I assume that my DS had a frightening experience during a YMCA swimming lesson when he was 3. He has never spoken of it and the teachers never saw what happened. But one day he just refused to go in the water and sat on the side of the pool. His fear prevented him from swimming for several years.
When DS was about 8, we found a college student who gave private swim lessons in her parent's pool over the summer. She was working on her PE teaching degree with special ed endorsement and she was a Godsend for DS. She was amazingly patient. Her prices were quite reasonable. After 3 summers of lessons DS is now a competent swimmer with little water anxiety.
From watching DS, I do think there were sensory issues involved. It was the feel of water in his nose that really freaked him out. When he did get his face in the water, he would take about 5 minutes at the side of the pool, meticulously clearing our each nostril. Once he felt better, he would have a minute of lesson and another 5 of clearing out. But each lesson got a bit better until now he is diving of the diving board and swimming under water the length of the pool.
As my Spanish speaking friends say, "Poco a poco." little by little.
This is a great story and I love how your patience and that of the instructor paid off!
But I have to disagree that this is a "sensory issue." I would bet that he had an experience where he inhaled water through his nose or somehow experienced that feeling of water in his nose that perhaps freaked him out and created the fear or anxiety response. This is actually a very logical conclusion for a 3 year old to make. The level of fear response might not have been logical, but the initial experience and perception certainly make sense - if that's what happended.
This is NOT an example of a sensory processing disorder, though. This is an example of a situational sensory experience that created an inappropriate response. He definitely had a need to keep his nose clear of water, but I don't think it was related to a sensory processing disorder. Did he also react this way when he had a runny nose? Did he also have problems blowing his nose? Was he overly sensitive to a bloody nose? See what I'm getting at? He may very well have a SPD but this example, standing alone, does not warrant a label of SPD. Now, if he couldn't tolerate the feeling of water in his nose and also had other examples of
I think it is a problem when we start to attribute any atypical responses related to sensory experiences to a "disorder" or "sensory issue". The reality is that we all have "sensory issues." If someone doesn't like the sensation of water in their nose when swimming they can use a nose plug. It doesn't necessarily constitute a disorder. Just a difference.
