Capital Region Aquatic Club (N.Y) Partners with Autism Society for Swim Lessons
Capital Region Aquatic Center in Schenectady, N.Y., this week announced a partnership with the Autism Society of the Greater Hudson Region to offer adaptive swim classes to suit the specific needs of neurodivergent people.
Children with autism are more than 160 times more likely to drown than neurotypical peers. They require different stimuli and learning styles in swimming instruction to combat that risk. The partnership aims to raise awareness offer new programing.
Among the programs are pairing children with the same swim instructor for each lesson, holding lessons on quieter days with fewer distractions and limiting lessons to five children at a time.
“When we started planning the Capital Region Aquatic Center a decade ago, we knew we wanted water safety to be the cornerstone of all of our programing,” Capital Region Aquatic Center board president Kara Haraden said in a press release. “Adaptive swim lessons are crucial in our community. More than 30% of parents of children with autism report they’ve had a close call with drowning. We need to do the work to make sure everyone is equipped with the proper skills.”
“We are so thankful to have a community partner in the Capital Region Aquatic Center,” Mary Kavaney, founder of ASAP and a board member of the Autism Society of the Greater Hudson Region, said. “Too often, it is difficult to find a pool that is open to offering adaptive swim lessons. These classes will do wonders to keep our children safe.”
More information is available on Capital Region Aquatic Center’s website.