Swimming Class

[Guest guest]

Hi,

My daughters class this year will have swimming every Friday morning. Deanna

wears hearing aids and uses an fm system in mainstream school. She is the only

student in the district with hearing aids. Her hearing is snhl mod-severe and

she doesn't know how to swim. The entire class of 24 second graders will be in

the pool at the same time.

I called the school today to set up a meeting with the swim coach but they

haven't called back yet. I was wondering what others have done in the same

circumstances. Should she have an aide in the pool with her for safety and to

ensure she understands directions? She wouldn't be able to hear most of what he

says to the class and although she reads lips very well, visibility will be

difficult in the pool. There are bright lights and one entire wall of the pool

area is floor to ceiling windows. And I think she'll be mostly concentrating on

staying above the water.

I plan on taking her once a week for the family swim time to suppliment her

learning to swim but what should I do about safety etc. in the class swimming

that starts next week?

Thanks,

Tara

Deanna 7

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[Guest guest]

Tara,

Does your daughter sign at all? Our Hailey did swim lessons with her

preschool the last 2 yrs. The school provided an aide that was able to sign with

her during the lessons. It was necessary in order for her to participate fully

in the class. If your daughter does sign I would fight for at least an aide that

can interpret for her during the time she is in that class without her aides in.

Your reasoning being she would not be able to fully participate in the class

without it.

HTH

Selena

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[Guest guest]

Hi,

My son (severe/profound, HA user) has taken pool swimming lessons several

times now, but never with more than 6 children. I usually explain the

situation to the swim director ahead of time: he¹s deaf, can¹t hear in the

water, needs to see the instructor¹s face or have the instructor talk

directly into his ear, have another child or the instructor demonstrate what

he needs to do, etc. It has actually worked out better than I would have

expected but, as I stated, this was with 6 or fewer kids. I would ask about

the child/teacher ratio.

I also grab the actual instructor prior to the first class and explain all

this to him/her, then follow up at the end of class to check in and see how

it went. But then, this was when I was contracting the instruction myself; I

guess if this is a school thing, you can¹t very well be there to oversee

your child¹s instruction. However, I would insist on talking to someone in

charge ahead of time. Putting my child into a potentially dangerous

situation where he can¹t hear really freaks me out, and I would want the

school to take my concerns seriously.

Good luck,

Stefanie

Mom to Ben, 8, severe/profound, and Isabella, 11, mild loss

on 9/6/06 1:17 PM, Tara Cofone at tdmcmom@... wrote:

> Hi,

>

> My daughters class this year will have swimming every Friday morning. Deanna

> wears hearing aids and uses an fm system in mainstream school. She is the

> only student in the district with hearing aids. Her hearing is snhl

> mod-severe and she doesn't know how to swim. The entire class of 24 second

> graders will be in the pool at the same time.

>

> I called the school today to set up a meeting with the swim coach but they

> haven't called back yet. I was wondering what others have done in the same

> circumstances. Should she have an aide in the pool with her for safety and to

> ensure she understands directions? She wouldn't be able to hear most of what

> he says to the class and although she reads lips very well, visibility will be

> difficult in the pool. There are bright lights and one entire wall of the

> pool area is floor to ceiling windows. And I think she'll be mostly

> concentrating on staying above the water.

>

> I plan on taking her once a week for the family swim time to suppliment her

> learning to swim but what should I do about safety etc. in the class swimming

> that starts next week?

>

> Thanks,

>

> Tara

> Deanna 7

>

>

[Guest guest]

Talking to the coach is a good idea, but if thisis an

organized event, chances are good that they are well

prepared for it. Your child is certainly not the only

one who can't swim, and indoor pools tend to be so

noisy that no one can hear well anyway.

Our 11yo son has done group swimming many times. His

third or fourth-grade class did weekly swimming for a

while, but he also swims with his summer day care

program, and at camp. He has major problems with ear

infections, so we got him swimming molds to keep water

out, but it does mean that he hears even less than he

normally does--practically nothing. It's never been a

problem, though. He doesn't swim well at all--his

muscle tone makes it hard for him to move through

water, and he can't keep his legs straight--but

they've always put him in the Beginner section (with a

big black B on his shoulder in permanent ink), and he

does just fine. He's always with adults who know he

can't hear.

Kiminy

--- Tara Cofone tdmcmom@...> wrote:

> Hi,

>

> My daughters class this year will have swimming

> every Friday morning. Deanna wears hearing aids and

> uses an fm system in mainstream school. She is the

> only student in the district with hearing aids. Her

> hearing is snhl mod-severe and she doesn't know how

> to swim. The entire class of 24 second graders will

> be in the pool at the same time.

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Our school also has a pool and all grades swim for a series of classes at

least once a year. If it's run anything like outs, I can't imagine that safety

isn't a key issue. An amazing number of kids don't swim, and they know that.

For some, just getting them to put their faces in the water was a huge issue.

When our elementary grades go for their sessions, they ask parents to come

along to act as supervisors and helpers. We are asked to come ready to get in

the pool if needed, as well as to supervise the locker room, pool side

behavior and behavior on the bus rides to and from the high school..

If it is run like ours, it is not a free-for-all where the kids jump and

play. The kids are assessed as to their swimming ability, broken into three

levels and get instructions based on what they can do. It is very organized. No

one who isn't a strong swimmer gets into the deep water. Most of the classes

were held in the shallow end (where the kids can easily stand) doing

activities in small groups.

For the extreme non-swimmers, the ones afraid to even put their faces in the

water, one exercise/game was to drop a weighted ring to the floor of the

pool, and then bend or squat down into the water to pick it up. (Many of the

kids tried to get away with using their toes to pick it up, LOL)

Even the advanced swimmers were not allow in the lap lanes without kick

boards. My kids are actually bored by swim classes. For years, part of their

summer routine has been to swim laps every morning. For the swim classes, the

middle school kids have to use kick boards and work on leg strength and other

exercises like that. It's not until they've graduated through several

evaluations that they are permitted to really swim laps. (And no one ever goes

off the

boards, those are for the team only.)

I would do just what you've done. Talk to the coach, ask if they've added

aides (parent or professionals) to the event for safety, and if not, explain

your special circumstances. If you can, and they're open to it, volunteer to

come in as an aide for the swim days.

Our Ian also swims without his aids. Even if it were possible to swim with

them, the acoustics in a pool area are worst than terrible. The swim coach

knows Ian can't hear, gives instructions right to him so Ian can see his face,

and has other kids tap Ian's shoulder when he needs to get his attention. The

idea of having Ian in the pool terrified me at first, and I called and talked

to everyone at the school to make sure he was safe. He was just fine.

Ian lip reads well, so as long as he can see the coach he does pretty well

-- or he asks him to repeat things. I explained to the coach that rather than

screaming (distorts face, echoes LOUDLY) he should talk normally and use hand

gestures to show what he wants. A lot of the signing he would use (if he

knew how to sign) when teaching swimming is more like mime than individual

signs. So, he does that. He has always done that anyway, he joked that was part

of

being a swim coach. Our head coach is big bear of a man, who is actually a

real sweetheart.

But honestly, the best thing we did for Ian was to make sure he could swim

and knew pool safety from us, not expecting the school to teach it to him.

When we go to the pool (almost daily in the summer) my kids start off with

their

laps where they had to swim with a certain stroke (they started with the

breast stroke) and then they could play. It seems they always played using a

version of the dog paddle no matter how we worked with them, to we started the

lap routine. When we began, they swam one lap the width of the pool (the short

measure) with one of us swimming along side of them.

I think taking Deanna to family swims where you work with her is a great

idea! We found that the more the kids were in the water, the more comfortable

they were and the quicker they learned to swim well.

Best -- Jill

PS: my hubby was terrified of the water as a kid,. His parents felt the best

way to conquer it was to learn to swim, so he knew he couldn't drown easily.

So he could be in control. (Both of his siblings swam easily) He ended up

loving it and one of his summer jobs in high school was as a life guard.

[Guest guest]

Elias takes swimming class once a week as part of his preschool program

(which is at a YWCA). We've never done anything special, except stress to

the teachers that they have to make sure the hearing aids are OUT when he

gets in the pool!! When he started last year, I did talk to the head of the

swimming program about his situation (he has low muscle tone in addition to

hearing aids, and a really ugly scar across his abdomen). But that is about

it. I think this year, i will go through the drill again with the swimming

director, and stress that the instructors need to make sure they are facing

Elias when they speak to him. I think this year, there will be more

complicated directions, since Elias is moving to the top of the preschool

swim lesson chain now.

We also swim with Elias at the town pool, so I know that Elias really can't

hear much in a swimming pool. He is also moderate-to-severe, bilateral loss.

Bonnie

>

> Hi,

>

> My daughters class this year will have swimming every Friday morning.

> Deanna wears hearing aids and uses an fm system in mainstream school. She is

> the only student in the district with hearing aids. Her hearing is snhl

> mod-severe and she doesn't know how to swim. The entire class of 24 second

> graders will be in the pool at the same time.

>

> I called the school today to set up a meeting with the swim coach but they

> haven't called back yet. I was wondering what others have done in the same

> circumstances. Should she have an aide in the pool with her for safety and

> to ensure she understands directions? She wouldn't be able to hear most of

> what he says to the class and although she reads lips very well, visibility

> will be difficult in the pool. There are bright lights and one entire wall

> of the pool area is floor to ceiling windows. And I think she'll be mostly

> concentrating on staying above the water.

>

> .

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. It eased my mind about the swimming class.

I'm a worrier so I worry about everything. And I found out from Deanna last

night that they are looking for parent volunteers so my husband will be going.

We'll talk to the coach too.

Deanna loves going in the pool but doesn't like to put her face in the water.

She can do the doggie paddle but with someone holding her. Since they are going

every week for the entire year, she will certainly learn how to swim and she'll

have lots of fun too.

Thanks,

Tara

Deanna, 7 mod-severe

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[Guest guest]

There's also a waterproof hearing aid that works pretty well. It's made by

Rion and we have it and it works really fine for children I think up to

about a severe hearing loss. We use it for bathtime also and swimming. We

only bought one but it's really made things easier.