[blindkid] swimming lessons

[Barbara Hammel]

First teach her how to hold her breath out of the water so she knows what 
that means.  I went to a class with one of my friend's little girls and what 
they did was blow in the child's face to make them intake and then pushed 
the head under water for a brief instant.
Barbara

...
Yesterday is
A path well-trod,
A familiar lane
Through sacred sod,
A road we travel
Too often, I fear,
For there are the good times
When things are hard here,
...

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Kathy B" <burgawicki at yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2010 7:08 AM
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [blindkid] swimming lessons

> She loves the water and is pretty comfortable in a pool.  My big thing is 
> how to teach her to hold her breath underwater.
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Heather <craney07 at rochester.rr.com>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)" 
> <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Mon, May 31, 2010 10:47:12 PM
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] swimming lessons
>
> Be aware and make the swim instructor aware that reluctance to put her 
> head in the water might be due in part to her ears filling with water and 
> thereby having her hearing and therefore her sense of dirrection severely 
> limited until she learns techniques for trailing a lane marker or the 
> wall.  Also if you will be inside, echoey pool rooms are horribly 
> disorienting and loud, so she might need smaller group lessons or one to 
> one lessons if this becomes a problem for her.  Try to embrace strokes 
> like the doggy paddle or breast stroke where her hands are always in front 
> of her, so that she doesn't run into the wall or a lane marker.  It won't 
> hurt her badly, but if she is just learning in deep water and bumps into 
> something and loses her momentum and starts to sink and panicks it could 
> startle her very badly.  I have seen that in a lot of blind children, who 
> are progressing like pros, then something like that happens and they back 
> slide for a week or two's
> worth of progress.  If she will be using some sort of bubble or floaties, 
> be aware of how they limit her ability to explore with her arms, as 
> feeling constrained might be problematic.  Most people naturally learn how 
> not to get water up their nose or in their eyes where it hurts like hell 
> and can over time do damage, but not being able to see a friend coming up 
> to dunk you in play, or not seeing a splash coming can foil this 
> instinctual reaction, and therefore it is important to watch her reactions 
> and see if something like this is happening before her reaction manifests 
> as fear or anger.  I hope that helps.  I'm sure you will both have a lot 
> of fun.
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kathy B" <burgawicki at yahoo.com>
> To: <BVI-Parents at yahoogroups.com>; <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, May 31, 2010 1:58 PM
> Subject: [blindkid] swimming lessons
>
>
>> Hi All-
>>
>> My daughter Addison is four and is starting swimming lessons tomorrow. 
>> She's totally blind.  Do any of you have any advice or suggestions that 
>> would help with her or the instructor?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Kathy
>>
>>
>>
>>
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