Now before anyone panics, I am fully aware that she NEEDS to learn to swim for her own safety. Nea's attraction to water is very strong, and her impulse control is very weak. She will jump in any body of water, anytime, anywhere.
As I've said before, Nea's been in a swim class since she was 6 months old. She was never the baby that cried when in the water. She was the baby that splashed and kicked gleefully. I learned very quickly that I had to be careful with her around the pool because her impulse control was so poor.
Nea was usually out of swim during the summer months because we were doing swim on our own. When fall came after she had been diagnosed, I wondered about a special needs swim class. I spoke to two aquatic directors about a regular class or a special needs one and we decided that the special needs one would suit her best.
That was a year ago, and it's been bumpy.
Swim instructors at the place I take her change frequently. So there hasn't been a great opportunity for her to bond with any single person. That really is too bad, because the more she is "hooked in" with you, the more she will do for you. The other issue that kept coming up was that these instructors.....as sweet and as nice as they are, would not listen to me when it came to helping to teach her. I knew they did not have specific training in Autism and I tried to help them understand what HER motivators were. I explained time and time again that putting her in the baby pool does not work for her because she simply just walks around. Really, I grew sick of having that conversation.
So the combination of inconsistency, lack of knowledge about her Autism and not listening to my suggestions had me looking for something else. In reality, her current state of swimming skills has come from me and our time in the pool together. I've taught her how to hold her breath and the beginning of how to move underwater. When I let the teachers know what she's done (especially when trying to quickly fill in a new one) the information is met with nodding and a courteous smile. There's never a "okay, great! Nea, lets see what you do underwater!" They each like the process they know and want Nea to follow that same process. In the beginning, I was open to that, believing that learning the process presented was what she needed to do to learn to swim. But what I found is that her frustration levels only increased. There has not been a "lets go with where she's at today." Every day is different with Autism. And what worked last week, probably doesn't work today. But that notion always fell on deaf ears.
Advocating for your child sounds so cavalier, until it starts to get in that messy world of hurting feelings or making someone angry. The place we are at now has great programming, but it just doesn't work for Nea any longer. What I really want is a robust program like this that is focused on kids with Autism. Right now, everything is a retro-fit and it's just not working.
I have contacted the Certified Therapeutic Recreation Director at the new place to talk about private swim lessons and options available for Nea. The other thing I'm so impressed with is that they will make accommodations in ANY of their programs for special needs kids with a couple weeks notice. Putting Nea in a tumbling class or a dance class has always been of high interest to me. Also, this new place is connected with Special Olympics and I find that very promising.
I don't know all the answers or details yet. In the meantime, Nea will spend weekly swim time with Mama and we will work on swim kicks, arm circles as well as movement under water.
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