Caregiver education handout re: swim safety for autistic children.
Submitted by: Alana Woolley
Setting of intended use: Early intervention and pediatric settings.
What inspired this resource:
This fact sheet was inspired by this OT Potential episode, as well as the need for more awareness around drowning risks for autistic children and what caregivers can do to promote water safety.
How is it utilized:
The handout can be printed or shared digitally with relevant caregivers of pediatric clients. Practitioners should be prepared to discuss water safety risks and prevention with caregivers, and be knowledgeable about available community resources for adapted swimming lessons.
What evidence supports it?
This resource is adapted from recommendations from this article: Kemp, E., Woodson, R., & Baldino, M. (2023). Addressing swim safety in autistic children: A pilot feasibility study using aquatic occupational therapy. 9 International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education, 14(1).
Any instructions or tips for utilization:
The printable version of this handout includes a second page with additional informational resources. The digital version includes inline links to the same resources.
@alana1 Thank you so much for creating this! @erika6 I’m curious what your thoughts are! Does it seem helpful? Would you change anything? (Alana got to listen to the episode early and created this from it…)
I think my only slight wording change would be to say swim instruction vs. swim lessons. Some kids need a different structure/style of instruction than a typical ‘lesson’ would give.
Oohhh! That is great, @erika6! I was just listening to the podcast again, and thinking how important it is to use langague to reflect the individualized approach that OTs can take even as the follow the overall flow of a curriculum. @alana do you want to make that change and re-upload it?
thanks for sharing these handouts. so timely and important! just a suggestion–put the names of who developed these handouts somewhere on them-- important to give them credit as they are shared and circulated .
Patricia
That is such a good idea, @patricia12! @alana1 Let’s talk today about what that could look like! I think the year is also important, in the future people can quickly see how recent the information is.
