Swim Safety with Supervision
August 14, 2024
Hello!!
We’re excited to introduce you to Blended Aquatics monthly newsletter where we’ll be sharing a variety of swim-based activities, behavior tips and safety & drowning prevention strategies along with health and fitness related topics.
The Journey of Blended Aquatics
Swimming and water-based sports were always part of my life growing up in Minnesota, ‘The Land of 10,000 Lakes,’ and has continued to be part of my life through different stages, locations and even jobs. I was never one that had a clear path for my future and more often followed my interests and hobbies that landed me a variety of jobs throughout the years that were somehow related. It has been the insight and connection with others, community driven friends and coworkers, the vulnerability of individuals and families and the ongoing support that has inspired me to create Blended Aquatics.
In college, I worked for a family whose teenage daughter had Aspergers and saw a glimpse of the barriers and challenges the family faced from simple daily tasks to managing large stressors and questions that can keep a parent up all night. I spent a lot of time laughing, listening to quirky family stories, and being involved in their family meals and game night. I formed a special connection with the parents, and just like an average college student, I was a sucker for free food and an opportunity to do free laundry. One afternoon, I walked into the laundry room and was embarrassed the parents were doing my laundry for me! When I tried to take over, they told me it was something they wanted to do, it gave them a sense of normalcy and looked forward to a family member coming home from college. I’m still in contact with them today!
Another family I worked for was undergoing an autism diagnosis for their five-year-old. I wasn’t aware of this at the time, but I did encounter big behaviors and daily outbursts from him, difficulty with regulation and challenges playing with peers. It was honestly exhausting; I didn’t have the skills and strategies I have today. I wanted to help but my efforts with him, and the family seemed to lie flat. Communication was challenging and the support and connection was lacking, I eventually quit. I was looking for new jobs and ones that specifically did not encounter any challenging behaviors or environments. I kept in contact for a short while with the mom, one afternoon we had a phone call and she thanked me for valuing her son. She disclosed he was officially diagnosed with autism, and it was going to be a long road ahead, she was grieving. She reported the new sitter didn’t engage with her son and was thankful for the time and effort I spent with him. At that moment, I learned never to underestimate the power of recognition. I went from ‘I’m never working with special needs again.” to “how can that be my future?”
I then found myself involved in special education, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and advocating for inclusion. I worked a combination of jobs, from a preschool setting, to implementing ABA therapy in the home, community, and elementary schools. In the summers, I worked as a swim instructor with majority of my students having Autism, Down Syndrome and or ADHD. To my surprise, this is where my idea for creating a swim business targeting challenging behaviors and inclusion started to materialize. Learning about high drowning rates, especially for autistic individuals, was and still is astounding. Simply put, there is a lack of support, training, and standards for inclusive and adaptive swimming. At that time, my one-on-one swim lessons faded out traditional teaching and I started using a more individualized and inclusive approach. Not only did my connection with my students get better, but I was also making strong connections with parents and seeing positive results in the pool setting.
Blended Aquatics has been a journey of learning, changing, growing, listening, and making connections. I am grateful for my husband who has believed in my vision and has joined my business journey. Not only do we strive to make the pool setting a positive experience for our clients but for our parents as well. We believe inclusion matters. We believe anyone can make progress in and around the water with the right teaching strategies. We believe through education; more families can be included in water-based environments and will be more equipped to prevent drownings.
