World leaders in inclusive education for those who are neurodiverse or have specific learning needs.
A qualification in Teacher in Swimming and Water Safety (or equivalent in country)
A relevant 4yr therapy degree including Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Exercise Physiotherapy, Speech Pathology, Psychology, BCBA, Behavioural Science, allied health professional, education or social sciences sectors.
Anyone who does not meet these prerequisites, are welcome to undertake Autism Swim’s training and receive Autism Swim’s resources, however will not be considered Autism Swim Approved until one of the above prerequisites is met.
We provide you with a suite of online training modules which you can work through at your own pace. Once the training modules are complete, you are Autism Swim Approved! To maintain your certification, you need to continue to interact with the monthly resources and complete the quarterly quizzes. Scroll down to see an overview of the training modules.
These include visuals, What to do When’s…, skills focuses, tip-sheets, social stories, and an array of other helpful resources designed by our clinical team. You can check out some of the included resources here.
Quizzes every 3 months to ensure your knowledge is up to date and you are understanding the content. Don’t worry, if you don’t pass you can review the training modules and try again!”
Connection with other Autism Swim Approved providers all over the world
We’ll provide you with marketing collateral that you can use to market your Autism Swim Approved status. Marketing resources include access to downloadable posters, AS approved logos, and more!
We’ll list you in our providers listing on our website so that parents and participants can find you!
What is neurodiversity?
What characteristics might we see in our participants who are neurodiverse?
How can we support their needs, preferences and goals?
We discuss the relationship between Aquatics and
Neurodiversity and what adaptations or inclusions
your teaching style may need to assist Neurodiverse
participants to achieve their goals.
What is Positive Behaviour Support? We talk through the most common behaviours that you might see in and around the water with your participants, why they occur, and what positive behaviour support you can employ to offer support.
Effective expressive and receptive communication is at the core of rapport building, skill development and overall session/lesson success. There are so many ways our participants communicate and so many skills YOU can learn, to ensure everyone’s needs are being met. We cover it all in this module.
Drowning looks very different to what the media tells us it does!
We discuss the key points that we need to know in order to identify that an individual is struggling in water.
Nearly three quarters of people on the autism spectrum have another co-occurring condition.
We talk through the most common co-occurring conditions you might see in your participants.
Varying sensory needs will impact not only how your participant is feeling, but their ability to learn.
It is therefore imperative that you feel confident in your knowledge of what sensory needs may present themselves, and what strategies you can employ to support the varying sensory profiles and needs of participants.
Wandering (also known as absconding, fleeing or elopement) is much more likely to occur in certain population groups that we support. It’s often step one in the drowning process. As such, it’s so important that everyone understands how this can be prevented, and what information everyone involved needs to know.
Working with children as well as those with a disability means two vulnerable population groups at once.
You therefore may need to reconsider your current policies and whether they address all possible risks.
Building rapport is often incredibly rushed, or even overlooked entirely. It is a vital part of engaging with your participant and helping them achieve their aquatic goals. Let’s break down the process into more detail.
What are sensory breaks, why do we use them and how do we incorporate them into our sessions?
In order for our participants to receive the therapeutic benefits of water, we need to clearly understand what we’re striving for, including using the right terminology.
Let’s hear from the experts in terms of what they focus on and the key considerations when teaching new skills to our participants; ensuring their needs, preferences and goals are at the forefront.
This obviously needs to be a huge focus especially with anxiety levels and sensory challenges being so prominent in many of our participants. Here we talk through specific drills and reasons for each of these.
When and how do we transition our participants who are having 1:1 sessions to small groups?
Is this the goal for everyone?
By now, you will have the visual scheduling basics.
However, we build upon these with additional considerations and preferred to non-preferred ratio.
Progress is going to look different for all participants. How do we set goals, measure progress and report on this progress, in a way that works for everyone’s needs?
As Water Safety is one of our three focus areas, it’s essential that we target these in our sessions, and know how to do so in ways that are most conducive to how our participants learn. Remember, water safety needs to be a goal before learn to swim is.
It’s important that we hear from both providers and parents.
In this module we share some case studies to hear the learnings of others.
One of the most common challenges that our participants face is maintaining engagement levels.
In this module you will learn specific strategies for how to increase and maintain engagement in your sessions.
This module provides tips and strategies to support you in working with adults, as well in-depth tips on session plan considerations.
This module expands on understanding the impact of sensory processing on learning, and identifies tools that can be used in a sensory toolkit to meet the needs of all participants.
This module covers what self-regulation is, an introduction to cognitive tools that assist participants in increasing their own self-regulation capacities and how to incorporate this in an individualised way.
Breaking down a task analysis and explanation of the ‘Just Right Challenge’, as well as relevant examples of how to incorporate this in sessions in a practical way.
Helpful tips and the importance of stress management and practical strategies to ensure maintenance of self-care.
The importance of early intervention will be reinforced, and the key elements of an early intervention will be reinforced, and the key elements of an early intervention aquatic session will be broken down and thoroughly explained.
The benefits of group work, the skills required to best enables participation in a group setting and how to address individual goals and concerns within a group setting.
An in-depth look at dyspraxia and ADHD, and how these conditions may impact our participants in sessions. Also covering ways in which we can support them to enable success.
What perfectionism is, and what it might look like in the water, as well as the best ways to support these participants.
10 helpful strategies to best market your service.
