Late last year, we moved into a home of our own from the apartment. It is pretty spacious, two storied and offers plenty of space to everyone in it. This also meant that Adi had more space to cover and walk within the house as compared to the apartment. He had to consistently go up and down the stairs - which is normal for typical folks but does improve motor skills in autistic children.
In our subdivision, there is a large swimming pool. And that has been a tremendous boon this summer. Usually summers are a difficult period for Adi - he is retrogressing in the absence of routine and gets into undesirable activities - like raiding the refrigerator, playing long time with soap and so on. But swimming has acted as a wonderful regulatory activity for him. It helps him burn energy and most important he spends a lot of time balancing his heavy self to float in the water. I think this goes way beyond Occupational Therapy - it is a complete exercise, there is need of consistent motion and balancing. I try to do at least 1 hour of this every day with the kids. His sister has also lost her fear of water and is now jumping in straight into 6 feet water, being a 4 ft child. My earnest recommendation to whoever reads this insert is to please get your autistic child introduced to swimming. To a pool. And slowly take him into deeper waters so that he needs to start working to maintain his position. It will need enormous perseverance and consistent attention even after he has learned to swim. I remember introducing Adi to the YMCA pool in Jersey in 2006-7 and continuing to take him there during winter months as well - it was a heated pool. Remember driving him 40 miles each way each Saturday for a 30 min swim lesson with a special needs aquatic coach in Atlanta. Effort always pays off.
In our subdivision, there is a large swimming pool. And that has been a tremendous boon this summer. Usually summers are a difficult period for Adi - he is retrogressing in the absence of routine and gets into undesirable activities - like raiding the refrigerator, playing long time with soap and so on. But swimming has acted as a wonderful regulatory activity for him. It helps him burn energy and most important he spends a lot of time balancing his heavy self to float in the water. I think this goes way beyond Occupational Therapy - it is a complete exercise, there is need of consistent motion and balancing. I try to do at least 1 hour of this every day with the kids. His sister has also lost her fear of water and is now jumping in straight into 6 feet water, being a 4 ft child. My earnest recommendation to whoever reads this insert is to please get your autistic child introduced to swimming. To a pool. And slowly take him into deeper waters so that he needs to start working to maintain his position. It will need enormous perseverance and consistent attention even after he has learned to swim. I remember introducing Adi to the YMCA pool in Jersey in 2006-7 and continuing to take him there during winter months as well - it was a heated pool. Remember driving him 40 miles each way each Saturday for a 30 min swim lesson with a special needs aquatic coach in Atlanta. Effort always pays off.
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