GIVE IT A TRY!

Seventeen years ago, my 3-year-old daughter, Morgan, was diagnosed with global developmental delays. Every measurable developmental marker was delayed. As a parent, it was a devastating blow, and we began the exhausting journey of being a special needs family. We felt the best way to help our daughter was to start full time schooling, along with therapies and other services. We also knew that we needed to find programs that would be fun and provide important socialization opportunities that were not available through traditional therapy.

One of the programs we found and truly enjoyed the most was a performing arts group called Angels on Stage. This group is committed to providing high quality plays and musical events, all performed by children with special abilities. It was amazing to watch the kids grow and thrive in that program. It was led by highly motivated parents whose children participated in the performances. I was able to watch Angels on Stage grow into a highly successful program. One of the founders, DeAnna Pursai, later created the College of Adaptive Arts, which is a college for students who have “aged out” of the school systems. She was recently spotlighted by CNN as a CNN Hero. I was so inspired by watching the growth and success of both programs, that I decided to “Give It a Try” and develop a swim program for children with special abilities.

The primary focus of AnT Swim School is on being a safe and comfortable place for special needs kids and their families. We have developed a two-part process to help facilitate the goal of providing quality swimming lessons for special abilities students. First, we identified Ant Swim School staff members who have an interest in working with special abilities students and have them attend the USSSA Special Abilities course. Second, we reached out to existing special needs programs to see if we could assist them in any way. This opened the floodgates, and our office staff were immediately swamped with emails and phone calls with requests for lessons. We did not do any other advertising and relied on word-of-mouth referrals. Every parent that called was told that we are very new to working with the special needs community, but we are a group of compassionate instructors, and we want to “Give It a Try” to the best of our ability. We made no claims on creating Olympic swimmers, and parents were not too concerned about that. The limited number of options in our area made it difficult for https://www.angelsonstage.org/ https://www.collegeofadaptivearts.org/ https://www.cnn.com/videos/ tv/2022/04/28/california-special-needs-college-adults-cnnheroes.cnn

We reached out to existing groups to see if our experimental program could assist them with their vision. Again, this was very easy and successful. No advertising, just a few phone calls and emails. We reached out to the local Bay Area Autism group, which is organized by motivated parents and provides activities for families with children with autism. For the last two summers, the group has rented our pool every Sunday and families can relax poolside, while their kids are free to be themselves without any explanations, under the observation of our lifeguards. We averaged 50 participants for each party. For 2 years we have booked our summer parties with very little effort. We also reached out to the Special Olympics. They were thrilled to find another location for their swim team workouts. They were able to use our facility one weekday, after we closed for our regular classes, and Sunday mornings. We were able to host 30-40 athletes for each workout. Besides being able to provide a pool, we have been able to add to our staff. One local high school student volunteered to take our lifeguarding class and lifeguard the Special Olympics practices and then we hired him for the summer. A new teacher applied after hearing about our experimental program after having just retired from working with children with Cerebral Palsy. Just like that, we had another Special Abilities instructor.

If you are considering jumping into the special abilities pool, I cannot encourage you enough. Please “Give It a Try”! The communities are out there waiting for you. I promise you; it is a life changing experience.