A Child with Autism Can Swim Pat Taylor Swim School Written by Michelle Agus, Speech Therapist and Swim Teacher for the Pat Taylor Swim School Presented at the A.S.C.T.A. Convention 2008 © 2008 Pat Taylor Swim School

Autism Spectrum Disorders Autism Spectrum Disorders is a general name for a range of subtypes of Autism with varying degrees of severity. Autistic Disorder Asperger’s Syndrome Atypical Autism © 2008 Pat Taylor Swim School

What is Autism? Autism is a lifelong developmental disability. Autism is a dysfunction in some parts of the brain that affects the way an individual processes outside information (senses). Children with Autism Spectrum disorders have a triad of impairments:   Communication Social Restricted interests Relating and behaviours  There is no cure for Autism, however changes in behaviours and ability may occur over time. © 2008 Pat Taylor Swim School

Characteristics of Autism Impairment in Communication: Little facial expression Little gesture May have no (or little) speech OR may be quite verbal Repeats or echoes phrases Does not appear to understand word meanings Understands words and phrases literally e.g. “you’re pulling my leg” © 2008 Pat Taylor Swim School

Impairment in Social Relating: Appears to be unresponsive to people Unusual eye contact – will not provide eye contact or eye contact is very fleeting Little initiation of interaction - passive May seem content to be alone Pays little attention to the pain or needs of other people – they have little awareness that other people have feelings, thoughts and perspectives different to their own Uses adults hand like a tool e.g. Using another person’s hand to reach and pick something up © 2008 Pat Taylor Swim School

Repetitive, stereotyped and restricted interests and behaviours: Responds to toys/objects in unusual ways e.g. lining up blocks, colour organising Shows intense levels of interest in 1 area, e.g. Thomas the Tank Engine Listens to a story or watches a DVD repeatedly Insistence of “sameness” – they may become over- insistent with routines (may cause tantrums or “melt- downs” if a routine is changed) © 2008 Pat Taylor Swim School

Sensory Impairments: Senses may be hypersensitive or hyposensitive. This unusual sensory processing may impact on the child’s ability to concentrate and withstand normal sensory information. Can involve auditory (hearing), visual (sight), tactile (touch), taste, olfactory (smell) and proprioception (movement and positioning). E.g. tactile defensive (don’t like to be touched), as it may feel painful or hurt them, while others may appear to not feel pain. E.g. hypersensitive hearing, where the child will experience severe discomfort when exposed to certain sounds, they may cover their ears or tantrum after hearing the sounds. © 2008 Pat Taylor Swim School

Focus: Narrow / focused attention ‘stimulus over- selectivity’ – their attention is focused on only 1 (often irrelevant) aspect of an object e.g. colour. The child will become over concerned with the colour and ignore other aspects E.g. may be difficult to discriminate between a fork and a spoon if they only attend to the colour. © 2008 Pat Taylor Swim School

Learning Styles in Children with Autism ‘Learning styles’ describes the way that people gain information about their environment: Visual (seeing) Auditory (hearing) Kinaesthetic (touching or manipulating an object) Most people use 2 or 3 learning styles - children with Autism are more likely to rely on 1 learning style E.g. if an Autistic child takes objects apart, opens and closes draws or pushes buttons, they may be a kinaesthetic learner Most children with Autism are visual learners, with their skills being approximately 90% visual, 10% auditory. To increase the likelihood that the child will learn, use the child’s preferred learning style. © 2008 Pat Taylor Swim School

Strategies for Working with Children with Autism Children with Autism are often unable to process lots of sensory information at once, which means, that if you are talking to them, while showing them what to do, while another class is being run beside them they will most likely NOT be listening. © 2008 Pat Taylor Swim School

Strategies Ideas for the Environment: Minimise distractions e.g. Limit the number of toys around the pool Conduct lessons at quiet times – minimise noise e.g. At the end of the day or at lunch time when there are no other lessons occurring If the child starts to tantrum and get distressed, there will (most likely) be something in the environment that caused it – try to find out what it was and change it for next time e.g. Something has been moved since last time; a favourite toy is not there © 2008 Pat Taylor Swim School

Strategies Ideas for communication: Use simple, short instructions i.e. only tell them to do 1 task at a time Use lots of gestures e.g. Pointing, demonstrating Don’t demand eye contact from them or expect them to chat and be friendly with you Use visuals to show them what they need to do e.g. photographs, computer generated pictures E.g. blowing bubbles: hold up the picture of bubbles and say “blow bubbles”. If you need to demonstrate, blow bubbles and hold up the picture at the same time. Take out all the little words e.g. the, a, to… E.g. instead of saying “ok, lets all go for a swim around the pool with big kicking legs and blowing lots of bubbles” TRY: “swimming”, when they are swimming, say “kicking” and then “bubbles” (using gestures and visuals at same time) © 2008 Pat Taylor Swim School

Strategies Be patient– the childmay have slow processing speed (i.e. it may take them a while to understand what they need to do) Say it once, wait 5 seconds, say it again A tantrum during a lesson may signal the end of the lesson – don’t pressure too much (it may get worse). © 2008 Pat Taylor Swim School

Strategies Gather background information: Gather a full case and medical history of the child from the caregiver (parent / guardian) Ask what motivates the child e.g. Favourite toys or interests and incorporate this into the lesson Ask what the child dislikes e.g. touch, noises, and avoid them as much as possible. © 2008 Pat Taylor Swim School

Asperger’s Syndrome Children with Asperger’s Syndrome will have many behaviours that are similar to those with Autism, however they will have better language and cognitive skills. They may appear ‘normal’ but a bit ‘odd’ May have the following characteristics: Difficulty forming friendships Difficulty understanding social rules e.g. body language May have rules and rituals that they whole family may have to follow Narrow field of interest Eccentricity Inability to understand that communication involves both listening and talking May have higher than normal intelligence © 2008 Pat Taylor Swim School

Atypical Autism A child with Atypical Autism may display similar characteristics to a child with typical Autism, however: May have a later onset (after 3 years of age) May present in children with intellectual disabilities as Autistic characteristics © 2008 Pat Taylor Swim School

Summary Autism involves an impairment in: Strategies: Processing sensory information Understanding social rules and relations Communication – understanding language an expressing Restricted or limited behaviours Strategies: Gather information on the child prior to lessons Use simple language Minimise ALL distractions (objects, noise) Minimise change Use visual means for learning (visual aids, demonstration) © 2008 Pat Taylor Swim School