“Every child is a little different, and many of the big challenges in teaching children with autism relate to the ability to learn in the same way their peers learn,” Kemp said. “When you think of typical swimming lessons, there is often a teacher who gives the same instructions to the whole group. This is where we have difficulty with children with autism. Often they need the instruction presented in a different way or in an individual environment.
To give these learners the attention and specialized instruction they need, Kemp and his team provide one-on-one, one-on-one swimming lessons for autistic children ages 3 to 12 in a pool located inside the West Central School, a Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities program. for teenage and young adult students in Columbus, Ohio.
During each session, the occupational therapists monitored the swimming skills of the children. Additionally, qualitative interviews and a follow-up survey were conducted with parents to determine the impact on families and individual participants. Children who have participated in a 10-week session can participate in additional 10-week sessions until they reach a plateau in swimming skill progression, Kemp said.
Building on the success of the pilot program, Ohio State is expanding Kemp’s research and the Adaptive Swimming Program, with the goal of implementing similar programs to help the millions of autistic children safely experience the joys of swimming.
“We set individual goals for everyone,” Kemp said. “One child we worked with didn’t even want to enter the pool at first, and now she enters voluntarily, can move around in the water and is now starting to lift her feet off the ground, which is really a big gain in competence for her.
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