Swim Safety in Autistic Children

If you have not been paying attention to recent statistics on drowning, you need to be.

After decades of decline, deaths by drowning are on the rise.

Groups already at higher risk have seen the greatest increases in drowning deaths. This includes adults ages 65 years and older of all races and ethnicities, as well as Black people of all ages.

But today, we’ll focus on an especially high-risk group: children (and particularly, children with autism). Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4, and children with autism spectrum disorder are 160 times more likely to experience nonfatal and fatal drowning than their typically developing peers.

Whatever setting you work in, I hope these sobering numbers convince you to pay close attention to water safety. Here, we’ll look at an aquatic OT swim safety program that you could consider implementing in your community.

Next week on the OT Potential Podcast, we will welcome the article’s lead author, Erika Kemp, for a discussion on the logistics of launching a swim safety program. We’ll also tackle big picture questions—like how to go about mobilizing the entire OT community to prevent drownings in our communities.

Swim Safety Materials

• AAP Drowning Prevention and Water Safety

• NAA Big Red Safety Box

• National Drowning Prevention Alliance

• Red Cross Water Safety

1. You will be able to identify assessments you can utilize in aquatic OT for autistic children.

2. You will be able to recognize group interventions that can be utilized in aquatic OT for autistic children.

• Intro and breakdown of journal article

  • Intro

  • Swim Safety and Autism Intro

  • The Role of OT in Swim Instruction

  • What was the intent of this paper?

  • What were their methods?

  • What were their results

  • Article discussion and conclusion

• Discussion on practical implications for OTs

  1. Intro to Erika Kemp

  2. How Erika became interested in swim safety

  3. How the OT swim program came to be

  4. Article impressions

  5. How can we educate about water safety without fear mongering?

  6. How is a good fit for this program?

  7. What steps would I need to take to start an OT swim program?

  8. How could this fit in the outpatient setting or a non-profit?

  9. How to promote swim safety for children under 4?

Primary

• Addressing swim safety in autistic children: A pilot feasibility study using aquatic occupational therapy

Additional

• Swimming lessons for children with autism: Parent and teacher experiences

• Prevention of Drowning

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OT Potential's interest in this topic: We have no financial stake in this topic.

Speaker interests: Erika Kemp is lead author of the primary journal article explored in this course. She has no financial interest in this topic to disclose.