YES, your special needs child/loved one CAN swim!
That’s right! I have worked with hundreds of special needs swimmers throughout my career. Working with swimmers that have different challenges is one of my favorite things to do. I know that a physical or mental challenge does NOT preclude one from the joys of the water.
I take the exact same approach for special needs as I do other lessons:
- Safety MUST come first. Swimmers that need to learn to self-rescue will go through ISR lessons, as they are the absolute best way to achieve water competency. Age does NOT matter when it comes to this with special needs. The technique of ISR Lessons is what we need most in this situation (see my page about ISR here).
- Secondary to safety, we learn strokes and exploration. This will fall generally on the development path I have laid out below.
And finally, know that you are not alone! Not only is your special needs child/loved one loved, they are celebrated when they’re with me <3
Swimmers MUST be able to self-rescue prior to moving on to any of these skills
- Floats & Breathing: Back float, front float, rhythmic breathing, calmness in the water, understanding movement in the water.
- Streamlines: Streamlines on the front and back, as well as on top of and below the water’s surface
- Freestyle: Freestyle with rudimentary rotary breathing, followed by increased perfection in technique and breathing using various drills
- Elementary Backstroke: Maintaining a relaxed posture with this resting/self-rescue stroke
- Backstroke: Arm movements, 6-beat kick, and hip position.
- Butterfly: Dolphin kick, timing of the breath, followed by proper arm movement.
- Treading & Alternative Kicking: Using sculling wrist movement, learn various kicks such as scissor and egg beater
- Breaststroke: Learning the kick with and without a kickboard, emphasizing a stable hip position. Learning timing and “short hands” for arm movements
- Flip Turns: Beginning with somersaults using the correct hand/arm position, followed by adding pushoffs and breakouts
- Diving: Beginning with sitting dive, and progressing to standing. Also includes surface dives.
- Swim Team Prep: Focusing on elements of swimming as a team. This includes learning to swim “sets”, correct style turns without prompting, circle swimming, and more.
