It is finally up and running!

The swimming pool is finally up and full of water, it has seemed like a never ending process since taking the pool down last year for our house renovations.  When we took the 20 year old above ground pool down last year we noticed rust at the bottom of the pool preventing it from being reinstalled.  Having had a pool for the last 20 years has been a huge benefit to our family so we decided to replace it.  We were fortunate enough to find a new pool on clearance at the end of last summer that was much larger than the previous pool.  The new pool being much larger wouldn't fit in the same location which meant moving our playground and all the pea gravel and prepping the ground for the pool.  Thankfully one of our sons took it upon himself to move the entire dump truck load of sand and prep the area for the pool.  Setting up the pool did not go quite as planned, my husband has set up a few round pools and felt the oval pool would be similar, IT'S NOT!! The first go around setting up the pool, at a critical part of the installation my husband was attacked by horseflies, in which part of his reaction was letting go of the pool walls and them falling.  The second go around things just wouldn't line up and the third go around the walls were up.  Following the directions for installing the pool liner resulted in the pool collapsing when we had water delivered.  After googling liner installation it was determined the liner was to be installed a different way than described in the instructions.  Not being able to get the liner tight enough and the mounting frustrations we decided to call in a "pool guy".  For starters when you hire a "pool guy" they don't look like any pool guy you ever see on tv.  Secondly although they did a wonderful job of getting our pool ready for water we feel they ripped us off terribly.  They insisted on us paying cash, charging us $200 plus dollars per hour the only fortunate part is that it's up and the frustrations felt by everyone involved are resolved.

The pool has been providing wonderful therapy benefits for the children.  The number one relief is the 7 kids with seizure disorders are able to cool down during the current heat wave limiting their seizures and we are able to closely monitor them while in the pool when it's just us.  Going to the beach or a public pool with 7 kids experiencing seizures and 1 adult just isn't viable.  One of our children with autism has been so engaged when in the pool, interacting and giving excellent eye contact that we have been working on her therapy homework/goals while in the pool and getting tremendous results.  The children with mobility issues have been experiencing great freedom and mobility in the water.  We have multiple balls and toys in the pool encouraging the children to reach for toys, kick or toss balls etc to build strength, enhance body awareness and increase their gross motor skills.    I have read that water provides 30x more pressure on the body than air and we have noticed that it has a huge regulating benefits to our children with sensory issues.

Success at Swimming with Sensory Stimulation

Shopping at Costco recently I came across swimsuits that are perfect for my daughters who have sensory issues and still wear diapers.  The best part is they only cost $15, not an extreme "special needs" price.  Finding swimsuits that work for special needs can be a challenge and coming across these for such a reasonable price was enough to make me do a "happy dance".

I love these swimsuits because they are 2 piece making it easier for the girls to pull the bottoms down when we are working on toileting and the fact that the shorts style modestly covers their diaper.  The short sleeve surfer style shirts are snug and calming, stylish and also provide UV protection when in the sun, which is huge for my very fair skinned children.  The boys also wear surfer style shirts to help them with calming along with their swim shorts.

The new swimsuits got me thinking about swimming and the many challenges for children with sensory issues and other special needs.  It seems like my bunch want to make sure we experience it all when it comes to swimming challenges so I have had to come up with some ways to deal with things.

So much motor planning is required for swimming and when this is a difficulty you may need to find an instructor who can break down the strokes and teach in a way that your child learns.  Private lessons may be required as a group lesson may just be too much.  For us we have been doing weekly private lessons for the last year and a half and for some the progress is extremely slow.

I don't know about you but I find swimming pools to be extremely loud quite often and the experience can sometimes be overwhelming.  The running, squealing, splashing and the noise of all the water features can be a lot for people with auditory and visual processing challenges.  When we go swimming we try to find quiet times to avoid a lot of the additional stimulation but have found ear plugs for swimming and goggles that are tinted can also be helpful for these situations.

The temperature of the water can also be a challenge, quite often my kids are happy in the tot pool as it's warmer than the main pool which is often too cold for them.  Also getting their face wet is a big challenge for a couple of the children, so we play a lot of games working up to this and hoping to desensitize them both at the pool and in the bathtub at home.

If we are swimming anywhere but the pool, water shoes are also required, if I want the child to move at all.  I confess, for my child that is extremely busy and likes to run, it is a benefit him having these issues as it tends to slow him down.  The textures on their feet walking on sand or rocks is enough to put an end to the day for the others.

Another issue can be the chlorine that they treat the water with, the smell and the way that it effects their eyes can really make some people uncomfortable.  One solution is finding a pool that treats their water with ozone as opposed to chlorine.