The Role of OT in Swim Lessons for Kids with Autism
I chose to listen to this podcast because I worked as a lifeguard for 2 years at a church summer camp. We worked with kids from kindergarten to 5th grade, and we had a few kids with autism. Although they wore lifejackets when they were at the pool, I could tell they all loved the water and wanted to swim just like the rest of their class. In this podcast a group of OT students went to their local Jewish Community Center (JCC) where they held swim lessons for children with autism. Their main goal was the educate these lifeguards about autism.
The OT stated that at JCC, most of the lifeguards were young, high school and college students who didn't know much about autism. He had 3 main objectives; to enhance communication between the lifeguards and staff, to mitigate turnover, and to generally increase autism knowledge for the staff. They used a top-down approach, observed the swim lessons, and consulted with parents. Some of the barriers the lifeguards faced were how to work with children who were nonverbal, defiant, and those that were distracted from sound, lights, splashing, and other people swimming. The OT students made modifications to the program to help the lifeguards instruct more successful swim lessons. They changed the swim lesson times for when the pool was less crowded to eliminate some of the distractions. They created a log for the lifeguards to use after each lesson, so that the next lifeguard could have a better understanding of what has been happening. The log can show progress from week to week and it will help the lessons be consistent.
Overall, I am glad I chose to listen to this podcast. At the end of the podcast, the course instructor stated that drowning is one of the leading causes of deaths for children with autism, because they do not know how to swim. This was very eye-opening to me and I think its important for lifeguards to know this. I would most definitely be interested in going back to the church I was a lifeguard at to share some of these tips.
The OT stated that at JCC, most of the lifeguards were young, high school and college students who didn't know much about autism. He had 3 main objectives; to enhance communication between the lifeguards and staff, to mitigate turnover, and to generally increase autism knowledge for the staff. They used a top-down approach, observed the swim lessons, and consulted with parents. Some of the barriers the lifeguards faced were how to work with children who were nonverbal, defiant, and those that were distracted from sound, lights, splashing, and other people swimming. The OT students made modifications to the program to help the lifeguards instruct more successful swim lessons. They changed the swim lesson times for when the pool was less crowded to eliminate some of the distractions. They created a log for the lifeguards to use after each lesson, so that the next lifeguard could have a better understanding of what has been happening. The log can show progress from week to week and it will help the lessons be consistent.
Overall, I am glad I chose to listen to this podcast. At the end of the podcast, the course instructor stated that drowning is one of the leading causes of deaths for children with autism, because they do not know how to swim. This was very eye-opening to me and I think its important for lifeguards to know this. I would most definitely be interested in going back to the church I was a lifeguard at to share some of these tips.
Comments
Post a Comment