"Au-Some Swimmers" : Role of OT in Swim Lessons for Kids with Autism
"Au-Some Swimmers" podcast is about two OT's named Kim and Nick who go to a Jewish Community Center to help out lifeguards with their students/swimmers who have autism. This podcast stuck out to me because I used to nanny a teenage boy who had autism, and I took him to swim lessons every Friday. It was always his favorite to go to his swim lessons and it was my favorite part of the day as well. It's so awesome to see someone grow each week and continue to excel not only with swimming but with listening skills and communication skills. I think integrating OT's into swim lessons for children with autism is a wonderful idea and can be very helpful for the child and for the lifeguards who still need assistance or education on autism.
In this podcast, the OT's are not there to help with swimming because that's not their area of expertise. They are there to focus on how to work with these children in their swim lessons and give insight to the lifeguards on their education with children who have autism. Nick had mentioned a few things that could help like communication between lifeguards, help litigate turnover with the lifeguards, and general increase in autism knowledge. Some of the issues the lifeguards had previously were with children who were non-verbal, distracted, or maybe over stimulated. Some suggestions that Kim and Nick made were to maybe change the child's schedule for their swim lesson. The reason for this is because it may help certain children to be in an area of the pool where there aren't as many other kids around. This will help take away some of the extra sensory issues or over stimulation that comes with being around a lot of other people while in a pool. They also suggested that creating a student blog would help the lifeguards by being able to document weekly how the child is doing or what triggers they may have, and/or different behaviors. This will help if for some reason they make lifeguard changes and a new person has to take over. They can read the blog to see where the child is at within their swim lessons. It's almost like a weekly process report which honestly is a great idea. This would help keep the lifeguards in good communication and be a great use of documentation for how the swim lessons are going for the student. I think these suggestions that the OT's made really stuck out to me as useful/helpful for these lifeguards who are still trying to learn what to do in these different situations. I think integrating OT skills into the students' swim lessons would be very beneficial towards the child and to the lifeguard!
In this podcast, the OT's are not there to help with swimming because that's not their area of expertise. They are there to focus on how to work with these children in their swim lessons and give insight to the lifeguards on their education with children who have autism. Nick had mentioned a few things that could help like communication between lifeguards, help litigate turnover with the lifeguards, and general increase in autism knowledge. Some of the issues the lifeguards had previously were with children who were non-verbal, distracted, or maybe over stimulated. Some suggestions that Kim and Nick made were to maybe change the child's schedule for their swim lesson. The reason for this is because it may help certain children to be in an area of the pool where there aren't as many other kids around. This will help take away some of the extra sensory issues or over stimulation that comes with being around a lot of other people while in a pool. They also suggested that creating a student blog would help the lifeguards by being able to document weekly how the child is doing or what triggers they may have, and/or different behaviors. This will help if for some reason they make lifeguard changes and a new person has to take over. They can read the blog to see where the child is at within their swim lessons. It's almost like a weekly process report which honestly is a great idea. This would help keep the lifeguards in good communication and be a great use of documentation for how the swim lessons are going for the student. I think these suggestions that the OT's made really stuck out to me as useful/helpful for these lifeguards who are still trying to learn what to do in these different situations. I think integrating OT skills into the students' swim lessons would be very beneficial towards the child and to the lifeguard!
Comments
Post a Comment