ADAPTED AQUATICS PROGRESS REPORT: City of Gainesville, Florida
By: Joannalynn Delacruz, Fran Turchiano, Heather Quiroga, & Christine Stopka, University of Florida

Sensory Integration Dysfunction is the inability to correctly process information brought from senses to the brain. Sensory processing deficits affect each person uniquely, because there are various forms that affect different senses and related conditions, ranging from mild to severe degrees of deficit. Sensory Integration Dysfunction is found in individuals with autistic traits, cerebral palsy, or attention disorders. Individuals may be hyposensitive or hypersensitive to stimuli.

Water is a versatile medium that can accommodate to the dichotomy of special needs that are presented from Sensory Integration Dysfunction. Water serves as an intense environment for a hyposensitive individual who seeks extra stimuli. It can also be a subtle, harmless, and soothing environment for a hypersensitive individuals to comfortably explore swimming skills in. Adapted aquatic swimming is an activity that exposes individuals with special needs to a versatile sensory playground. Every summer, there are people who request to re-enroll into the City of Gainesville Adapted Aquatics Program, which consists of swimming lessons three times a week. One session consists of two weeks, and four sessions are available each summer. Those who request for re-enrollment have similar experiences of seeing progress, in not only physical fitness and social health, but also its positive effects on sensory integration issues. There are many other stories of success in the program, but improvements in sensory integration are best expressed through the progress of four returning students with tendencies toward autistic traits.

Participant A has auditory and visual processing deficits. He can enjoy watching an object spin for an hour. His tactile senses are hypersensitive. Before he began swimming lessons, he would not put his head in the water or allow anyone to touch him. He may touch somebody, but he refused to be touched. His lesson criteria were adapted to his special needs. Sometimes, it takes him five minutes to process a verbal command. Instructors need to use clear verbal prompts when it is necessary. However, this participant works best with patient and quiet support. Visually seeing a task helps him process or mimic a swimming skill. When his lesson criteria met these needs, he allowed his instructor to support him from the stomach to hold him up through a swim stroke. After only one lesson, this skill defied his initial avoidance of touch and water around his head. He has completed four sessions of swimming lessons for two years, and is enrolled for a third year. He completes laps and submerges his head in the water.

Participant B has autism and a problematic attention span. During his first lesson, he can only focus on a skill for four minutes at a time. His swimming lessons included special tasks to redirect his attention. These tasks include swimming games and races. After two sessions of swimming education, he was able to focus on a skill for thirty minutes. When he was younger, he had surgery running through the Eustachian tube which affects his balance. In the past, he had problems motor planning up steps, and would lose his balance. He would repeatedly fall in attempts to walk up stairs. These experiences upset him, and affected his confidence to attempt taking the stairs to the water slide. His first session swimming lessons focused on strengthening his core muscles through isolation exercise. The isolation of his back and abdominal muscles enabled him to hold up his body through the water, and allowed him to independently swim for the first time. The strengthening of his core muscles also improved his walking posture. After his first three sessions, he gained the confidence to climb up the stairs for the water slide. He focused on every step to the slide and accomplished this goal. He has completed four summer sessions and is enrolled for his second year.

Participant C has cerebral palsy, severe scoliosis, and profound developmental disabilities. He would not tolerate people invading his space, which appeared to be a mental radius of four feet. However, his first two swimming sessions demanded a lot of assistance and could only endure fifteen minutes in the water. After two sessions, he would tolerate a swimming instructor to be in the original special radius. Sometimes, the student recognizes and actively seeks the hand of a preferred instructor, and may even wrap his arms around one. His instructor and caretaker were overwhelmed by these results, because Participant C generally resists new environments, people, and even complains about how clothing feels. The water environment breaks the spatial boundaries that are originally created, because it forces the student to depend on the support of the instructor. Currently, Participant C is enrolled in his third year with an improved range of motion and social skills.

Participant D has autism and sensory integration issues which greatly affect his body orientation and spatial awareness in the water. For his first session, he stayed at least two feet from the wall of the pool. The student expressed disoriented feelings when an instructor would try to move him from the wall. He would automatically flip over in any attempt to support him in a prone position, because he needed to stand back up to know where he was in relation to the ground. The student was hypersensitive on his face and a drop of water would upset him enough to leave the pool. The student overcame these challenges with underwater retrieval of coins, kickboard races, and swimming games incorporated into his lesson plans. He put his face in the water for the first time, to pick up coins from the bottom of the pool. By the fourth session, he was working on underwater swimming. During his fifth session, he was kicking in the prone position he initially avoided. This swimming skill challenges any fear of spatial disorientation. These accomplishments encourage the student to further explore his swimming skills and abilities. This empowers him to seek more skills that overcome his Sensory Integration Dysfunction. Currently, the student is enrolled in his third year.

The water is a sensory playground for an effective physical education. A swimming environment is a healthy and versatile medium that allows individuals with special needs to develop physically and socially. I have seen children through a spectrum of needs, cognitively develop, and grow through this setting. The water adapts to these needs and allows virtually anyone of any condition to swim and learn. It is a comfortable and soothing blue atmosphere for individuals with hypersensitivity, or it is a necessary and rewarding stimulus for hyposensitive individuals. It gives comfort and support for spatial exploration and orientation, while providing resistance for muscular strengthening and cardiovascular endurance. It breaks social boundaries when a student relies on the support of his or her swimming instructor. During swimming lessons, I have seen social bonds form. Through swimming skills, I have seen people overcome difficulties of motor planning and sensory integration issues. I have seen people stand or take steps for the first time. I have heard anxious children who stammer; speak clearly without a stutter in soothing water. The versatile abilities of water accommodate all needs, and allow for an effective physical, cognitive, and social education.

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