Each month, the students in Streetsboro Elementary School’s Multiple Disabilities classrooms head off campus for a unique learning experience, a morning of swimming at Happy Days in Ravenna. The new initiative, launched this fall, brings all three classrooms together on the first Friday of each month to spend an hour in the pool, where lessons extend well beyond the water.
The program was inspired by a similar effort that began last year at Henry Defer Intermediate School. For students with multiple disabilities, the swim days provide opportunities to practice a range of important life skills for water safety and recreation to transportation routines and adaptive tasks such as changing clothes.
“We started this program to help students learn skills like water safety, recreation, and independence,” said Streetsboro Elementary Intervention Specialist Jessica Hessel. “It’s also very beneficial for students who have gross motor impairments or sensory processing difficulties, since the water can be so regulating for them.”
Although the program is still new at Streetsboro Elementary, the impact is already clear. Several students get very excited when they know it is swim day. Others are still learning to connect the swimming icon on their visual schedules with what it means, but she expects that understanding will grow as the program continues.
For many students, the pool offers a safe place to take small steps toward confidence and independence. Hessel recalled one instance from the first session when a student who was initially nervous about the water overcame his hesitation. With a little encouragement and her support, he eventually got in and ended up having a great time.
The program ties in perfectly with their ongoing efforts to help students become more independent in their daily routines. “Before and after swimming, our students are working on changing their own clothes at whatever level they might be at,” said Hessel. “We put a great emphasis on independence with adaptive skills, and this is the cherry on top.”
“I want people to know how capable and fun we are,” said Hessel. “These kids sometimes don't have the opportunity to go out into the community as much as their peers, but through working on skills with adult support, they can be very successful.”
The monthly swim day is one way that Streetsboro educators are meeting students where they are and helping them build the confidence and skills they need to succeed.