In Search of Swim Time
Last year I more than once expressed my frustration about getting Charlie time to swim in the pool at our YMCA. For reasons that you can read about here, Charlie has not been able to swim in the “big pool” at the hours when we can go (late afternoon/early evening). Our YMCA does have a quite elaborate “family pool” with two waterslides, a wading pool, and 3-4 foot pool, but it’s not the same as swimming laps. Somedays Charlie goes up the stairs and down the slides 20 times; other days (like yesterday) he puts his hands over his ears and just seems to like looking at the foaming water coming out of the slides). Recently, we’ve found a good solution by taking Charlie to swim in the pool of the college that I teach at and Charlie had a good time jumping in the 12-foot deep end on Monday.
And then today, I noticed a single piece of paper on the floor after Charlie had emptied out his backpack and was having his after school snack. It was a request from the YMCA’s Autism Advisory Committee to “discuss how to better serve individuals with autism and their families………..The Autism Advisory Committee is asking parents of children with autism to provide feedback on current programs and to share ideas for future programs.” Have I got an idea for you, I thought……
Yes, my feedback has been sent.
Charlie was turning backwards somersaults in the pool the other day but imagine what he can do in more than four foot of water.
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POSTED IN: Water
6 opinions for In Search of Swim Time
aspecialeducationteacher
Jun 5, 2008 at 10:16 am
Our local YMCA has included several kids with disabilities on their swim team for years. The swim team can be quite competitive or families can chose less competitive options by not participating in as many meets. It is a great program for all sorts of kids. Our school district’s Adaptive P.E. teacher is also a super swim teacher so all the kids she serves are competent swimmers. Some of our best swimmers have gone on and swam on the high school swim team. The coach is great at including all kids at all levels and they have a sucessful team. A few years ago there was an article in Exceptional Parent featuring our school district’s swim team. We also have a strong Special Olympic Swim team for kids who want that option.
Bonnie Sayers
Jun 5, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Are you in the pool with him or on the outside? I cannt tolerate the chlorine due to my eczema and it has been years since I have been in a pool so who knows.
I do plan on buying CPR anytime so that I know how to do this, just in case.
Boy Dies During Nap, Possibly From Secondary Drowning
Jun 5, 2008 at 4:08 pm
[…] think I’ll be contacting my YMCA to ask about instructing their lifeguards in assisting autistic and special needs kids in the pool. […]
Storkdok
Jun 6, 2008 at 5:16 pm
I signed up at the YMCA that was next door to my son’s first ABA preschool when he was 2.5 years old and paid for weekly one on one swim lessons. I was told the YMCA was used to serving special needs children and adults. Of course I tried to make his lessons at the same time on the same day right after school so he would have a routine.
Our experience was less than satisfactory. Over the next 1.5 years I struggled for consistency. They changed his instructor constantly without notice. I paid by the month, and 50% of the time they double booked and every single time told my son “sorry”, never the other kid. They would then want him to wait 45 minutes. Why not ever the other kids, who were NT and had no problem waiting and their parents didn’t have an infant like I did, so they could have gone in the water to play with their kids while they waited. There were some days no one ever showed up to give the lesson even though it was on the books and I had paid. They never apologized once. After 1.5 years of patiently trying to explain autism to them and why consistency is important, routine is important, I gave up. The last day there I complained to the director, who said there was nothing they could do. I asked for my money back for the last lesson they never gave and they refused to refund it, and refused to give him one last make-up lesson because I canceled the membership at the end of that month, since he wasn’t being given the lessons paid for.
They didn’t care about my son, and I’m fairly sure they treated the other special needs kids about the same.
I’m not impressed with the YMCA’s service. Maybe they would be different at another one, but it was so stressful to get those swim lessons, I just don’t want to face it.
This year he was able to swim weekly at the local college. His school takes the special needs kids every Thursday morning, and he loved it!
I have signed up my son with the local college’s day camp this summer. He will be able to swim daily there, and they have 5 other autistic kids that attend in the summer. The nurse’s son is one of them and has educated the staff and keeps an eye every day on each of the kids. They also employ one of the special ed teachers from the local school to be an instructor. He will get to learn all the typical things kids learn at camp and he is so excited about it!
Regan
Jun 6, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Kristina,
I hope the Y listens to your input (and that Charlie is finally able to get some lane time).
I’m really disappointed about the negative experiences reported at some of the Y’s. My older girl learned to swim at our local Y and was a swim team kid so we spent alot of time in the pool division.
The coach was a stickler, but the staff bent over backwards to work out ways to teach my older daughter how to swim (she was a terrible swimmer and had some behavior issues for a long time). We went to Easter Seals later on for Eleanor, but everyone at our Y said if we wanted to try to teach her to swim there, they would see what they could do to make it happen (we decided against it because of the water temp and Easter Seals is closer).
I don’t know how uniform or individual the allowances are at these various programs are (maybe we were just lucky?), but it’s still disappointing to hear about this.
Good luck!
Bonnie Sayers
Jun 6, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I just watched a little video clip on yahoo about a six year old boy who saved his drowning friend.
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