Autism Around Alberta

Swimming lessons can sometimes be difficult for children, both those who are typical and those who are on the spectrum. They have to deal with splashing, very excited peers, the echo of an indoor swimming, the feel of the water on your skin, and having to listen for instructions through it all!

Those of us who are in Red Deer are lucky to have an amazing recreation facility, The G.H. Dawe Community Centre, that is working very hard to offer recreational programming for children with unique needs.

We collectively have five children between our two families, and another good friend has four children. Each family has at least one exceptional child, and we were very confident we would have no problem finding kids for a class. We brainstormed and decided that our children often have difficulty following only verbal instructions, are in sensory overload, and very easily distracted.

We contacted an aquatic program specialist, and they were more than happy to work in team with us to come up with a swimming lesson opportunity for our children. We decided that the easiest and most cost-effective way for our children to experience success in swimming lessons would be to create our own class. Essentially we created a private class and filled the lesson with our children. We have four children in the class, and I think it is important to note that our class is comprised of not only children with exceptional needs, but also typical children (siblings). The Dawe Community Center slotted two of their top lifeguard instructors, a pool manager and an instructor completing a degree in adapted physical education – how lucky were we!

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