a lot of work in preparing him for the eventuality of college. That's why we homeschool him, because the school system here is not able to provide the resources necessary to prepare him.

Our biggest issue was getting him correctly diagnosed.....we had a Pediatrician that just steadfastly refused to go along with the diagnosis of the Specialists for such a long time. He was great as a Family pediatrician, but he was too 'old-school'. We had to move here to Missouri, and get him re-diagnosed and get the new Pediatrician to affirm with the Specialist. What should have been diagnosed at age 7 didn't get resolved until he was 11.

But all that is behind us.....and the big steps like these are just another in helping him adjust to his world around him.

mmaddog
*******

[Mosbonian]

Originally Posted by Psicosis

And so he kept fighting his way up the ranks of the swimming world and kept winning and the costs got higher and you all sold your stuff and struggled to make it and he kept doing well and then he was on the boat to the Olympics and fell head-first onto the deck of the ship from a balcony and got up and was fine and he said, "I told you. I'm used to hard ships."

Now that was funny.......took me a couple of times to get it, but i finally did.

mmaddog
*******

[Bob Dole]

Very cool story. Thanks for sharing it.

[KCWolfman]

Nice MMarkdog.

Glad to here and good luck at state.

[RedNFeisty]

Congrats to BigDog!!


Thank you for sharing!! You should be a very proud Papa!!

[Valiant]

Originally Posted by Phobia

I wonder if the kid with no arms was pissed?

Congrats Maddog, I know the feeling.

http://www.collegehumor.com/?movie_id=140349

[DanT]

Great story, mmaddog! Congratulations to your son and the other athletes!

Originally Posted by Valiant

http://www.collegehumor.com/?movie_id=140349

Holy crap. Was that the ultimate setup or what? Johnny Morton could learn something from that kid, huh?