A 5 year old with a spinal cord injury swims independently in Adaptive Aquatics

Meet Ben. He is a 5 year old boy who experienced an infection at 18 months leaving him with a spinal cord injury. His first pool visit was full of tears. His mothers goal was for him to learn to swim and become as independent as possible with the physical limitations of a spinal cord injury. Due to his infection, he has no functional use of his legs but has almost full use of his arms to push his wheelchair. Aside from his physical impairments, Ben is a typical 5 year old boy with a strong ability to learn. He LOVES to be a daredevil and the pool provides the perfect space for him to move!

Instructor and student worked together to discover how he can control his body and breath to roll over, change directions and independently propel himself. We realized he could control his whole body just through tilting his head to the side or up or down. Because Ben has good function of his hands, he was able to hold dumbbells and different floats in order to leverage his body to float and move. Imagine being a kindergartener in a wheelchair and sharing this amazing video of independently swimming to your whole class during show and tell. You won't believe your eyes!

Swim Angelfish's mission is to create a standard practice in the Learn to Swim programs that require additional training to teach swimmers with any of the following challenges: Autism, Anxiety, Discomfort, Delays, Motor, Sensory, Physical and Trauma. We offer a systematic approach to strengthen all swim curriculum.

Learn more about becoming a Swim Whisperer at https://swimangelfish.com/get-certified/. The Swim Angelfish Methodology was developed 21 years ago and it will help you to get all the tools you will need to assess, identify and implement the correct strategies. Strengthen your Learn to Swim program and personal toolbox with Level 1, 2 and 3 of our online certification.

Additionally, we have aquatic therapy training for OT, PT, CTRS and Aquatic exercise instructors available ONLINE at https://www.swimangelfish.com.

In New England, we have 20 locations and are constantly learning and growing our toolbox. There are over 300 certified Swim Whisperers worldwide and growing,

Questions? Email us at cert@swimangelfish.com