Subject: Swimming

Janice, You mention that Jennie is a good swimmer. My daughter is a lot younger, only 6, and she is so excited in the pool that I can't get her to attend to any type of instruction. We haven't put her in any kind of swim lessons for that reason. Any advice?

Marianne Mosley (Emily, 6, +)

Subject: Re: Swimming

Marianne,

Does she use a device? They never used any type of flotation device with her and little by little, just let her go. She was about 7 when she began to really do well alone. I remember because she was in Special Olympics for a while. The instruction was always done by her adaptive physical education teacher. Give it time and let her go little by little-it'll come.

Good luck! Janice

Subject: RE Swimming

Janis,

Jennie swims totally independently-no devices. She really dog paddles, not swimming as we know it. But she can swim severl laps and even go off the diving board! When she goes under, she blocks off her throat with her tongue, but still swallows a little water. She doesn't care though. When she first began getting therapy, she had swimming every week. This was at age 18 months. She has had swimming every week since then. We always have it in her IEP. The school even busses her to another school when their pool is down. We also belong to the YMCA and get her there often. It is the very best exercise and helps keep her weight down, which isn't easy these days!

Janice

Subject: Swimming

For those of you that have Angels that can swim independently how did you teach them and at what age? I brought Coralynn to the YMCA one time and a swimming teacher worked with her but she was much more interested in just being in the water that it was more of a fight than anything. That was when she was around three or four years old. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Corinne

Subject: Re: Swimming

Ditto Corrinne...Emily was so wild in the water that I can't imagine teaching her to swim. By the way, I looked up the LA Times article on Hogan Hilling's son participating on a swim team that Alice wrote about. You can find it at http://www.latimes.com. USe their search engine and type Angelman Syndrome.

Alice, would you privately e-mail me Hogan's address if you have it? (My e-mail is MMosley@ket.org). I'd like to write or call him to find out how he taught his son to swim -- the article said it took two years and his son was a preschooler at the time. He's entering kindergarten this fall, according to the story. Thanks.

Subject: Swimming

Shannon is 16 years old and adopted, when we took Shannon into our home to be our Angel Child at the age of 8 years she had been in various homes and group homes mainly kept in a wheelchair to keep her confined. When we brought her home for the first weekend and put her in the pool she went completely wild. I said to my wife that I don't believe I can control her. She calmed down after repeated outings. We thought that by allowing her to walk around in the 3 ft part she would improve her balance. This worked and she almost immediately started to improve in her walking skills. If she happened to slip in the water she would fall to the bottom and just lay there making no attempt to get up or flail in the water. She now swims aided by a Ski Belt with direction. This allows us to sit by the side of the pool while she gets her exercise. She can swim a few strokes without her Ski Belt, but quickly loses her attention and lets her feet reach for the bottom, and then the sinking begins. She has been in the Special Olympics Swimming Competition three times and did very well chasing another swimmer with a blown up swim ring. Shannon only goes so far in almost all she does. She almost self feeds, if we put the food on the spoon she will lift it up to her mouth, and then reaches for our hand to put more food on the spoon. She can almost swim, almost 100% Potty trained with minimal accidents.

Art & Dede

Subject: Re: Swimming

Stephanie (4 3/4 yrs del +) goes to swimming classes 2 times a week(through a Therapeutic recreation program for special needs individuals) and really enjoys them. She has her own style of getting around the pool (looks like a dog paddle) with a belt on. She has also started going off the diving board--they walk her to the end, bounce her and then drop her in--she loves it and knows to paddle to the side when she comes up and grabs the wall. Now she even trys to go to the diving board before swim class! We have all noticed that after swimming her legs actually come together more without such a wide gait and her gait looks alot more "normal". So all this fun is also very good therapy!! Sally

Subject: RE: Swimming 1

Corrine, my son has participated in an Easter Seals Swim Program from the age of 2 1/2. He's almost 10 now and just starting to use his arms in the water. He loves the water, has no fear but just couldn't coordinate the movements. He's been "running" in the water for awhile but wouldn't lie down. We finally got him on his back and now he's willing to be on his stomach. One thing that helped was to throw a ball in the water and make a game out of his reaching it - that helped to propel him in the right direction.

Good luck!

Tammy

Subject: Re: Swimming

Corinne - Whitney has practically lived in the water all her life since we live in so. California. She used to have no fear of water. When she was younger we used various flotation devices... the vest with a tube... then just a tube that fit around her tightly- otherwise she learned to slide right through it and that was dangerous! She loved the "ring"/tube because she could go all around independently. We tried water wings- she hated them!!... Plus I didn't want her arms to be restricted too much.

When she outgrew the "ring" or "tube", she learned how to walk around in the water. That was great! She just loves it- splashes with her arms and walks around by herself with some fairly close supervision. Also, we like to play this game... We both start at the shallow end- she has learned to let go of the side by herself...then we "race"! I swim down to the deep end and she'll follow- walking. I get back to her just as she is approaching the deep end... I know this sounds terrible... but I was a lifeguard, so I feel confident! I believe that it is teaching her about the deep end! She respects it and will go to chin level and then turn herself around! Plus, it is fun for me to get a lap in and she loves the independence! A few years ago Ashleigh and I tried to have her float or dog paddle a short distance between us... but she really did get a mouth full (I know that isn't healthy) and she seemed terrified. I guess I just haven't wanted to work on that. She just loves the walking/splashing around and I do put her in a "float position" (my hands support her waist) and she kicks and moves her arms real well...so...anything is possible! San Diego has a lot of baby swim programs and I have always wanted to consult one of the instructors!

I know of another A.S. child (no deletion) who does dog paddle on her own. Ashleigh did a story on her for "The Halo Club". Hogan Hilling is mailing the article about his son on the swim team. I'll get that address to you soon, Marianne! Wow- is he swimming independently?? I'll bet his parents could give a lot of good advice.

**I just received the article! It's so cute!! The large picture shows Wesley with a floatation device on his back... however, the article does mention that he did eventually learn how to keep his head out of the water independently... important because he doesn't close his lips!! (Like Whitney!) My favorite part of the article is when they mention how Hogan had to jump in once because Wesley didn't want to go to the end of the pool... Wesley knew it would mean the race was over and he would have to get out!! Funny!!

Alice Evans Whitney, 15

Subject: Re: swimming

Lesley used to swim a lot as a child. Our monthly Woods reports always talked about her in the pool and they sent lots of pictures of her swimming. Unfortunately, she had a period of several years where she broke bone after bone, poor thing and really lost interest in swimming. Maybe, now that she is living closer to me (as of September) I can find a local Y and take her swimming with my mom or an aide or something. She still loves the bath, so maybe she'ld like it. When she was in intensive rehab for her hip at seashore house in Atlantic city (an excellent rehab center by the way, not generally dealing with speacial needs, but soooo good with Lesley, if god forbid anyone ever finds themselves in that situation) anyway, she had daily hot tub sessions and let me tell you, it was a game to her! They couldn't get her out. Sometines, because she loved it so much, the therapists would s chedule her extra "play" sessions in thre whirlpool if it wasn't booked up. Here I go, feeling talkative again after a brief hiatus.

Take care... -- Julie Hyman