Who Benefits from Teaching

WHO BENEFITS FROM TEACHING CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL ABILITIES

TO SWIM? ERIN SEAL-GRANDE SEAL SWIM SCHOOL WEST PASCO NEW PORT RICHEY, FL. ERIN@SEALSWIMSCHOOLWP.COM

Providing swim lessons to students with Special Abilities teaches them great skills that they will use for a lifetime.

It also helps them build up their muscles and improve their coordination in an environment that is easy on their bodies. There is, however, a common misconception that when teaching a child with Special Abilities to swim, you are only teaching the child. While that is important, you are also educating your families and community. By teaching these children we are also teaching others to be compassionate and accepting. Take, for example, Eric. He has a congenital deformity from which his legs don’t bend; he is unable to walk without a walker unless he walks on all four extremities. Born in Ukraine, he was immediately placed in a facility where he was left to waste away. He never had a human touch, never saw the light of day, and his first time holding or seeing a crayon was when his adoptive parents gave him one at age 3. Eric began lessons with us, and it was clear from the beginning that he would make a bigger impact on us than we would ever make on him. He affected the lives of our families and staff from the moment he arrived, long before he got in the pool. When Eric was called in the dry door he would ‘walk’, along the deck to the steps in the pool. He would walk on his hands and feet to get from point A to point B. Parents would watch, but they would watch in awe. Eric’s influence on parents and children was unquestionable and he proved every day that people are always capable of more. The children in the classes would often ask about Eric. Questions such as,

“Why does he walk on his hands?”

“Why doesn’t he bend his knees?”

“Does he want to join in the race?”

When teaching a child with Special Abilities, you are not just teaching the child to swim. You are teaching a community the beauty of honesty, compassion, tolerance, patience, determination; the list goes on and on.

These simple questions were answered by the instructors with simple honesty. “He walks on his hands because his legs don’t work the same as yours”; “He was born with his legs like that”; “Let’s ask if he wants to join the race”. This created an open and honest conversation between students and teachers. These simple interactions provided the necessary environment for our teachers and families to have candid conversations about Special Abilities in a positive way. The instructors were given the opportunity to see that children with Special Abilities are so much more than their diagnosis. They are taught that simply meeting expectations is NEVER enough. They learned to not only expect more but to demand more. They learned a type of patience that many will never achieve. When teaching these children, the goals may be smaller and they may take longer, but when achieved, it’s that much more rewarding.

For a half-hour, every week, Eric brought so much joy to every person that was in our swim school. He taught us important life lessons at our swim school, and children with Special Abilities can bring the same education to yours.