Swimming Together
Eddy and his mum, Katy (right) with Level Water staff Geri (left) and Katie (second right)
Imagine you love water and really want to be able to splash around. You enter your local leisure centre and there are lots of other children there getting ready to swim. But they are noisy and it echoes around the pool. It’s so loud you just want to run away. Everyone is splashing and shouting and you can’t focus easily on what the teacher is saying. You just want to get out now but where is your mum? Now the teacher is telling you off because you missed your turn. This is what learning to swim is like for lots of children with autism.
Children like Eddy. Eddy wasn’t comfortable in a group class because busy environments make him distressed. He struggled interacting with his peers and needed extra support to focus on the instructions. Level Water’s inclusion specialist programme means that Eddy now swims in a group class, but he has a dedicated swim teacher. Before Cheryl started helping Eddy he swam with armbands and didn’t like to get his face wet. Now he is swimming without arm bands and even jumping in at the deep end. He also recently started swimming underwater. When we visited, Eddy was joining in games with in a group class as they gathered up toys to put them on the big floats. He stopped and had a chat with one of the other children and was quite happy being in the thick of it. He has come so far with Cheryl’s support, not only with swimming but with social skills too.
Eddy’s mum writes :
“Eddy loves being in the water and really enjoys the exercise he gets from swimming. He has a great relationship with his swimming teacher and has lots of fun during his lessons. Swimming is particularly good for Eddy as it strengthens his core which helps his gross motor skills. The exercise also helps to tire him out! Thank you so much for your support, without level water Eddy definitely wouldn’t be able to access swimming lessons and would still not be able to swim. Cheryl really understands what he needs to access the lessons and how to get the best from him. I’m so grateful for her patience and for making Eddy’s lessons fun.
All children deserve to learn to swim and Level Water can give access to swimming lessons for those children who are currently missing out. Level water could help your pool support more children to learn to swim.”
