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Five Ways Your Autistic Child Will Benefit from Having a Home Swimming Pool
Jacey Martin
Thinking about pool installation? Have a child with autism? Here are five reasons you will love having a pool for your child:
1. Swimming Is a Great Workout
Unfortunately, nearly a quarter of all kids with autism are obese, and over 15 percent of them are overweight. That means kids with Autism are four times more likely to be obese than their peers.
Having a pool at your home gives you and your child a place to work out at home, and if your child is tired of the swing set, the treadmill or walking the dog, a swimming pool may be the perfect way to reinvigorate your child's interest in being active.
2. Swimming Offers Cognitive Benefits
In addition to the physical benefits of swimming, there are cognitive benefits as well. The rhythmic movements involved in swimming can help distract and comfort your child.
If your child engages in a lot of repetitive movements, swimming stimulates the same need. Because of that, regular swimming can even help to lessen repetitive movements in a kid with autism.
3. Your Child Can Have OT Sessions in Your Pool
If you have an occupational therapist come to your home, he or she may be able to move the therapy to the water. In aquatic therapy, OTs use special equipment to create a range of stations where a child can work on all kinds of skills including memory, speech and other cognitive processes.
They can also work on sensory integration with visual, auditory and tactile tools. Many kids find the water soothing for these activities.
4. You Don't Have to Worry about Overwhelming Public Pools
Many autistic kids get the benefit of water by going to public swimming pools or special hospital therapy pools. However, if your child finds those places too bright, the crowds too overwhelming or the acoustics too echoing, he or she may prefer to have that option available at home.
With home pool installation – whether you have an indoor or outdoor pool – you can design your pool so it is a calming and inviting oasis for your child as well as the rest of your family.
5. Swimming Will Become Second Nature to Your Child
Unfortunately, drowning is the number one cause of death in children with autism. Tragically, these children never learn to swim, wander off from home and end up drowning in lakes or ponds. If you have a pool, you can safeguard your child from this risk by ensuring not only that he or she learns to swim but by making swimming completely natural and second nature to him or her.
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