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Adapted Aquatics Programming
A Professional Guide
by Monica Lepore, G. William Gayle and Shawn Stevens
368 Pages
The second edition of Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide
-clarifies rationales for adapted aquatics programming,
-broadens the scope of and enriches traditional programs for people with disabilities,
-guides instructors in improving teaching methods and safety management, and
-educates professionals on providing safe and effective adapted aquatics programs.
The second edition of Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide is packed with new material, including up-to-date information on relevant legislation, guidelines on architectural accessibility, instructional strategies, equipment, safety management, and competitive and recreational aquatics activities.
This comprehensive resource is a significant addition to the aquatics literature, providing a practical learning tool for the field. The authors infuse each chapter with specific techniques as well as rationales for adapted aquatics programming. They also provide readers with
-best practices in adapted aquatics programming,
-a description of the scope of traditional adapted programs with enrichment ideas,
-guidance in improving teaching methods and safety management, and
-instruction in providing safe and effective adapted aquatics programs.
Adapted Aquatics Programming, Second Edition, contains a wealth of references, practical tips, and safety precautions. It includes a number of new features, including photographs and diagrams, life-experience scenarios that provide a reference point for the chapter ahead, and an objectives list for each chapter. It also offers ideas for using equipment and includes information about competitive and recreational aquatics activities.
In part I, the authors explore foundational issues of adapted aquatics, including models of collaboration, inclusion, planning, program development, facilities, equipment, and supplies. In part II they lay out instructional strategies and detail how to build safe and effective programs. They also look at the specific needs of program participants and issues related to aquatic fitness and rehabilitation. In part III they provide information on enhancing a program conducting competitive and recreational activities.
Founded on action-based research and current thinking, laws, and practices, Adapted Aquatics Programming, Second Edition, offers a practical approach to adapted aquatics, providing much-needed information on adapting the environment, equipment, instructional strategies, skill techniques, and teaching methods for people with disabilities. This text fills the need for a source of current best practices in adapted aquatics programming.
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I. Foundations of Adapted Aquatics
Chapter 1. Introduction to Adapted Aquatics
Evolution of Adapted Aquatics
Legislation for Individuals With Disabilities
Benefits of Aquatics Participation
Applications of Aquatics Participation
Summary
Chapter 1 Review
Chapter 2. Models of Collaboration in Adapted Aquatics
Models for Adapted Aquatics
Medical-Therapeutic Model
Educational Model
Recreation Model
Transdisciplinary Model
Summary
Chapter 2 Review
Chapter 3. Inclusion and the Least-Restrictive Environment
Placement, Inclusion, and the LRE
Continuum of Placements
Prerequisites to Successful Inclusion
Developing and Maintaining Successful Inclusion Groups
Using Activities to Facilitate Inclusion
Summary
Chapter 3 Review
Chapter 4. Individualized Instructional Planning
Planning for Assessment
Developing the IEP or IAPP
Implementing the IEP or IAPP
Summary
Chapter 4 Review
Chapter 5. Program and Organization Development
Organizational Foundations
Communications and Promotion
Financial Development
Facilities Acquisition
Risk Management
Program Development and Evaluation
Human Resource Management
Summary
Chapter 5 Review
Chapter 6. Facilities, Equipment, and Supplies
Facilities
Equipment and Supplies
Summary
Chapter 6 Review
Part II. Facilitating Instruction
Chapter 7. Prerequisites to Safe, Successful, and Rewarding Programs
Essential Communication Skills
Transferring Techniques
Participant Care and Safety
Hydrodynamics
Positioning and Supporting Participants
Summary
Chapter 7 Review
Chapter 8. Instructional Strategies
The Learning Process
Teaching, Facilitating, and Guiding Participants
Addressing Problem Behaviors
Summary
Chapter 8 Review
Chapter 9. Specific Needs of Adapted Aquatics Participants
Definitions of Common Disabilities in Adapted Aquatics
Commonly Seen Attributes of Learners in Adapted Aquatics
Atlantoaxial Instability
Attention Deficit
Auditory Perception Disorder
Autonomic Dysreflexia or Hyperreflexia
Balance Disorder
Brittle Bones
Cardiovascular Disorder
Circulatory Disorder
Contractures and Limitations to Range of Motion
Hearing Loss: Deafness and Hard of Hearing
Hearing Loss: Deafblindness
Head Control Difficulty
High Muscle Tone
Hyperactivity
Interaction Difficulty
Joint Dysfunction
Kinesthetic System Disorder
Memory and Understanding Difficulty
Multisensory Loss
Oral Motor Dysfunction
Paralysis, Paresis, and Atrophy
Posture Disorder
Primitive Reflex Retention
Proprioceptive Disorder
Range of Motion Dysfunction
Receptive or Expressive Language Disorder
Respiratory Disorder
Seizure Disorder
Tactile System Disorder
Temperature Regulation Disorder
Vestibular System Disorder
Visual Impairment
Visual Perception Disorder
Summary
Chapter 9 Review
Chapter 10. Aquatic Fitness and Rehabilitation
Health-Related Physical Fitness and Aquatic Exercise
Physical Conditions and Tips for Aquatic Rehabilitation
Summary
Chapter 10 Review
Part III. Program Enhancement
Chapter 11. Adapted Aquatics Program Selection
Program Environments
Program Purpose
Types of Participation
Nationally Sponsored Adapted Aquatics Programs
Summary
Chapter 11 Review
Chapter 12. Competitive and Recreational Activities
Effect of Legislation on Aquatics Participation
Competitive Swimming for Individuals With Disabilities
Equitable Competition and Classification
Coaching Swimmers With Disabilities
Recreational Aquatic Activities
Summary
Chapter 12 Review
Appendix A Adapted Aquatics Position Paper of the Aquatic Council: AAALF and AAHPERD
Appendix B Assessment Forms
Appendix C Games and Activities for Various Age Groups
Appendix D Information-Gathering Forms
Appendix E Adapted Aquatics Program Resources
Appendix F AAPAR Levels of Adapted Aquatics Credentials
Glossary
References
Index
About the Authors
Monica Lepore, EdD, is a professor at West Chester University of Pennsylvania in West Chester. A master teacher of adapted aquatics, Dr. Lepore has been an American Red Cross water safety instructor for more than 25 years. She has a degree in leadership in adapted physical education and was a recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame Adapted Aquatics Award in 2001. In 2006 she was named AAHPERD/AAPAR Adapted Physical Education Professional of the Year, and she has been on the Top 100 Aquatics Professionals list twice. She acted as chair for AAHPERD/AAPAR adapted aquatics from 2000 to 2005 and received a Meritorious Award from the Aquatic Council of AAHPERD/AAPAR in 2005. In her leisure time, Dr. Lepore enjoys swimming, biking, and hiking.
G. William Gayle, PhD, CAPE, is a professor and coordinator of adapted physical education at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. A master teacher of adapted aquatics, Dr. Gayle has been an American Red Cross water safety instructor for over 20 years. He holds degrees from Virginia Tech and University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse and a doctorate in adapted physical education and psychology of mental retardation and developmental disabilities from Ohio State University. In 1988 he was inducted into the Ohio Wheelchair Sports Hall of Fame. He served on the AAHPERD/AAPAR adapted aquatics committee from 2000 to 2005. In 2006 he was inducted into the National Wheelchair Basketball Association Intercollegiate Division Hall of Fame and selected as Teacher of the Year in the College of Education and Human Services at Wright State University. He has provided adapted aquatics programs for university students and surrounding school districts for several decades. In his leisure time, he enjoys golfing, swimming, and traveling internationally.
Shawn F. Stevens, EdD, is executive director of Edgemoor Community Center in Wilmington, Delaware. Dr. Stevens has been an American Red Cross instructor trainer for water safety, lifeguarding, first aid, CPR, and AED for 25 years, and he was an adapted aquatics instructor trainer for 18 years. Overall, he has provided leadership in conducting aquatics programs for 30 years, and he assisted with the development of the ADA Accommodation Resource Guide for the American Red Cross. In his spare time, he serves as a volunteer instructor trainer and leadership volunteer for the American Red Cross, and he also enjoys golfing and swimming.
Legislation increases aquatics opportunities for individuals with disabilities
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community.
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community. In addition, legislation has created funding opportunities to subsidize local and state fiscal concerns for renovating existing structures and constructing new facilities. Individuals with disabilities not only are more visible but also are more vocal, as the laws have empowered them to make their own decisions and achieve greater independence. The motto "nothing about us, without us" has resulted in individuals with disabilities demanding more stringent laws and landmark access decisions. As accommodating people with disabilities is a rapidly developing area of the law, programs should seek professional advice as to current regulations and allowable exceptions.
Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 and Rehabilitation Act of 1973
In 1968, the U.S. Congress passed the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA), which required U.S. buildings and facilities to be accessible if they were designed, built, or altered with certain federal funds or if they were leased for occupancy by federal agencies (www.access-board.gov/ada-aba/index.htm). In 1973, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act was enacted. It mandated that all programs and facilities receiving federal support must be made accessible to individuals with disabilities. Consequently, federally funded organizations removed architectural barriers to people with disabilities and the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board developed accessibility codes. Many services became available for the first time to people with disabilities. For example, federally funded organizations made parking spaces, bathrooms, university classrooms, government offices, and recreational facilities accessible. Specific to aquatics, all federally funded facilities had to make their pools accessible through such means as hydraulic lifts or sloped entries (figure 1.4).
Individuals With Disabilities Education Act
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) began as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975. This federal legislation continued the thrust of the ABA and the Rehabilitation Act in integrating individuals with disabilities into society. It mandated free and appropriate public education, including special education, in the least-restrictive environment. As stated in the U.S. Federal Register, a government publication that contains regulations pertaining to laws, special education is defined as instruction that is specially designed to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities. This instruction includes physical education. Physical education is defined as
(I) the development of: (A) physical and motor fitness; (B) fundamental motor skills and patterns; and (C) instruction in aquatics, dance, individual and group games, and sports (including intramural and lifetime sports). (Federal Register, 1977a)
Including aquatics in the definition of physical education provides schools with the option of including swimming in the curriculum for students with disabilities (figure 1.5) and gives families the right to access school swimming programs in which children without disabilities are granted instruction.
Another important aspect of this law is the Individualized Education Program (IEP), which helps to make a child's education appropriate. This document, assembled by educators, related service professionals, and parents, plots the goals a student is expected to accomplish within the educational environment as well as the steps necessary to achieve these goals. Small group instruction, one-on-one assistants, and modifications to the general curriculum may be spelled out in the IEP. If aquatics is not specifically mentioned on the IEP, it is not a required school service.
It would be remiss to mention Public Law (PL) 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, without discussing some of its important amendments and reauthorizations: PL 99-457, PL 101-476, PL 105-17, and PL 108-446 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Inprovement Act, or IDEIA). PL 99-457, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (reauthorization of 1980), expanded the age range covered by the law from 3 to 21 to include infants and toddlers from birth to 3 years old. Accordingly, parents of young children with disabilities and personnel of early intervention programs may seek community aquatics programs as appropriate motor activities for young children. By becoming familiar with these laws, you can better meet the special needs of infants and toddlers with disabilities.
You should also be familiar with the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), which was a result of PL 99-457. The IFSP contains individual goals, objectives, and methods for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their family and service providers. Some tips for working with children under 3 years old are given on page 63.
PL 101-476, IDEA, was enacted in 1990 as an amendment to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. PL 101-476 changed the term handicapped to individuals with disabilities, added autism and traumatic brain injury as disability categories, and stressed the importance of transitional services within the IEP. Thus, the IEP must now include goals, objectives, and a plan for the transition into the community. This plan, called the Individualized Transition Plan, projects what skills participants should have when they leave the school. Transition refers to crossing the gaps (a) between infant, toddler, and preschool programs and school programs and (b) between high school programs and lifetime pursuits. As an aquatics instructor in a school or community facility, you might be called on to contribute to such a plan, especially for a young adult. Seize these opportunities whenever possible. After all, what better lifetime recreational pursuit is there than aquatics?
PL 105-17 and PL 108-446 were the IDEA amendments and reauthorizations of 1997 and 2004. PL 105-17 extended developmental delay to ages 3 to 9 years (you can now place preschool and elementary school children within this disability category rather than just infants and toddlers). PL 108-446 slightly modified the benchmark and objectives section of the IEP and emphasized that highly qualified professionals provide service to students with disabilities. It also added Tourette's syndrome to the list of other health impairments for students who are considered to have a disability.
The laws thus far described in this section focused on school or federally funded programs and buildings. The Americans with Disabilities Act, described in the next section, has implications for all school and community, public, and private facilities that are open to the public.
Americans With Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), PL 101-336, was passed in 1990 and mandated the elimination of discrimination against 54 million American citizens with disabilities. Its standards are enforced by the federal government (Center for an Accessible Society, 2004). The ADA has widespread implications for almost every area of life in the United States, including recreation and aquatics. The law makes illegal all discrimination based on disability and provides for access to the goods and services of the United States. It covers employment, public services, transportation, public accommodations, services of private entities, telecommunications, and activities of state and local governments (www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/ pubs/ada.txt). The section of the ADA dealing with public accommodations (Title III) has the greatest effect on aquatics participation by individuals with disabilities. The specific terminology and intent of Title III clearly apply to the aquatic realm. In the following sections, we'll look closely at the specific terminology of this all-encompassing law and then summarize its minimum requirements.
Qualified Individual
The U.S. Congress adopted the definition of disability first used in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Federal Register, 1991). The law defines a qualified individual as a person with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of life's major activities (www.ada.gov). Major life activities include self-care, manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working. Individuals with mobility or sensory impairments, mental retardation, and other mental and physical impairments as well as those with hidden disabilities such as diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, heart disease, mental illness, and HIV are all covered by this law. In addition, the law includes people who have a previous record of having an impairment (e.g., cancer in remission) and people perceived by others as disabled, such as those who are HIV positive but asymptomatic (Scott, 1990).
In Title III, a qualified person is one who meets the ADA definition of being a person with a disability and who has the prerequisite skills for participation in a given physical activity (Dummer, 2003a). An individual assessment of skills is the gold standard for determining who is a qualified person under Title III. Some experts use an informed consent document to advise participants of the risks of a physical activity if an individual assessment is impossible (Dummer, 2003a).
Reasonable Accommodation
Although reasonable accommodation is not firmly defined in the ADA, experts consider it to be an action that provides access to individuals with disabilities by modifying previous policies, procedures, and practices. The law specifically addresses discrimination in public accommodations and in services operated by private entities. An organization cannot exclude a person from participating in services, programs, or activities solely because of her disability. If the person is otherwise qualified for a reasonable accommodation, then an organization, school, place of business, or community agency must allow the individual access to the programs and facilities (Sullivan, Lantz, & Zirkel, 2000). The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted reasonable accommodations as those that do not require organizations "to lower or to effect substantial modifications of standards to accommodate" students with disabilities (Southeastern Community College v. Davis, 1979, p. 413) and that do not "impose undue financial and administrative burdens or require a fundamental alteration in the nature of the program" (School Board of Nassau County v. Arline, 1987).
There are certain exceptions to having to provide reasonable accommodations that must be judged one case at a time. Some exceptions include the following:
- When an individual does not meet the criteria of a qualified person with a disability
- When an individual does not meet the qualifications to participate in the activity (i.e., a time cut in the swim trials)
- When an individual's participation creates reasonable probability of substantial risk to himself or others
- When program modifications significantly alter the primary purpose of the set aquatics program (e.g., a competitive diving meet may not be able to reasonably accommodate a person with atlantoaxial instability, for whom diving is contraindicated)
Must-read materials on this subject include the article "Reasonable Accommodations for Swimmers with Disabilities" by Gail Dummer in Palaestra (Dummer, 2003a, pp. 44-45) and the article "Leveling the Playing Field or Leveling the Players? Section 504, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Interscholastic Sports" in the Journal of Special Education (Sullivan et al., 2000).
The way to make modifications and reasonable accommodations depends on many variables, such as the specific disability issues for each person, the programs and facilities that the person wants to access, the amount of time given to make the accommodation, the dollar amount of the accommodation, and the amount of support in the program and facility administration. These variables may affect the method that a pool operator uses to make a change for a given participant, but the pool operator must make accommodations no matter what the variables.
The spirit of the ADA suggests that we should do what we can to allow people with disabilities to participate as much as possible in a given program while ensuring the safety of all participants and maintaining the intent of the program. The safety of all participants is an important concept in the aquatic realm. While some program accommodations might seem reasonable to a participant with a disability, a safety rule might prevent these accommodations. You need to judge whether the rule is for the actual safety of participants and cannot be modified or whether it is in place for crowd control. For example, a person who uses a prosthetic limb might want to remove her prosthesis in the locker room and then hop to the pool edge, but doing so would be a safety hazard because of wet pool decks. Making an accommodation such as providing a sitting bench close to the steps or poolside would allow this person to use her prosthesis while approaching the pool edge and it would also give her a place to keep it dry while she is swimming.
Sometimes the aquatics staff may be unsure of what to do about a request for an accommodation or may believe that the accommodation is unreasonable. The staff may feel that the participant is not appropriate for the program or class for which the accommodation is being requested due to a lack of prerequisites or that the request is outside of the realm of the class or program. An example of this is a person who has Down syndrome with atlantoaxial instability who wishes to dive but because of the instability in the cervical area of his neck is not allowed to dive. His family applied to a diving camp and asked for reasonable accommodations for the child. They stated that the child could learn the basics of the approach, hurdle, and streamlined entry with a jump. While the spirit of the ADA suggests that using a jump as a modification to a dive might be possible, an accommodation does not need to be made if it subverts the fundamental nature of the activity. Diving is diving, not jumping. In good faith, the child could be served if he understands that he is not allowed to dive, but as a person with cognitive involvement who may make a poor decision and try to dive from the board, it is not in his best interest to be at this camp.
Courts consider it discrimination to place a person in a segregated aquatics program based on her disability rather than on her ability. This means that a facility cannot offer a person with a disability only the segregated, adapted program. The segregated program may be the one that is chosen by the participant, caregivers, and aquatics instructor, but stereotyping an individual and forcing her to accept an adapted program is not permissible. One of the purposes of the ADA is to integrate individuals with disabilities into the mainstream of society. Therefore, the staff of each facility needs to assess program admission policies, looking for possible barriers to participation. Some examples of reasonable accommodations in aquatics programs include the following:
- Providing flotation devices for individuals who cannot stand on the bottom of the pool while they wait for instructions during swim lessons (e.g., for people with paraplegia or dwarfism)
- Allowing a person who has a urine bag to wear long, baggy shorts over the swimsuit to avoid embarrassment
- Allowing an aide to participate, at no additional cost, with an individual who needs support
- Providing a water chair and incorporating arm movements into water aerobic classes for people with lower-body impairments
- Designating an area on deck for guide dogs, crutches, wheelchairs, and other mobility equipment
- Installing nonskid carpet from the shower area to the pool ladder for individuals who need such help for balance, crutch traction, orientation, or mobility
- Providing auxiliary aids and services, such as alternative formats (e.g., braille, computer disk), for registrations, handouts, and certificates
- Providing family and caregiver restrooms and changing areas for caregivers of the opposite gender so that they are able to provide assistance
- Removing requirements that discriminate, such as a height requirement of being able to stand on the bottom of the pool, which individuals who use wheelchairs or have dwarfism may not be able to meet
It is not acceptable to claim the inconvenience or inaccessibility of a facility as an inhibitor to participation. You cannot claim that a program is unavailable because the staff is untrained. Further, your program must avoid barriers of omission, or overlooking the special needs of certain individuals. An example of omission is circulating a program flyer that does not include accessibility information and therefore will not attract individuals with disabilities. The ADA supports that a program should have an attitude of accessibility and should seek knowledge of how to serve individuals with disabilities.
Undue Hardship
An undue hardship defines situations in which trying to accommodate an individual or to provide general access would lead to profound costs or difficulty for an organization in respect to its size and financial resources. A small nonprofit organization, for example, might have such a narrow pool deck that it cannot fit a transfer lift into the area to make it accessible. To make the necessary accommodations, this organization would need to build a new addition, knocking down the wall to extend the deck. The organization may, in this case, plead undue hardship, although "federal tax credits and deductions are available to private entities for architectural barrier removal in existing facilities. Federal funds are also available through the Community Development Block Grant Program to remove barriers in existing facilities. Entities requesting guidance on their obligations for existing facilities should contact the Department of Justice" (www.access-board.gov). Organizations that believe that their financial situation would be overwhelmed by the cost of complying with the law can apply for an exception to the law and show how the modifications pose an undue financial burden. In many cases, however, organizations can make reasonable accommodations.
Readily Accessible
The ADA law uses the phrase readily accessible to describe a facility that is easily and immediately usable-in other words, a facility in which a person with a disability can move around and use well (Scott, 1990). A readily accessible aquatics facility is one that already has ample parking for people with disabilities, an easily identifiable route into the facility, pools with handrails and ramps, braille signs, family restrooms, and usable lifts or movable pool floors.
Readily Achievable
Readily achievable refers to the ease with which a facility can remove a barrier. If the barrier can be removed easily, it is considered readily achievable. Examples of readily achievable modifications that an aquatics facility can make include removing bolted-down benches and lowering hooks in locker rooms, purchasing a Transfer Tier for getting into the pool, printing aquatics manuals in braille, removing concrete door risers between shower and locker areas, and removing footbath or water-collection troughs on decks or in showers.
Minimum Requirements
The ADA has changed the face of architecture in the United States and has allowed persons with disabilities to access previously inaccessible areas and programs. So why are there still questions about what the ADA does and does not mandate after years of its existence? It is because every facility has its own unique issues. The ADA standards of 2004 eliminated some of the uncertainty that surrounded what is and what is not accessible in relation to pools. These new amendments to the original guidelines include specifics for swimming pools, wading pools, and spas.
The ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) set the standard that is applied to buildings and facilities. They address only the built environment (structures and grounds). Reasonable accommodation in operational issues, procedures, and policies is not addressed in the ADAAG, but is a more nebulous area that relies on the spirit of the law and is not written in black and white. Best practice emerges from possible court decisions and standard of care in relation to health and safety practices. Program issues revolve around what is reasonable in reasonable accommodations, which is what the law intends for public accommodations in your aquatics facility. While the law attempts to level the playing field for persons with disabilities, providing them with equal accessibility to (in our case) aquatics programs, what is reasonable may differ from pool to pool, depending on the program. However, the ADA asks us to adapt our policies, facilities, and programs so that people with disabilities can participate with people without disabilities in mainstream American life.
To meet all pertinent legislation, where should you start? The first item on your list of things to do is to obtain a copy of Accessible Swimming Pools and Spas: A Summary of Accessibility Guidelines for Recreation Facilities, a manual published by the United States Access Board (2003). You may either download it (www.access-board.gov) or send for it by mail (1331 F Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20004-1111). This manual will guide you through the specific guidelines that were published in the Federal Register at 67 FR 56352 on September 3, 2002, and summarizes the applicable issues published later in the July 23, 2004, Federal Register. The accessibility guidelines are for newly constructed and altered recreation facilities, including swimming pools, wading pools, and spas. The manual also includes information on wave-action pools, leisure rivers, and sand-bottom pools. For a summary of these minimum requirements, see the sidebar Accessibility Guidelines for Swimming Pools on this page.
You may be wondering how much a pool has to be altered in order for the work to be deemed an alteration by the ADA. Alterations are changes that affect the usability of a pool and are not just "safe maintenance" type of work (Peggy Greenwell, personal communication, April 26, 2004). The Access Board addresses the issue of accessibility for existing recreation facilities on its Web site (www.access-board.gov/recreation/final.htm) and in the Federal Register dated September 3, 2002. In summary, Title II of the ADA obliges state and local governments providing recreation facilities and Title III obliges private entities providing recreation facilities to remove architectural barriers in existing facilities where it is readily achievable. Existing pools have an obligation to the U.S. Justice Department to remove barriers over time to provide access.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming, Second Edition.
Careful instruction lessens chance of immature skills in individuals with ADD
ADD is a common condition in children. Use these tips to ensure the safety of participants and to create a rich learning experience.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.
Monica Lepore discusses how she got into the field of adapted aquatics
Monica Lepore is the author of Advanced Aquatics Programming.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.
Legislation increases aquatics opportunities for individuals with disabilities
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community.
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community. In addition, legislation has created funding opportunities to subsidize local and state fiscal concerns for renovating existing structures and constructing new facilities. Individuals with disabilities not only are more visible but also are more vocal, as the laws have empowered them to make their own decisions and achieve greater independence. The motto "nothing about us, without us" has resulted in individuals with disabilities demanding more stringent laws and landmark access decisions. As accommodating people with disabilities is a rapidly developing area of the law, programs should seek professional advice as to current regulations and allowable exceptions.
Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 and Rehabilitation Act of 1973
In 1968, the U.S. Congress passed the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA), which required U.S. buildings and facilities to be accessible if they were designed, built, or altered with certain federal funds or if they were leased for occupancy by federal agencies (www.access-board.gov/ada-aba/index.htm). In 1973, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act was enacted. It mandated that all programs and facilities receiving federal support must be made accessible to individuals with disabilities. Consequently, federally funded organizations removed architectural barriers to people with disabilities and the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board developed accessibility codes. Many services became available for the first time to people with disabilities. For example, federally funded organizations made parking spaces, bathrooms, university classrooms, government offices, and recreational facilities accessible. Specific to aquatics, all federally funded facilities had to make their pools accessible through such means as hydraulic lifts or sloped entries (figure 1.4).
Individuals With Disabilities Education Act
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) began as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975. This federal legislation continued the thrust of the ABA and the Rehabilitation Act in integrating individuals with disabilities into society. It mandated free and appropriate public education, including special education, in the least-restrictive environment. As stated in the U.S. Federal Register, a government publication that contains regulations pertaining to laws, special education is defined as instruction that is specially designed to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities. This instruction includes physical education. Physical education is defined as
(I) the development of: (A) physical and motor fitness; (B) fundamental motor skills and patterns; and (C) instruction in aquatics, dance, individual and group games, and sports (including intramural and lifetime sports). (Federal Register, 1977a)
Including aquatics in the definition of physical education provides schools with the option of including swimming in the curriculum for students with disabilities (figure 1.5) and gives families the right to access school swimming programs in which children without disabilities are granted instruction.
Another important aspect of this law is the Individualized Education Program (IEP), which helps to make a child's education appropriate. This document, assembled by educators, related service professionals, and parents, plots the goals a student is expected to accomplish within the educational environment as well as the steps necessary to achieve these goals. Small group instruction, one-on-one assistants, and modifications to the general curriculum may be spelled out in the IEP. If aquatics is not specifically mentioned on the IEP, it is not a required school service.
It would be remiss to mention Public Law (PL) 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, without discussing some of its important amendments and reauthorizations: PL 99-457, PL 101-476, PL 105-17, and PL 108-446 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Inprovement Act, or IDEIA). PL 99-457, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (reauthorization of 1980), expanded the age range covered by the law from 3 to 21 to include infants and toddlers from birth to 3 years old. Accordingly, parents of young children with disabilities and personnel of early intervention programs may seek community aquatics programs as appropriate motor activities for young children. By becoming familiar with these laws, you can better meet the special needs of infants and toddlers with disabilities.
You should also be familiar with the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), which was a result of PL 99-457. The IFSP contains individual goals, objectives, and methods for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their family and service providers. Some tips for working with children under 3 years old are given on page 63.
PL 101-476, IDEA, was enacted in 1990 as an amendment to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. PL 101-476 changed the term handicapped to individuals with disabilities, added autism and traumatic brain injury as disability categories, and stressed the importance of transitional services within the IEP. Thus, the IEP must now include goals, objectives, and a plan for the transition into the community. This plan, called the Individualized Transition Plan, projects what skills participants should have when they leave the school. Transition refers to crossing the gaps (a) between infant, toddler, and preschool programs and school programs and (b) between high school programs and lifetime pursuits. As an aquatics instructor in a school or community facility, you might be called on to contribute to such a plan, especially for a young adult. Seize these opportunities whenever possible. After all, what better lifetime recreational pursuit is there than aquatics?
PL 105-17 and PL 108-446 were the IDEA amendments and reauthorizations of 1997 and 2004. PL 105-17 extended developmental delay to ages 3 to 9 years (you can now place preschool and elementary school children within this disability category rather than just infants and toddlers). PL 108-446 slightly modified the benchmark and objectives section of the IEP and emphasized that highly qualified professionals provide service to students with disabilities. It also added Tourette's syndrome to the list of other health impairments for students who are considered to have a disability.
The laws thus far described in this section focused on school or federally funded programs and buildings. The Americans with Disabilities Act, described in the next section, has implications for all school and community, public, and private facilities that are open to the public.
Americans With Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), PL 101-336, was passed in 1990 and mandated the elimination of discrimination against 54 million American citizens with disabilities. Its standards are enforced by the federal government (Center for an Accessible Society, 2004). The ADA has widespread implications for almost every area of life in the United States, including recreation and aquatics. The law makes illegal all discrimination based on disability and provides for access to the goods and services of the United States. It covers employment, public services, transportation, public accommodations, services of private entities, telecommunications, and activities of state and local governments (www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/ pubs/ada.txt). The section of the ADA dealing with public accommodations (Title III) has the greatest effect on aquatics participation by individuals with disabilities. The specific terminology and intent of Title III clearly apply to the aquatic realm. In the following sections, we'll look closely at the specific terminology of this all-encompassing law and then summarize its minimum requirements.
Qualified Individual
The U.S. Congress adopted the definition of disability first used in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Federal Register, 1991). The law defines a qualified individual as a person with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of life's major activities (www.ada.gov). Major life activities include self-care, manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working. Individuals with mobility or sensory impairments, mental retardation, and other mental and physical impairments as well as those with hidden disabilities such as diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, heart disease, mental illness, and HIV are all covered by this law. In addition, the law includes people who have a previous record of having an impairment (e.g., cancer in remission) and people perceived by others as disabled, such as those who are HIV positive but asymptomatic (Scott, 1990).
In Title III, a qualified person is one who meets the ADA definition of being a person with a disability and who has the prerequisite skills for participation in a given physical activity (Dummer, 2003a). An individual assessment of skills is the gold standard for determining who is a qualified person under Title III. Some experts use an informed consent document to advise participants of the risks of a physical activity if an individual assessment is impossible (Dummer, 2003a).
Reasonable Accommodation
Although reasonable accommodation is not firmly defined in the ADA, experts consider it to be an action that provides access to individuals with disabilities by modifying previous policies, procedures, and practices. The law specifically addresses discrimination in public accommodations and in services operated by private entities. An organization cannot exclude a person from participating in services, programs, or activities solely because of her disability. If the person is otherwise qualified for a reasonable accommodation, then an organization, school, place of business, or community agency must allow the individual access to the programs and facilities (Sullivan, Lantz, & Zirkel, 2000). The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted reasonable accommodations as those that do not require organizations "to lower or to effect substantial modifications of standards to accommodate" students with disabilities (Southeastern Community College v. Davis, 1979, p. 413) and that do not "impose undue financial and administrative burdens or require a fundamental alteration in the nature of the program" (School Board of Nassau County v. Arline, 1987).
There are certain exceptions to having to provide reasonable accommodations that must be judged one case at a time. Some exceptions include the following:
- When an individual does not meet the criteria of a qualified person with a disability
- When an individual does not meet the qualifications to participate in the activity (i.e., a time cut in the swim trials)
- When an individual's participation creates reasonable probability of substantial risk to himself or others
- When program modifications significantly alter the primary purpose of the set aquatics program (e.g., a competitive diving meet may not be able to reasonably accommodate a person with atlantoaxial instability, for whom diving is contraindicated)
Must-read materials on this subject include the article "Reasonable Accommodations for Swimmers with Disabilities" by Gail Dummer in Palaestra (Dummer, 2003a, pp. 44-45) and the article "Leveling the Playing Field or Leveling the Players? Section 504, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Interscholastic Sports" in the Journal of Special Education (Sullivan et al., 2000).
The way to make modifications and reasonable accommodations depends on many variables, such as the specific disability issues for each person, the programs and facilities that the person wants to access, the amount of time given to make the accommodation, the dollar amount of the accommodation, and the amount of support in the program and facility administration. These variables may affect the method that a pool operator uses to make a change for a given participant, but the pool operator must make accommodations no matter what the variables.
The spirit of the ADA suggests that we should do what we can to allow people with disabilities to participate as much as possible in a given program while ensuring the safety of all participants and maintaining the intent of the program. The safety of all participants is an important concept in the aquatic realm. While some program accommodations might seem reasonable to a participant with a disability, a safety rule might prevent these accommodations. You need to judge whether the rule is for the actual safety of participants and cannot be modified or whether it is in place for crowd control. For example, a person who uses a prosthetic limb might want to remove her prosthesis in the locker room and then hop to the pool edge, but doing so would be a safety hazard because of wet pool decks. Making an accommodation such as providing a sitting bench close to the steps or poolside would allow this person to use her prosthesis while approaching the pool edge and it would also give her a place to keep it dry while she is swimming.
Sometimes the aquatics staff may be unsure of what to do about a request for an accommodation or may believe that the accommodation is unreasonable. The staff may feel that the participant is not appropriate for the program or class for which the accommodation is being requested due to a lack of prerequisites or that the request is outside of the realm of the class or program. An example of this is a person who has Down syndrome with atlantoaxial instability who wishes to dive but because of the instability in the cervical area of his neck is not allowed to dive. His family applied to a diving camp and asked for reasonable accommodations for the child. They stated that the child could learn the basics of the approach, hurdle, and streamlined entry with a jump. While the spirit of the ADA suggests that using a jump as a modification to a dive might be possible, an accommodation does not need to be made if it subverts the fundamental nature of the activity. Diving is diving, not jumping. In good faith, the child could be served if he understands that he is not allowed to dive, but as a person with cognitive involvement who may make a poor decision and try to dive from the board, it is not in his best interest to be at this camp.
Courts consider it discrimination to place a person in a segregated aquatics program based on her disability rather than on her ability. This means that a facility cannot offer a person with a disability only the segregated, adapted program. The segregated program may be the one that is chosen by the participant, caregivers, and aquatics instructor, but stereotyping an individual and forcing her to accept an adapted program is not permissible. One of the purposes of the ADA is to integrate individuals with disabilities into the mainstream of society. Therefore, the staff of each facility needs to assess program admission policies, looking for possible barriers to participation. Some examples of reasonable accommodations in aquatics programs include the following:
- Providing flotation devices for individuals who cannot stand on the bottom of the pool while they wait for instructions during swim lessons (e.g., for people with paraplegia or dwarfism)
- Allowing a person who has a urine bag to wear long, baggy shorts over the swimsuit to avoid embarrassment
- Allowing an aide to participate, at no additional cost, with an individual who needs support
- Providing a water chair and incorporating arm movements into water aerobic classes for people with lower-body impairments
- Designating an area on deck for guide dogs, crutches, wheelchairs, and other mobility equipment
- Installing nonskid carpet from the shower area to the pool ladder for individuals who need such help for balance, crutch traction, orientation, or mobility
- Providing auxiliary aids and services, such as alternative formats (e.g., braille, computer disk), for registrations, handouts, and certificates
- Providing family and caregiver restrooms and changing areas for caregivers of the opposite gender so that they are able to provide assistance
- Removing requirements that discriminate, such as a height requirement of being able to stand on the bottom of the pool, which individuals who use wheelchairs or have dwarfism may not be able to meet
It is not acceptable to claim the inconvenience or inaccessibility of a facility as an inhibitor to participation. You cannot claim that a program is unavailable because the staff is untrained. Further, your program must avoid barriers of omission, or overlooking the special needs of certain individuals. An example of omission is circulating a program flyer that does not include accessibility information and therefore will not attract individuals with disabilities. The ADA supports that a program should have an attitude of accessibility and should seek knowledge of how to serve individuals with disabilities.
Undue Hardship
An undue hardship defines situations in which trying to accommodate an individual or to provide general access would lead to profound costs or difficulty for an organization in respect to its size and financial resources. A small nonprofit organization, for example, might have such a narrow pool deck that it cannot fit a transfer lift into the area to make it accessible. To make the necessary accommodations, this organization would need to build a new addition, knocking down the wall to extend the deck. The organization may, in this case, plead undue hardship, although "federal tax credits and deductions are available to private entities for architectural barrier removal in existing facilities. Federal funds are also available through the Community Development Block Grant Program to remove barriers in existing facilities. Entities requesting guidance on their obligations for existing facilities should contact the Department of Justice" (www.access-board.gov). Organizations that believe that their financial situation would be overwhelmed by the cost of complying with the law can apply for an exception to the law and show how the modifications pose an undue financial burden. In many cases, however, organizations can make reasonable accommodations.
Readily Accessible
The ADA law uses the phrase readily accessible to describe a facility that is easily and immediately usable-in other words, a facility in which a person with a disability can move around and use well (Scott, 1990). A readily accessible aquatics facility is one that already has ample parking for people with disabilities, an easily identifiable route into the facility, pools with handrails and ramps, braille signs, family restrooms, and usable lifts or movable pool floors.
Readily Achievable
Readily achievable refers to the ease with which a facility can remove a barrier. If the barrier can be removed easily, it is considered readily achievable. Examples of readily achievable modifications that an aquatics facility can make include removing bolted-down benches and lowering hooks in locker rooms, purchasing a Transfer Tier for getting into the pool, printing aquatics manuals in braille, removing concrete door risers between shower and locker areas, and removing footbath or water-collection troughs on decks or in showers.
Minimum Requirements
The ADA has changed the face of architecture in the United States and has allowed persons with disabilities to access previously inaccessible areas and programs. So why are there still questions about what the ADA does and does not mandate after years of its existence? It is because every facility has its own unique issues. The ADA standards of 2004 eliminated some of the uncertainty that surrounded what is and what is not accessible in relation to pools. These new amendments to the original guidelines include specifics for swimming pools, wading pools, and spas.
The ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) set the standard that is applied to buildings and facilities. They address only the built environment (structures and grounds). Reasonable accommodation in operational issues, procedures, and policies is not addressed in the ADAAG, but is a more nebulous area that relies on the spirit of the law and is not written in black and white. Best practice emerges from possible court decisions and standard of care in relation to health and safety practices. Program issues revolve around what is reasonable in reasonable accommodations, which is what the law intends for public accommodations in your aquatics facility. While the law attempts to level the playing field for persons with disabilities, providing them with equal accessibility to (in our case) aquatics programs, what is reasonable may differ from pool to pool, depending on the program. However, the ADA asks us to adapt our policies, facilities, and programs so that people with disabilities can participate with people without disabilities in mainstream American life.
To meet all pertinent legislation, where should you start? The first item on your list of things to do is to obtain a copy of Accessible Swimming Pools and Spas: A Summary of Accessibility Guidelines for Recreation Facilities, a manual published by the United States Access Board (2003). You may either download it (www.access-board.gov) or send for it by mail (1331 F Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20004-1111). This manual will guide you through the specific guidelines that were published in the Federal Register at 67 FR 56352 on September 3, 2002, and summarizes the applicable issues published later in the July 23, 2004, Federal Register. The accessibility guidelines are for newly constructed and altered recreation facilities, including swimming pools, wading pools, and spas. The manual also includes information on wave-action pools, leisure rivers, and sand-bottom pools. For a summary of these minimum requirements, see the sidebar Accessibility Guidelines for Swimming Pools on this page.
You may be wondering how much a pool has to be altered in order for the work to be deemed an alteration by the ADA. Alterations are changes that affect the usability of a pool and are not just "safe maintenance" type of work (Peggy Greenwell, personal communication, April 26, 2004). The Access Board addresses the issue of accessibility for existing recreation facilities on its Web site (www.access-board.gov/recreation/final.htm) and in the Federal Register dated September 3, 2002. In summary, Title II of the ADA obliges state and local governments providing recreation facilities and Title III obliges private entities providing recreation facilities to remove architectural barriers in existing facilities where it is readily achievable. Existing pools have an obligation to the U.S. Justice Department to remove barriers over time to provide access.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming, Second Edition.
Careful instruction lessens chance of immature skills in individuals with ADD
ADD is a common condition in children. Use these tips to ensure the safety of participants and to create a rich learning experience.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.
Monica Lepore discusses how she got into the field of adapted aquatics
Monica Lepore is the author of Advanced Aquatics Programming.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.
Legislation increases aquatics opportunities for individuals with disabilities
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community.
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community. In addition, legislation has created funding opportunities to subsidize local and state fiscal concerns for renovating existing structures and constructing new facilities. Individuals with disabilities not only are more visible but also are more vocal, as the laws have empowered them to make their own decisions and achieve greater independence. The motto "nothing about us, without us" has resulted in individuals with disabilities demanding more stringent laws and landmark access decisions. As accommodating people with disabilities is a rapidly developing area of the law, programs should seek professional advice as to current regulations and allowable exceptions.
Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 and Rehabilitation Act of 1973
In 1968, the U.S. Congress passed the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA), which required U.S. buildings and facilities to be accessible if they were designed, built, or altered with certain federal funds or if they were leased for occupancy by federal agencies (www.access-board.gov/ada-aba/index.htm). In 1973, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act was enacted. It mandated that all programs and facilities receiving federal support must be made accessible to individuals with disabilities. Consequently, federally funded organizations removed architectural barriers to people with disabilities and the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board developed accessibility codes. Many services became available for the first time to people with disabilities. For example, federally funded organizations made parking spaces, bathrooms, university classrooms, government offices, and recreational facilities accessible. Specific to aquatics, all federally funded facilities had to make their pools accessible through such means as hydraulic lifts or sloped entries (figure 1.4).
Individuals With Disabilities Education Act
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) began as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975. This federal legislation continued the thrust of the ABA and the Rehabilitation Act in integrating individuals with disabilities into society. It mandated free and appropriate public education, including special education, in the least-restrictive environment. As stated in the U.S. Federal Register, a government publication that contains regulations pertaining to laws, special education is defined as instruction that is specially designed to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities. This instruction includes physical education. Physical education is defined as
(I) the development of: (A) physical and motor fitness; (B) fundamental motor skills and patterns; and (C) instruction in aquatics, dance, individual and group games, and sports (including intramural and lifetime sports). (Federal Register, 1977a)
Including aquatics in the definition of physical education provides schools with the option of including swimming in the curriculum for students with disabilities (figure 1.5) and gives families the right to access school swimming programs in which children without disabilities are granted instruction.
Another important aspect of this law is the Individualized Education Program (IEP), which helps to make a child's education appropriate. This document, assembled by educators, related service professionals, and parents, plots the goals a student is expected to accomplish within the educational environment as well as the steps necessary to achieve these goals. Small group instruction, one-on-one assistants, and modifications to the general curriculum may be spelled out in the IEP. If aquatics is not specifically mentioned on the IEP, it is not a required school service.
It would be remiss to mention Public Law (PL) 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, without discussing some of its important amendments and reauthorizations: PL 99-457, PL 101-476, PL 105-17, and PL 108-446 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Inprovement Act, or IDEIA). PL 99-457, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (reauthorization of 1980), expanded the age range covered by the law from 3 to 21 to include infants and toddlers from birth to 3 years old. Accordingly, parents of young children with disabilities and personnel of early intervention programs may seek community aquatics programs as appropriate motor activities for young children. By becoming familiar with these laws, you can better meet the special needs of infants and toddlers with disabilities.
You should also be familiar with the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), which was a result of PL 99-457. The IFSP contains individual goals, objectives, and methods for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their family and service providers. Some tips for working with children under 3 years old are given on page 63.
PL 101-476, IDEA, was enacted in 1990 as an amendment to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. PL 101-476 changed the term handicapped to individuals with disabilities, added autism and traumatic brain injury as disability categories, and stressed the importance of transitional services within the IEP. Thus, the IEP must now include goals, objectives, and a plan for the transition into the community. This plan, called the Individualized Transition Plan, projects what skills participants should have when they leave the school. Transition refers to crossing the gaps (a) between infant, toddler, and preschool programs and school programs and (b) between high school programs and lifetime pursuits. As an aquatics instructor in a school or community facility, you might be called on to contribute to such a plan, especially for a young adult. Seize these opportunities whenever possible. After all, what better lifetime recreational pursuit is there than aquatics?
PL 105-17 and PL 108-446 were the IDEA amendments and reauthorizations of 1997 and 2004. PL 105-17 extended developmental delay to ages 3 to 9 years (you can now place preschool and elementary school children within this disability category rather than just infants and toddlers). PL 108-446 slightly modified the benchmark and objectives section of the IEP and emphasized that highly qualified professionals provide service to students with disabilities. It also added Tourette's syndrome to the list of other health impairments for students who are considered to have a disability.
The laws thus far described in this section focused on school or federally funded programs and buildings. The Americans with Disabilities Act, described in the next section, has implications for all school and community, public, and private facilities that are open to the public.
Americans With Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), PL 101-336, was passed in 1990 and mandated the elimination of discrimination against 54 million American citizens with disabilities. Its standards are enforced by the federal government (Center for an Accessible Society, 2004). The ADA has widespread implications for almost every area of life in the United States, including recreation and aquatics. The law makes illegal all discrimination based on disability and provides for access to the goods and services of the United States. It covers employment, public services, transportation, public accommodations, services of private entities, telecommunications, and activities of state and local governments (www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/ pubs/ada.txt). The section of the ADA dealing with public accommodations (Title III) has the greatest effect on aquatics participation by individuals with disabilities. The specific terminology and intent of Title III clearly apply to the aquatic realm. In the following sections, we'll look closely at the specific terminology of this all-encompassing law and then summarize its minimum requirements.
Qualified Individual
The U.S. Congress adopted the definition of disability first used in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Federal Register, 1991). The law defines a qualified individual as a person with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of life's major activities (www.ada.gov). Major life activities include self-care, manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working. Individuals with mobility or sensory impairments, mental retardation, and other mental and physical impairments as well as those with hidden disabilities such as diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, heart disease, mental illness, and HIV are all covered by this law. In addition, the law includes people who have a previous record of having an impairment (e.g., cancer in remission) and people perceived by others as disabled, such as those who are HIV positive but asymptomatic (Scott, 1990).
In Title III, a qualified person is one who meets the ADA definition of being a person with a disability and who has the prerequisite skills for participation in a given physical activity (Dummer, 2003a). An individual assessment of skills is the gold standard for determining who is a qualified person under Title III. Some experts use an informed consent document to advise participants of the risks of a physical activity if an individual assessment is impossible (Dummer, 2003a).
Reasonable Accommodation
Although reasonable accommodation is not firmly defined in the ADA, experts consider it to be an action that provides access to individuals with disabilities by modifying previous policies, procedures, and practices. The law specifically addresses discrimination in public accommodations and in services operated by private entities. An organization cannot exclude a person from participating in services, programs, or activities solely because of her disability. If the person is otherwise qualified for a reasonable accommodation, then an organization, school, place of business, or community agency must allow the individual access to the programs and facilities (Sullivan, Lantz, & Zirkel, 2000). The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted reasonable accommodations as those that do not require organizations "to lower or to effect substantial modifications of standards to accommodate" students with disabilities (Southeastern Community College v. Davis, 1979, p. 413) and that do not "impose undue financial and administrative burdens or require a fundamental alteration in the nature of the program" (School Board of Nassau County v. Arline, 1987).
There are certain exceptions to having to provide reasonable accommodations that must be judged one case at a time. Some exceptions include the following:
- When an individual does not meet the criteria of a qualified person with a disability
- When an individual does not meet the qualifications to participate in the activity (i.e., a time cut in the swim trials)
- When an individual's participation creates reasonable probability of substantial risk to himself or others
- When program modifications significantly alter the primary purpose of the set aquatics program (e.g., a competitive diving meet may not be able to reasonably accommodate a person with atlantoaxial instability, for whom diving is contraindicated)
Must-read materials on this subject include the article "Reasonable Accommodations for Swimmers with Disabilities" by Gail Dummer in Palaestra (Dummer, 2003a, pp. 44-45) and the article "Leveling the Playing Field or Leveling the Players? Section 504, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Interscholastic Sports" in the Journal of Special Education (Sullivan et al., 2000).
The way to make modifications and reasonable accommodations depends on many variables, such as the specific disability issues for each person, the programs and facilities that the person wants to access, the amount of time given to make the accommodation, the dollar amount of the accommodation, and the amount of support in the program and facility administration. These variables may affect the method that a pool operator uses to make a change for a given participant, but the pool operator must make accommodations no matter what the variables.
The spirit of the ADA suggests that we should do what we can to allow people with disabilities to participate as much as possible in a given program while ensuring the safety of all participants and maintaining the intent of the program. The safety of all participants is an important concept in the aquatic realm. While some program accommodations might seem reasonable to a participant with a disability, a safety rule might prevent these accommodations. You need to judge whether the rule is for the actual safety of participants and cannot be modified or whether it is in place for crowd control. For example, a person who uses a prosthetic limb might want to remove her prosthesis in the locker room and then hop to the pool edge, but doing so would be a safety hazard because of wet pool decks. Making an accommodation such as providing a sitting bench close to the steps or poolside would allow this person to use her prosthesis while approaching the pool edge and it would also give her a place to keep it dry while she is swimming.
Sometimes the aquatics staff may be unsure of what to do about a request for an accommodation or may believe that the accommodation is unreasonable. The staff may feel that the participant is not appropriate for the program or class for which the accommodation is being requested due to a lack of prerequisites or that the request is outside of the realm of the class or program. An example of this is a person who has Down syndrome with atlantoaxial instability who wishes to dive but because of the instability in the cervical area of his neck is not allowed to dive. His family applied to a diving camp and asked for reasonable accommodations for the child. They stated that the child could learn the basics of the approach, hurdle, and streamlined entry with a jump. While the spirit of the ADA suggests that using a jump as a modification to a dive might be possible, an accommodation does not need to be made if it subverts the fundamental nature of the activity. Diving is diving, not jumping. In good faith, the child could be served if he understands that he is not allowed to dive, but as a person with cognitive involvement who may make a poor decision and try to dive from the board, it is not in his best interest to be at this camp.
Courts consider it discrimination to place a person in a segregated aquatics program based on her disability rather than on her ability. This means that a facility cannot offer a person with a disability only the segregated, adapted program. The segregated program may be the one that is chosen by the participant, caregivers, and aquatics instructor, but stereotyping an individual and forcing her to accept an adapted program is not permissible. One of the purposes of the ADA is to integrate individuals with disabilities into the mainstream of society. Therefore, the staff of each facility needs to assess program admission policies, looking for possible barriers to participation. Some examples of reasonable accommodations in aquatics programs include the following:
- Providing flotation devices for individuals who cannot stand on the bottom of the pool while they wait for instructions during swim lessons (e.g., for people with paraplegia or dwarfism)
- Allowing a person who has a urine bag to wear long, baggy shorts over the swimsuit to avoid embarrassment
- Allowing an aide to participate, at no additional cost, with an individual who needs support
- Providing a water chair and incorporating arm movements into water aerobic classes for people with lower-body impairments
- Designating an area on deck for guide dogs, crutches, wheelchairs, and other mobility equipment
- Installing nonskid carpet from the shower area to the pool ladder for individuals who need such help for balance, crutch traction, orientation, or mobility
- Providing auxiliary aids and services, such as alternative formats (e.g., braille, computer disk), for registrations, handouts, and certificates
- Providing family and caregiver restrooms and changing areas for caregivers of the opposite gender so that they are able to provide assistance
- Removing requirements that discriminate, such as a height requirement of being able to stand on the bottom of the pool, which individuals who use wheelchairs or have dwarfism may not be able to meet
It is not acceptable to claim the inconvenience or inaccessibility of a facility as an inhibitor to participation. You cannot claim that a program is unavailable because the staff is untrained. Further, your program must avoid barriers of omission, or overlooking the special needs of certain individuals. An example of omission is circulating a program flyer that does not include accessibility information and therefore will not attract individuals with disabilities. The ADA supports that a program should have an attitude of accessibility and should seek knowledge of how to serve individuals with disabilities.
Undue Hardship
An undue hardship defines situations in which trying to accommodate an individual or to provide general access would lead to profound costs or difficulty for an organization in respect to its size and financial resources. A small nonprofit organization, for example, might have such a narrow pool deck that it cannot fit a transfer lift into the area to make it accessible. To make the necessary accommodations, this organization would need to build a new addition, knocking down the wall to extend the deck. The organization may, in this case, plead undue hardship, although "federal tax credits and deductions are available to private entities for architectural barrier removal in existing facilities. Federal funds are also available through the Community Development Block Grant Program to remove barriers in existing facilities. Entities requesting guidance on their obligations for existing facilities should contact the Department of Justice" (www.access-board.gov). Organizations that believe that their financial situation would be overwhelmed by the cost of complying with the law can apply for an exception to the law and show how the modifications pose an undue financial burden. In many cases, however, organizations can make reasonable accommodations.
Readily Accessible
The ADA law uses the phrase readily accessible to describe a facility that is easily and immediately usable-in other words, a facility in which a person with a disability can move around and use well (Scott, 1990). A readily accessible aquatics facility is one that already has ample parking for people with disabilities, an easily identifiable route into the facility, pools with handrails and ramps, braille signs, family restrooms, and usable lifts or movable pool floors.
Readily Achievable
Readily achievable refers to the ease with which a facility can remove a barrier. If the barrier can be removed easily, it is considered readily achievable. Examples of readily achievable modifications that an aquatics facility can make include removing bolted-down benches and lowering hooks in locker rooms, purchasing a Transfer Tier for getting into the pool, printing aquatics manuals in braille, removing concrete door risers between shower and locker areas, and removing footbath or water-collection troughs on decks or in showers.
Minimum Requirements
The ADA has changed the face of architecture in the United States and has allowed persons with disabilities to access previously inaccessible areas and programs. So why are there still questions about what the ADA does and does not mandate after years of its existence? It is because every facility has its own unique issues. The ADA standards of 2004 eliminated some of the uncertainty that surrounded what is and what is not accessible in relation to pools. These new amendments to the original guidelines include specifics for swimming pools, wading pools, and spas.
The ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) set the standard that is applied to buildings and facilities. They address only the built environment (structures and grounds). Reasonable accommodation in operational issues, procedures, and policies is not addressed in the ADAAG, but is a more nebulous area that relies on the spirit of the law and is not written in black and white. Best practice emerges from possible court decisions and standard of care in relation to health and safety practices. Program issues revolve around what is reasonable in reasonable accommodations, which is what the law intends for public accommodations in your aquatics facility. While the law attempts to level the playing field for persons with disabilities, providing them with equal accessibility to (in our case) aquatics programs, what is reasonable may differ from pool to pool, depending on the program. However, the ADA asks us to adapt our policies, facilities, and programs so that people with disabilities can participate with people without disabilities in mainstream American life.
To meet all pertinent legislation, where should you start? The first item on your list of things to do is to obtain a copy of Accessible Swimming Pools and Spas: A Summary of Accessibility Guidelines for Recreation Facilities, a manual published by the United States Access Board (2003). You may either download it (www.access-board.gov) or send for it by mail (1331 F Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20004-1111). This manual will guide you through the specific guidelines that were published in the Federal Register at 67 FR 56352 on September 3, 2002, and summarizes the applicable issues published later in the July 23, 2004, Federal Register. The accessibility guidelines are for newly constructed and altered recreation facilities, including swimming pools, wading pools, and spas. The manual also includes information on wave-action pools, leisure rivers, and sand-bottom pools. For a summary of these minimum requirements, see the sidebar Accessibility Guidelines for Swimming Pools on this page.
You may be wondering how much a pool has to be altered in order for the work to be deemed an alteration by the ADA. Alterations are changes that affect the usability of a pool and are not just "safe maintenance" type of work (Peggy Greenwell, personal communication, April 26, 2004). The Access Board addresses the issue of accessibility for existing recreation facilities on its Web site (www.access-board.gov/recreation/final.htm) and in the Federal Register dated September 3, 2002. In summary, Title II of the ADA obliges state and local governments providing recreation facilities and Title III obliges private entities providing recreation facilities to remove architectural barriers in existing facilities where it is readily achievable. Existing pools have an obligation to the U.S. Justice Department to remove barriers over time to provide access.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming, Second Edition.
Careful instruction lessens chance of immature skills in individuals with ADD
ADD is a common condition in children. Use these tips to ensure the safety of participants and to create a rich learning experience.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.
Monica Lepore discusses how she got into the field of adapted aquatics
Monica Lepore is the author of Advanced Aquatics Programming.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.
Legislation increases aquatics opportunities for individuals with disabilities
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community.
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community. In addition, legislation has created funding opportunities to subsidize local and state fiscal concerns for renovating existing structures and constructing new facilities. Individuals with disabilities not only are more visible but also are more vocal, as the laws have empowered them to make their own decisions and achieve greater independence. The motto "nothing about us, without us" has resulted in individuals with disabilities demanding more stringent laws and landmark access decisions. As accommodating people with disabilities is a rapidly developing area of the law, programs should seek professional advice as to current regulations and allowable exceptions.
Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 and Rehabilitation Act of 1973
In 1968, the U.S. Congress passed the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA), which required U.S. buildings and facilities to be accessible if they were designed, built, or altered with certain federal funds or if they were leased for occupancy by federal agencies (www.access-board.gov/ada-aba/index.htm). In 1973, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act was enacted. It mandated that all programs and facilities receiving federal support must be made accessible to individuals with disabilities. Consequently, federally funded organizations removed architectural barriers to people with disabilities and the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board developed accessibility codes. Many services became available for the first time to people with disabilities. For example, federally funded organizations made parking spaces, bathrooms, university classrooms, government offices, and recreational facilities accessible. Specific to aquatics, all federally funded facilities had to make their pools accessible through such means as hydraulic lifts or sloped entries (figure 1.4).
Individuals With Disabilities Education Act
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) began as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975. This federal legislation continued the thrust of the ABA and the Rehabilitation Act in integrating individuals with disabilities into society. It mandated free and appropriate public education, including special education, in the least-restrictive environment. As stated in the U.S. Federal Register, a government publication that contains regulations pertaining to laws, special education is defined as instruction that is specially designed to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities. This instruction includes physical education. Physical education is defined as
(I) the development of: (A) physical and motor fitness; (B) fundamental motor skills and patterns; and (C) instruction in aquatics, dance, individual and group games, and sports (including intramural and lifetime sports). (Federal Register, 1977a)
Including aquatics in the definition of physical education provides schools with the option of including swimming in the curriculum for students with disabilities (figure 1.5) and gives families the right to access school swimming programs in which children without disabilities are granted instruction.
Another important aspect of this law is the Individualized Education Program (IEP), which helps to make a child's education appropriate. This document, assembled by educators, related service professionals, and parents, plots the goals a student is expected to accomplish within the educational environment as well as the steps necessary to achieve these goals. Small group instruction, one-on-one assistants, and modifications to the general curriculum may be spelled out in the IEP. If aquatics is not specifically mentioned on the IEP, it is not a required school service.
It would be remiss to mention Public Law (PL) 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, without discussing some of its important amendments and reauthorizations: PL 99-457, PL 101-476, PL 105-17, and PL 108-446 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Inprovement Act, or IDEIA). PL 99-457, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (reauthorization of 1980), expanded the age range covered by the law from 3 to 21 to include infants and toddlers from birth to 3 years old. Accordingly, parents of young children with disabilities and personnel of early intervention programs may seek community aquatics programs as appropriate motor activities for young children. By becoming familiar with these laws, you can better meet the special needs of infants and toddlers with disabilities.
You should also be familiar with the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), which was a result of PL 99-457. The IFSP contains individual goals, objectives, and methods for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their family and service providers. Some tips for working with children under 3 years old are given on page 63.
PL 101-476, IDEA, was enacted in 1990 as an amendment to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. PL 101-476 changed the term handicapped to individuals with disabilities, added autism and traumatic brain injury as disability categories, and stressed the importance of transitional services within the IEP. Thus, the IEP must now include goals, objectives, and a plan for the transition into the community. This plan, called the Individualized Transition Plan, projects what skills participants should have when they leave the school. Transition refers to crossing the gaps (a) between infant, toddler, and preschool programs and school programs and (b) between high school programs and lifetime pursuits. As an aquatics instructor in a school or community facility, you might be called on to contribute to such a plan, especially for a young adult. Seize these opportunities whenever possible. After all, what better lifetime recreational pursuit is there than aquatics?
PL 105-17 and PL 108-446 were the IDEA amendments and reauthorizations of 1997 and 2004. PL 105-17 extended developmental delay to ages 3 to 9 years (you can now place preschool and elementary school children within this disability category rather than just infants and toddlers). PL 108-446 slightly modified the benchmark and objectives section of the IEP and emphasized that highly qualified professionals provide service to students with disabilities. It also added Tourette's syndrome to the list of other health impairments for students who are considered to have a disability.
The laws thus far described in this section focused on school or federally funded programs and buildings. The Americans with Disabilities Act, described in the next section, has implications for all school and community, public, and private facilities that are open to the public.
Americans With Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), PL 101-336, was passed in 1990 and mandated the elimination of discrimination against 54 million American citizens with disabilities. Its standards are enforced by the federal government (Center for an Accessible Society, 2004). The ADA has widespread implications for almost every area of life in the United States, including recreation and aquatics. The law makes illegal all discrimination based on disability and provides for access to the goods and services of the United States. It covers employment, public services, transportation, public accommodations, services of private entities, telecommunications, and activities of state and local governments (www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/ pubs/ada.txt). The section of the ADA dealing with public accommodations (Title III) has the greatest effect on aquatics participation by individuals with disabilities. The specific terminology and intent of Title III clearly apply to the aquatic realm. In the following sections, we'll look closely at the specific terminology of this all-encompassing law and then summarize its minimum requirements.
Qualified Individual
The U.S. Congress adopted the definition of disability first used in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Federal Register, 1991). The law defines a qualified individual as a person with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of life's major activities (www.ada.gov). Major life activities include self-care, manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working. Individuals with mobility or sensory impairments, mental retardation, and other mental and physical impairments as well as those with hidden disabilities such as diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, heart disease, mental illness, and HIV are all covered by this law. In addition, the law includes people who have a previous record of having an impairment (e.g., cancer in remission) and people perceived by others as disabled, such as those who are HIV positive but asymptomatic (Scott, 1990).
In Title III, a qualified person is one who meets the ADA definition of being a person with a disability and who has the prerequisite skills for participation in a given physical activity (Dummer, 2003a). An individual assessment of skills is the gold standard for determining who is a qualified person under Title III. Some experts use an informed consent document to advise participants of the risks of a physical activity if an individual assessment is impossible (Dummer, 2003a).
Reasonable Accommodation
Although reasonable accommodation is not firmly defined in the ADA, experts consider it to be an action that provides access to individuals with disabilities by modifying previous policies, procedures, and practices. The law specifically addresses discrimination in public accommodations and in services operated by private entities. An organization cannot exclude a person from participating in services, programs, or activities solely because of her disability. If the person is otherwise qualified for a reasonable accommodation, then an organization, school, place of business, or community agency must allow the individual access to the programs and facilities (Sullivan, Lantz, & Zirkel, 2000). The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted reasonable accommodations as those that do not require organizations "to lower or to effect substantial modifications of standards to accommodate" students with disabilities (Southeastern Community College v. Davis, 1979, p. 413) and that do not "impose undue financial and administrative burdens or require a fundamental alteration in the nature of the program" (School Board of Nassau County v. Arline, 1987).
There are certain exceptions to having to provide reasonable accommodations that must be judged one case at a time. Some exceptions include the following:
- When an individual does not meet the criteria of a qualified person with a disability
- When an individual does not meet the qualifications to participate in the activity (i.e., a time cut in the swim trials)
- When an individual's participation creates reasonable probability of substantial risk to himself or others
- When program modifications significantly alter the primary purpose of the set aquatics program (e.g., a competitive diving meet may not be able to reasonably accommodate a person with atlantoaxial instability, for whom diving is contraindicated)
Must-read materials on this subject include the article "Reasonable Accommodations for Swimmers with Disabilities" by Gail Dummer in Palaestra (Dummer, 2003a, pp. 44-45) and the article "Leveling the Playing Field or Leveling the Players? Section 504, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Interscholastic Sports" in the Journal of Special Education (Sullivan et al., 2000).
The way to make modifications and reasonable accommodations depends on many variables, such as the specific disability issues for each person, the programs and facilities that the person wants to access, the amount of time given to make the accommodation, the dollar amount of the accommodation, and the amount of support in the program and facility administration. These variables may affect the method that a pool operator uses to make a change for a given participant, but the pool operator must make accommodations no matter what the variables.
The spirit of the ADA suggests that we should do what we can to allow people with disabilities to participate as much as possible in a given program while ensuring the safety of all participants and maintaining the intent of the program. The safety of all participants is an important concept in the aquatic realm. While some program accommodations might seem reasonable to a participant with a disability, a safety rule might prevent these accommodations. You need to judge whether the rule is for the actual safety of participants and cannot be modified or whether it is in place for crowd control. For example, a person who uses a prosthetic limb might want to remove her prosthesis in the locker room and then hop to the pool edge, but doing so would be a safety hazard because of wet pool decks. Making an accommodation such as providing a sitting bench close to the steps or poolside would allow this person to use her prosthesis while approaching the pool edge and it would also give her a place to keep it dry while she is swimming.
Sometimes the aquatics staff may be unsure of what to do about a request for an accommodation or may believe that the accommodation is unreasonable. The staff may feel that the participant is not appropriate for the program or class for which the accommodation is being requested due to a lack of prerequisites or that the request is outside of the realm of the class or program. An example of this is a person who has Down syndrome with atlantoaxial instability who wishes to dive but because of the instability in the cervical area of his neck is not allowed to dive. His family applied to a diving camp and asked for reasonable accommodations for the child. They stated that the child could learn the basics of the approach, hurdle, and streamlined entry with a jump. While the spirit of the ADA suggests that using a jump as a modification to a dive might be possible, an accommodation does not need to be made if it subverts the fundamental nature of the activity. Diving is diving, not jumping. In good faith, the child could be served if he understands that he is not allowed to dive, but as a person with cognitive involvement who may make a poor decision and try to dive from the board, it is not in his best interest to be at this camp.
Courts consider it discrimination to place a person in a segregated aquatics program based on her disability rather than on her ability. This means that a facility cannot offer a person with a disability only the segregated, adapted program. The segregated program may be the one that is chosen by the participant, caregivers, and aquatics instructor, but stereotyping an individual and forcing her to accept an adapted program is not permissible. One of the purposes of the ADA is to integrate individuals with disabilities into the mainstream of society. Therefore, the staff of each facility needs to assess program admission policies, looking for possible barriers to participation. Some examples of reasonable accommodations in aquatics programs include the following:
- Providing flotation devices for individuals who cannot stand on the bottom of the pool while they wait for instructions during swim lessons (e.g., for people with paraplegia or dwarfism)
- Allowing a person who has a urine bag to wear long, baggy shorts over the swimsuit to avoid embarrassment
- Allowing an aide to participate, at no additional cost, with an individual who needs support
- Providing a water chair and incorporating arm movements into water aerobic classes for people with lower-body impairments
- Designating an area on deck for guide dogs, crutches, wheelchairs, and other mobility equipment
- Installing nonskid carpet from the shower area to the pool ladder for individuals who need such help for balance, crutch traction, orientation, or mobility
- Providing auxiliary aids and services, such as alternative formats (e.g., braille, computer disk), for registrations, handouts, and certificates
- Providing family and caregiver restrooms and changing areas for caregivers of the opposite gender so that they are able to provide assistance
- Removing requirements that discriminate, such as a height requirement of being able to stand on the bottom of the pool, which individuals who use wheelchairs or have dwarfism may not be able to meet
It is not acceptable to claim the inconvenience or inaccessibility of a facility as an inhibitor to participation. You cannot claim that a program is unavailable because the staff is untrained. Further, your program must avoid barriers of omission, or overlooking the special needs of certain individuals. An example of omission is circulating a program flyer that does not include accessibility information and therefore will not attract individuals with disabilities. The ADA supports that a program should have an attitude of accessibility and should seek knowledge of how to serve individuals with disabilities.
Undue Hardship
An undue hardship defines situations in which trying to accommodate an individual or to provide general access would lead to profound costs or difficulty for an organization in respect to its size and financial resources. A small nonprofit organization, for example, might have such a narrow pool deck that it cannot fit a transfer lift into the area to make it accessible. To make the necessary accommodations, this organization would need to build a new addition, knocking down the wall to extend the deck. The organization may, in this case, plead undue hardship, although "federal tax credits and deductions are available to private entities for architectural barrier removal in existing facilities. Federal funds are also available through the Community Development Block Grant Program to remove barriers in existing facilities. Entities requesting guidance on their obligations for existing facilities should contact the Department of Justice" (www.access-board.gov). Organizations that believe that their financial situation would be overwhelmed by the cost of complying with the law can apply for an exception to the law and show how the modifications pose an undue financial burden. In many cases, however, organizations can make reasonable accommodations.
Readily Accessible
The ADA law uses the phrase readily accessible to describe a facility that is easily and immediately usable-in other words, a facility in which a person with a disability can move around and use well (Scott, 1990). A readily accessible aquatics facility is one that already has ample parking for people with disabilities, an easily identifiable route into the facility, pools with handrails and ramps, braille signs, family restrooms, and usable lifts or movable pool floors.
Readily Achievable
Readily achievable refers to the ease with which a facility can remove a barrier. If the barrier can be removed easily, it is considered readily achievable. Examples of readily achievable modifications that an aquatics facility can make include removing bolted-down benches and lowering hooks in locker rooms, purchasing a Transfer Tier for getting into the pool, printing aquatics manuals in braille, removing concrete door risers between shower and locker areas, and removing footbath or water-collection troughs on decks or in showers.
Minimum Requirements
The ADA has changed the face of architecture in the United States and has allowed persons with disabilities to access previously inaccessible areas and programs. So why are there still questions about what the ADA does and does not mandate after years of its existence? It is because every facility has its own unique issues. The ADA standards of 2004 eliminated some of the uncertainty that surrounded what is and what is not accessible in relation to pools. These new amendments to the original guidelines include specifics for swimming pools, wading pools, and spas.
The ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) set the standard that is applied to buildings and facilities. They address only the built environment (structures and grounds). Reasonable accommodation in operational issues, procedures, and policies is not addressed in the ADAAG, but is a more nebulous area that relies on the spirit of the law and is not written in black and white. Best practice emerges from possible court decisions and standard of care in relation to health and safety practices. Program issues revolve around what is reasonable in reasonable accommodations, which is what the law intends for public accommodations in your aquatics facility. While the law attempts to level the playing field for persons with disabilities, providing them with equal accessibility to (in our case) aquatics programs, what is reasonable may differ from pool to pool, depending on the program. However, the ADA asks us to adapt our policies, facilities, and programs so that people with disabilities can participate with people without disabilities in mainstream American life.
To meet all pertinent legislation, where should you start? The first item on your list of things to do is to obtain a copy of Accessible Swimming Pools and Spas: A Summary of Accessibility Guidelines for Recreation Facilities, a manual published by the United States Access Board (2003). You may either download it (www.access-board.gov) or send for it by mail (1331 F Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20004-1111). This manual will guide you through the specific guidelines that were published in the Federal Register at 67 FR 56352 on September 3, 2002, and summarizes the applicable issues published later in the July 23, 2004, Federal Register. The accessibility guidelines are for newly constructed and altered recreation facilities, including swimming pools, wading pools, and spas. The manual also includes information on wave-action pools, leisure rivers, and sand-bottom pools. For a summary of these minimum requirements, see the sidebar Accessibility Guidelines for Swimming Pools on this page.
You may be wondering how much a pool has to be altered in order for the work to be deemed an alteration by the ADA. Alterations are changes that affect the usability of a pool and are not just "safe maintenance" type of work (Peggy Greenwell, personal communication, April 26, 2004). The Access Board addresses the issue of accessibility for existing recreation facilities on its Web site (www.access-board.gov/recreation/final.htm) and in the Federal Register dated September 3, 2002. In summary, Title II of the ADA obliges state and local governments providing recreation facilities and Title III obliges private entities providing recreation facilities to remove architectural barriers in existing facilities where it is readily achievable. Existing pools have an obligation to the U.S. Justice Department to remove barriers over time to provide access.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming, Second Edition.
Careful instruction lessens chance of immature skills in individuals with ADD
ADD is a common condition in children. Use these tips to ensure the safety of participants and to create a rich learning experience.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.
Monica Lepore discusses how she got into the field of adapted aquatics
Monica Lepore is the author of Advanced Aquatics Programming.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.
Legislation increases aquatics opportunities for individuals with disabilities
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community.
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community. In addition, legislation has created funding opportunities to subsidize local and state fiscal concerns for renovating existing structures and constructing new facilities. Individuals with disabilities not only are more visible but also are more vocal, as the laws have empowered them to make their own decisions and achieve greater independence. The motto "nothing about us, without us" has resulted in individuals with disabilities demanding more stringent laws and landmark access decisions. As accommodating people with disabilities is a rapidly developing area of the law, programs should seek professional advice as to current regulations and allowable exceptions.
Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 and Rehabilitation Act of 1973
In 1968, the U.S. Congress passed the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA), which required U.S. buildings and facilities to be accessible if they were designed, built, or altered with certain federal funds or if they were leased for occupancy by federal agencies (www.access-board.gov/ada-aba/index.htm). In 1973, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act was enacted. It mandated that all programs and facilities receiving federal support must be made accessible to individuals with disabilities. Consequently, federally funded organizations removed architectural barriers to people with disabilities and the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board developed accessibility codes. Many services became available for the first time to people with disabilities. For example, federally funded organizations made parking spaces, bathrooms, university classrooms, government offices, and recreational facilities accessible. Specific to aquatics, all federally funded facilities had to make their pools accessible through such means as hydraulic lifts or sloped entries (figure 1.4).
Individuals With Disabilities Education Act
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) began as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975. This federal legislation continued the thrust of the ABA and the Rehabilitation Act in integrating individuals with disabilities into society. It mandated free and appropriate public education, including special education, in the least-restrictive environment. As stated in the U.S. Federal Register, a government publication that contains regulations pertaining to laws, special education is defined as instruction that is specially designed to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities. This instruction includes physical education. Physical education is defined as
(I) the development of: (A) physical and motor fitness; (B) fundamental motor skills and patterns; and (C) instruction in aquatics, dance, individual and group games, and sports (including intramural and lifetime sports). (Federal Register, 1977a)
Including aquatics in the definition of physical education provides schools with the option of including swimming in the curriculum for students with disabilities (figure 1.5) and gives families the right to access school swimming programs in which children without disabilities are granted instruction.
Another important aspect of this law is the Individualized Education Program (IEP), which helps to make a child's education appropriate. This document, assembled by educators, related service professionals, and parents, plots the goals a student is expected to accomplish within the educational environment as well as the steps necessary to achieve these goals. Small group instruction, one-on-one assistants, and modifications to the general curriculum may be spelled out in the IEP. If aquatics is not specifically mentioned on the IEP, it is not a required school service.
It would be remiss to mention Public Law (PL) 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, without discussing some of its important amendments and reauthorizations: PL 99-457, PL 101-476, PL 105-17, and PL 108-446 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Inprovement Act, or IDEIA). PL 99-457, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (reauthorization of 1980), expanded the age range covered by the law from 3 to 21 to include infants and toddlers from birth to 3 years old. Accordingly, parents of young children with disabilities and personnel of early intervention programs may seek community aquatics programs as appropriate motor activities for young children. By becoming familiar with these laws, you can better meet the special needs of infants and toddlers with disabilities.
You should also be familiar with the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), which was a result of PL 99-457. The IFSP contains individual goals, objectives, and methods for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their family and service providers. Some tips for working with children under 3 years old are given on page 63.
PL 101-476, IDEA, was enacted in 1990 as an amendment to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. PL 101-476 changed the term handicapped to individuals with disabilities, added autism and traumatic brain injury as disability categories, and stressed the importance of transitional services within the IEP. Thus, the IEP must now include goals, objectives, and a plan for the transition into the community. This plan, called the Individualized Transition Plan, projects what skills participants should have when they leave the school. Transition refers to crossing the gaps (a) between infant, toddler, and preschool programs and school programs and (b) between high school programs and lifetime pursuits. As an aquatics instructor in a school or community facility, you might be called on to contribute to such a plan, especially for a young adult. Seize these opportunities whenever possible. After all, what better lifetime recreational pursuit is there than aquatics?
PL 105-17 and PL 108-446 were the IDEA amendments and reauthorizations of 1997 and 2004. PL 105-17 extended developmental delay to ages 3 to 9 years (you can now place preschool and elementary school children within this disability category rather than just infants and toddlers). PL 108-446 slightly modified the benchmark and objectives section of the IEP and emphasized that highly qualified professionals provide service to students with disabilities. It also added Tourette's syndrome to the list of other health impairments for students who are considered to have a disability.
The laws thus far described in this section focused on school or federally funded programs and buildings. The Americans with Disabilities Act, described in the next section, has implications for all school and community, public, and private facilities that are open to the public.
Americans With Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), PL 101-336, was passed in 1990 and mandated the elimination of discrimination against 54 million American citizens with disabilities. Its standards are enforced by the federal government (Center for an Accessible Society, 2004). The ADA has widespread implications for almost every area of life in the United States, including recreation and aquatics. The law makes illegal all discrimination based on disability and provides for access to the goods and services of the United States. It covers employment, public services, transportation, public accommodations, services of private entities, telecommunications, and activities of state and local governments (www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/ pubs/ada.txt). The section of the ADA dealing with public accommodations (Title III) has the greatest effect on aquatics participation by individuals with disabilities. The specific terminology and intent of Title III clearly apply to the aquatic realm. In the following sections, we'll look closely at the specific terminology of this all-encompassing law and then summarize its minimum requirements.
Qualified Individual
The U.S. Congress adopted the definition of disability first used in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Federal Register, 1991). The law defines a qualified individual as a person with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of life's major activities (www.ada.gov). Major life activities include self-care, manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working. Individuals with mobility or sensory impairments, mental retardation, and other mental and physical impairments as well as those with hidden disabilities such as diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, heart disease, mental illness, and HIV are all covered by this law. In addition, the law includes people who have a previous record of having an impairment (e.g., cancer in remission) and people perceived by others as disabled, such as those who are HIV positive but asymptomatic (Scott, 1990).
In Title III, a qualified person is one who meets the ADA definition of being a person with a disability and who has the prerequisite skills for participation in a given physical activity (Dummer, 2003a). An individual assessment of skills is the gold standard for determining who is a qualified person under Title III. Some experts use an informed consent document to advise participants of the risks of a physical activity if an individual assessment is impossible (Dummer, 2003a).
Reasonable Accommodation
Although reasonable accommodation is not firmly defined in the ADA, experts consider it to be an action that provides access to individuals with disabilities by modifying previous policies, procedures, and practices. The law specifically addresses discrimination in public accommodations and in services operated by private entities. An organization cannot exclude a person from participating in services, programs, or activities solely because of her disability. If the person is otherwise qualified for a reasonable accommodation, then an organization, school, place of business, or community agency must allow the individual access to the programs and facilities (Sullivan, Lantz, & Zirkel, 2000). The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted reasonable accommodations as those that do not require organizations "to lower or to effect substantial modifications of standards to accommodate" students with disabilities (Southeastern Community College v. Davis, 1979, p. 413) and that do not "impose undue financial and administrative burdens or require a fundamental alteration in the nature of the program" (School Board of Nassau County v. Arline, 1987).
There are certain exceptions to having to provide reasonable accommodations that must be judged one case at a time. Some exceptions include the following:
- When an individual does not meet the criteria of a qualified person with a disability
- When an individual does not meet the qualifications to participate in the activity (i.e., a time cut in the swim trials)
- When an individual's participation creates reasonable probability of substantial risk to himself or others
- When program modifications significantly alter the primary purpose of the set aquatics program (e.g., a competitive diving meet may not be able to reasonably accommodate a person with atlantoaxial instability, for whom diving is contraindicated)
Must-read materials on this subject include the article "Reasonable Accommodations for Swimmers with Disabilities" by Gail Dummer in Palaestra (Dummer, 2003a, pp. 44-45) and the article "Leveling the Playing Field or Leveling the Players? Section 504, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Interscholastic Sports" in the Journal of Special Education (Sullivan et al., 2000).
The way to make modifications and reasonable accommodations depends on many variables, such as the specific disability issues for each person, the programs and facilities that the person wants to access, the amount of time given to make the accommodation, the dollar amount of the accommodation, and the amount of support in the program and facility administration. These variables may affect the method that a pool operator uses to make a change for a given participant, but the pool operator must make accommodations no matter what the variables.
The spirit of the ADA suggests that we should do what we can to allow people with disabilities to participate as much as possible in a given program while ensuring the safety of all participants and maintaining the intent of the program. The safety of all participants is an important concept in the aquatic realm. While some program accommodations might seem reasonable to a participant with a disability, a safety rule might prevent these accommodations. You need to judge whether the rule is for the actual safety of participants and cannot be modified or whether it is in place for crowd control. For example, a person who uses a prosthetic limb might want to remove her prosthesis in the locker room and then hop to the pool edge, but doing so would be a safety hazard because of wet pool decks. Making an accommodation such as providing a sitting bench close to the steps or poolside would allow this person to use her prosthesis while approaching the pool edge and it would also give her a place to keep it dry while she is swimming.
Sometimes the aquatics staff may be unsure of what to do about a request for an accommodation or may believe that the accommodation is unreasonable. The staff may feel that the participant is not appropriate for the program or class for which the accommodation is being requested due to a lack of prerequisites or that the request is outside of the realm of the class or program. An example of this is a person who has Down syndrome with atlantoaxial instability who wishes to dive but because of the instability in the cervical area of his neck is not allowed to dive. His family applied to a diving camp and asked for reasonable accommodations for the child. They stated that the child could learn the basics of the approach, hurdle, and streamlined entry with a jump. While the spirit of the ADA suggests that using a jump as a modification to a dive might be possible, an accommodation does not need to be made if it subverts the fundamental nature of the activity. Diving is diving, not jumping. In good faith, the child could be served if he understands that he is not allowed to dive, but as a person with cognitive involvement who may make a poor decision and try to dive from the board, it is not in his best interest to be at this camp.
Courts consider it discrimination to place a person in a segregated aquatics program based on her disability rather than on her ability. This means that a facility cannot offer a person with a disability only the segregated, adapted program. The segregated program may be the one that is chosen by the participant, caregivers, and aquatics instructor, but stereotyping an individual and forcing her to accept an adapted program is not permissible. One of the purposes of the ADA is to integrate individuals with disabilities into the mainstream of society. Therefore, the staff of each facility needs to assess program admission policies, looking for possible barriers to participation. Some examples of reasonable accommodations in aquatics programs include the following:
- Providing flotation devices for individuals who cannot stand on the bottom of the pool while they wait for instructions during swim lessons (e.g., for people with paraplegia or dwarfism)
- Allowing a person who has a urine bag to wear long, baggy shorts over the swimsuit to avoid embarrassment
- Allowing an aide to participate, at no additional cost, with an individual who needs support
- Providing a water chair and incorporating arm movements into water aerobic classes for people with lower-body impairments
- Designating an area on deck for guide dogs, crutches, wheelchairs, and other mobility equipment
- Installing nonskid carpet from the shower area to the pool ladder for individuals who need such help for balance, crutch traction, orientation, or mobility
- Providing auxiliary aids and services, such as alternative formats (e.g., braille, computer disk), for registrations, handouts, and certificates
- Providing family and caregiver restrooms and changing areas for caregivers of the opposite gender so that they are able to provide assistance
- Removing requirements that discriminate, such as a height requirement of being able to stand on the bottom of the pool, which individuals who use wheelchairs or have dwarfism may not be able to meet
It is not acceptable to claim the inconvenience or inaccessibility of a facility as an inhibitor to participation. You cannot claim that a program is unavailable because the staff is untrained. Further, your program must avoid barriers of omission, or overlooking the special needs of certain individuals. An example of omission is circulating a program flyer that does not include accessibility information and therefore will not attract individuals with disabilities. The ADA supports that a program should have an attitude of accessibility and should seek knowledge of how to serve individuals with disabilities.
Undue Hardship
An undue hardship defines situations in which trying to accommodate an individual or to provide general access would lead to profound costs or difficulty for an organization in respect to its size and financial resources. A small nonprofit organization, for example, might have such a narrow pool deck that it cannot fit a transfer lift into the area to make it accessible. To make the necessary accommodations, this organization would need to build a new addition, knocking down the wall to extend the deck. The organization may, in this case, plead undue hardship, although "federal tax credits and deductions are available to private entities for architectural barrier removal in existing facilities. Federal funds are also available through the Community Development Block Grant Program to remove barriers in existing facilities. Entities requesting guidance on their obligations for existing facilities should contact the Department of Justice" (www.access-board.gov). Organizations that believe that their financial situation would be overwhelmed by the cost of complying with the law can apply for an exception to the law and show how the modifications pose an undue financial burden. In many cases, however, organizations can make reasonable accommodations.
Readily Accessible
The ADA law uses the phrase readily accessible to describe a facility that is easily and immediately usable-in other words, a facility in which a person with a disability can move around and use well (Scott, 1990). A readily accessible aquatics facility is one that already has ample parking for people with disabilities, an easily identifiable route into the facility, pools with handrails and ramps, braille signs, family restrooms, and usable lifts or movable pool floors.
Readily Achievable
Readily achievable refers to the ease with which a facility can remove a barrier. If the barrier can be removed easily, it is considered readily achievable. Examples of readily achievable modifications that an aquatics facility can make include removing bolted-down benches and lowering hooks in locker rooms, purchasing a Transfer Tier for getting into the pool, printing aquatics manuals in braille, removing concrete door risers between shower and locker areas, and removing footbath or water-collection troughs on decks or in showers.
Minimum Requirements
The ADA has changed the face of architecture in the United States and has allowed persons with disabilities to access previously inaccessible areas and programs. So why are there still questions about what the ADA does and does not mandate after years of its existence? It is because every facility has its own unique issues. The ADA standards of 2004 eliminated some of the uncertainty that surrounded what is and what is not accessible in relation to pools. These new amendments to the original guidelines include specifics for swimming pools, wading pools, and spas.
The ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) set the standard that is applied to buildings and facilities. They address only the built environment (structures and grounds). Reasonable accommodation in operational issues, procedures, and policies is not addressed in the ADAAG, but is a more nebulous area that relies on the spirit of the law and is not written in black and white. Best practice emerges from possible court decisions and standard of care in relation to health and safety practices. Program issues revolve around what is reasonable in reasonable accommodations, which is what the law intends for public accommodations in your aquatics facility. While the law attempts to level the playing field for persons with disabilities, providing them with equal accessibility to (in our case) aquatics programs, what is reasonable may differ from pool to pool, depending on the program. However, the ADA asks us to adapt our policies, facilities, and programs so that people with disabilities can participate with people without disabilities in mainstream American life.
To meet all pertinent legislation, where should you start? The first item on your list of things to do is to obtain a copy of Accessible Swimming Pools and Spas: A Summary of Accessibility Guidelines for Recreation Facilities, a manual published by the United States Access Board (2003). You may either download it (www.access-board.gov) or send for it by mail (1331 F Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20004-1111). This manual will guide you through the specific guidelines that were published in the Federal Register at 67 FR 56352 on September 3, 2002, and summarizes the applicable issues published later in the July 23, 2004, Federal Register. The accessibility guidelines are for newly constructed and altered recreation facilities, including swimming pools, wading pools, and spas. The manual also includes information on wave-action pools, leisure rivers, and sand-bottom pools. For a summary of these minimum requirements, see the sidebar Accessibility Guidelines for Swimming Pools on this page.
You may be wondering how much a pool has to be altered in order for the work to be deemed an alteration by the ADA. Alterations are changes that affect the usability of a pool and are not just "safe maintenance" type of work (Peggy Greenwell, personal communication, April 26, 2004). The Access Board addresses the issue of accessibility for existing recreation facilities on its Web site (www.access-board.gov/recreation/final.htm) and in the Federal Register dated September 3, 2002. In summary, Title II of the ADA obliges state and local governments providing recreation facilities and Title III obliges private entities providing recreation facilities to remove architectural barriers in existing facilities where it is readily achievable. Existing pools have an obligation to the U.S. Justice Department to remove barriers over time to provide access.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming, Second Edition.
Careful instruction lessens chance of immature skills in individuals with ADD
ADD is a common condition in children. Use these tips to ensure the safety of participants and to create a rich learning experience.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.
Monica Lepore discusses how she got into the field of adapted aquatics
Monica Lepore is the author of Advanced Aquatics Programming.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.
Legislation increases aquatics opportunities for individuals with disabilities
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community.
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community. In addition, legislation has created funding opportunities to subsidize local and state fiscal concerns for renovating existing structures and constructing new facilities. Individuals with disabilities not only are more visible but also are more vocal, as the laws have empowered them to make their own decisions and achieve greater independence. The motto "nothing about us, without us" has resulted in individuals with disabilities demanding more stringent laws and landmark access decisions. As accommodating people with disabilities is a rapidly developing area of the law, programs should seek professional advice as to current regulations and allowable exceptions.
Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 and Rehabilitation Act of 1973
In 1968, the U.S. Congress passed the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA), which required U.S. buildings and facilities to be accessible if they were designed, built, or altered with certain federal funds or if they were leased for occupancy by federal agencies (www.access-board.gov/ada-aba/index.htm). In 1973, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act was enacted. It mandated that all programs and facilities receiving federal support must be made accessible to individuals with disabilities. Consequently, federally funded organizations removed architectural barriers to people with disabilities and the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board developed accessibility codes. Many services became available for the first time to people with disabilities. For example, federally funded organizations made parking spaces, bathrooms, university classrooms, government offices, and recreational facilities accessible. Specific to aquatics, all federally funded facilities had to make their pools accessible through such means as hydraulic lifts or sloped entries (figure 1.4).
Individuals With Disabilities Education Act
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) began as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975. This federal legislation continued the thrust of the ABA and the Rehabilitation Act in integrating individuals with disabilities into society. It mandated free and appropriate public education, including special education, in the least-restrictive environment. As stated in the U.S. Federal Register, a government publication that contains regulations pertaining to laws, special education is defined as instruction that is specially designed to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities. This instruction includes physical education. Physical education is defined as
(I) the development of: (A) physical and motor fitness; (B) fundamental motor skills and patterns; and (C) instruction in aquatics, dance, individual and group games, and sports (including intramural and lifetime sports). (Federal Register, 1977a)
Including aquatics in the definition of physical education provides schools with the option of including swimming in the curriculum for students with disabilities (figure 1.5) and gives families the right to access school swimming programs in which children without disabilities are granted instruction.
Another important aspect of this law is the Individualized Education Program (IEP), which helps to make a child's education appropriate. This document, assembled by educators, related service professionals, and parents, plots the goals a student is expected to accomplish within the educational environment as well as the steps necessary to achieve these goals. Small group instruction, one-on-one assistants, and modifications to the general curriculum may be spelled out in the IEP. If aquatics is not specifically mentioned on the IEP, it is not a required school service.
It would be remiss to mention Public Law (PL) 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, without discussing some of its important amendments and reauthorizations: PL 99-457, PL 101-476, PL 105-17, and PL 108-446 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Inprovement Act, or IDEIA). PL 99-457, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (reauthorization of 1980), expanded the age range covered by the law from 3 to 21 to include infants and toddlers from birth to 3 years old. Accordingly, parents of young children with disabilities and personnel of early intervention programs may seek community aquatics programs as appropriate motor activities for young children. By becoming familiar with these laws, you can better meet the special needs of infants and toddlers with disabilities.
You should also be familiar with the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), which was a result of PL 99-457. The IFSP contains individual goals, objectives, and methods for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their family and service providers. Some tips for working with children under 3 years old are given on page 63.
PL 101-476, IDEA, was enacted in 1990 as an amendment to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. PL 101-476 changed the term handicapped to individuals with disabilities, added autism and traumatic brain injury as disability categories, and stressed the importance of transitional services within the IEP. Thus, the IEP must now include goals, objectives, and a plan for the transition into the community. This plan, called the Individualized Transition Plan, projects what skills participants should have when they leave the school. Transition refers to crossing the gaps (a) between infant, toddler, and preschool programs and school programs and (b) between high school programs and lifetime pursuits. As an aquatics instructor in a school or community facility, you might be called on to contribute to such a plan, especially for a young adult. Seize these opportunities whenever possible. After all, what better lifetime recreational pursuit is there than aquatics?
PL 105-17 and PL 108-446 were the IDEA amendments and reauthorizations of 1997 and 2004. PL 105-17 extended developmental delay to ages 3 to 9 years (you can now place preschool and elementary school children within this disability category rather than just infants and toddlers). PL 108-446 slightly modified the benchmark and objectives section of the IEP and emphasized that highly qualified professionals provide service to students with disabilities. It also added Tourette's syndrome to the list of other health impairments for students who are considered to have a disability.
The laws thus far described in this section focused on school or federally funded programs and buildings. The Americans with Disabilities Act, described in the next section, has implications for all school and community, public, and private facilities that are open to the public.
Americans With Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), PL 101-336, was passed in 1990 and mandated the elimination of discrimination against 54 million American citizens with disabilities. Its standards are enforced by the federal government (Center for an Accessible Society, 2004). The ADA has widespread implications for almost every area of life in the United States, including recreation and aquatics. The law makes illegal all discrimination based on disability and provides for access to the goods and services of the United States. It covers employment, public services, transportation, public accommodations, services of private entities, telecommunications, and activities of state and local governments (www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/ pubs/ada.txt). The section of the ADA dealing with public accommodations (Title III) has the greatest effect on aquatics participation by individuals with disabilities. The specific terminology and intent of Title III clearly apply to the aquatic realm. In the following sections, we'll look closely at the specific terminology of this all-encompassing law and then summarize its minimum requirements.
Qualified Individual
The U.S. Congress adopted the definition of disability first used in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Federal Register, 1991). The law defines a qualified individual as a person with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of life's major activities (www.ada.gov). Major life activities include self-care, manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working. Individuals with mobility or sensory impairments, mental retardation, and other mental and physical impairments as well as those with hidden disabilities such as diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, heart disease, mental illness, and HIV are all covered by this law. In addition, the law includes people who have a previous record of having an impairment (e.g., cancer in remission) and people perceived by others as disabled, such as those who are HIV positive but asymptomatic (Scott, 1990).
In Title III, a qualified person is one who meets the ADA definition of being a person with a disability and who has the prerequisite skills for participation in a given physical activity (Dummer, 2003a). An individual assessment of skills is the gold standard for determining who is a qualified person under Title III. Some experts use an informed consent document to advise participants of the risks of a physical activity if an individual assessment is impossible (Dummer, 2003a).
Reasonable Accommodation
Although reasonable accommodation is not firmly defined in the ADA, experts consider it to be an action that provides access to individuals with disabilities by modifying previous policies, procedures, and practices. The law specifically addresses discrimination in public accommodations and in services operated by private entities. An organization cannot exclude a person from participating in services, programs, or activities solely because of her disability. If the person is otherwise qualified for a reasonable accommodation, then an organization, school, place of business, or community agency must allow the individual access to the programs and facilities (Sullivan, Lantz, & Zirkel, 2000). The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted reasonable accommodations as those that do not require organizations "to lower or to effect substantial modifications of standards to accommodate" students with disabilities (Southeastern Community College v. Davis, 1979, p. 413) and that do not "impose undue financial and administrative burdens or require a fundamental alteration in the nature of the program" (School Board of Nassau County v. Arline, 1987).
There are certain exceptions to having to provide reasonable accommodations that must be judged one case at a time. Some exceptions include the following:
- When an individual does not meet the criteria of a qualified person with a disability
- When an individual does not meet the qualifications to participate in the activity (i.e., a time cut in the swim trials)
- When an individual's participation creates reasonable probability of substantial risk to himself or others
- When program modifications significantly alter the primary purpose of the set aquatics program (e.g., a competitive diving meet may not be able to reasonably accommodate a person with atlantoaxial instability, for whom diving is contraindicated)
Must-read materials on this subject include the article "Reasonable Accommodations for Swimmers with Disabilities" by Gail Dummer in Palaestra (Dummer, 2003a, pp. 44-45) and the article "Leveling the Playing Field or Leveling the Players? Section 504, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Interscholastic Sports" in the Journal of Special Education (Sullivan et al., 2000).
The way to make modifications and reasonable accommodations depends on many variables, such as the specific disability issues for each person, the programs and facilities that the person wants to access, the amount of time given to make the accommodation, the dollar amount of the accommodation, and the amount of support in the program and facility administration. These variables may affect the method that a pool operator uses to make a change for a given participant, but the pool operator must make accommodations no matter what the variables.
The spirit of the ADA suggests that we should do what we can to allow people with disabilities to participate as much as possible in a given program while ensuring the safety of all participants and maintaining the intent of the program. The safety of all participants is an important concept in the aquatic realm. While some program accommodations might seem reasonable to a participant with a disability, a safety rule might prevent these accommodations. You need to judge whether the rule is for the actual safety of participants and cannot be modified or whether it is in place for crowd control. For example, a person who uses a prosthetic limb might want to remove her prosthesis in the locker room and then hop to the pool edge, but doing so would be a safety hazard because of wet pool decks. Making an accommodation such as providing a sitting bench close to the steps or poolside would allow this person to use her prosthesis while approaching the pool edge and it would also give her a place to keep it dry while she is swimming.
Sometimes the aquatics staff may be unsure of what to do about a request for an accommodation or may believe that the accommodation is unreasonable. The staff may feel that the participant is not appropriate for the program or class for which the accommodation is being requested due to a lack of prerequisites or that the request is outside of the realm of the class or program. An example of this is a person who has Down syndrome with atlantoaxial instability who wishes to dive but because of the instability in the cervical area of his neck is not allowed to dive. His family applied to a diving camp and asked for reasonable accommodations for the child. They stated that the child could learn the basics of the approach, hurdle, and streamlined entry with a jump. While the spirit of the ADA suggests that using a jump as a modification to a dive might be possible, an accommodation does not need to be made if it subverts the fundamental nature of the activity. Diving is diving, not jumping. In good faith, the child could be served if he understands that he is not allowed to dive, but as a person with cognitive involvement who may make a poor decision and try to dive from the board, it is not in his best interest to be at this camp.
Courts consider it discrimination to place a person in a segregated aquatics program based on her disability rather than on her ability. This means that a facility cannot offer a person with a disability only the segregated, adapted program. The segregated program may be the one that is chosen by the participant, caregivers, and aquatics instructor, but stereotyping an individual and forcing her to accept an adapted program is not permissible. One of the purposes of the ADA is to integrate individuals with disabilities into the mainstream of society. Therefore, the staff of each facility needs to assess program admission policies, looking for possible barriers to participation. Some examples of reasonable accommodations in aquatics programs include the following:
- Providing flotation devices for individuals who cannot stand on the bottom of the pool while they wait for instructions during swim lessons (e.g., for people with paraplegia or dwarfism)
- Allowing a person who has a urine bag to wear long, baggy shorts over the swimsuit to avoid embarrassment
- Allowing an aide to participate, at no additional cost, with an individual who needs support
- Providing a water chair and incorporating arm movements into water aerobic classes for people with lower-body impairments
- Designating an area on deck for guide dogs, crutches, wheelchairs, and other mobility equipment
- Installing nonskid carpet from the shower area to the pool ladder for individuals who need such help for balance, crutch traction, orientation, or mobility
- Providing auxiliary aids and services, such as alternative formats (e.g., braille, computer disk), for registrations, handouts, and certificates
- Providing family and caregiver restrooms and changing areas for caregivers of the opposite gender so that they are able to provide assistance
- Removing requirements that discriminate, such as a height requirement of being able to stand on the bottom of the pool, which individuals who use wheelchairs or have dwarfism may not be able to meet
It is not acceptable to claim the inconvenience or inaccessibility of a facility as an inhibitor to participation. You cannot claim that a program is unavailable because the staff is untrained. Further, your program must avoid barriers of omission, or overlooking the special needs of certain individuals. An example of omission is circulating a program flyer that does not include accessibility information and therefore will not attract individuals with disabilities. The ADA supports that a program should have an attitude of accessibility and should seek knowledge of how to serve individuals with disabilities.
Undue Hardship
An undue hardship defines situations in which trying to accommodate an individual or to provide general access would lead to profound costs or difficulty for an organization in respect to its size and financial resources. A small nonprofit organization, for example, might have such a narrow pool deck that it cannot fit a transfer lift into the area to make it accessible. To make the necessary accommodations, this organization would need to build a new addition, knocking down the wall to extend the deck. The organization may, in this case, plead undue hardship, although "federal tax credits and deductions are available to private entities for architectural barrier removal in existing facilities. Federal funds are also available through the Community Development Block Grant Program to remove barriers in existing facilities. Entities requesting guidance on their obligations for existing facilities should contact the Department of Justice" (www.access-board.gov). Organizations that believe that their financial situation would be overwhelmed by the cost of complying with the law can apply for an exception to the law and show how the modifications pose an undue financial burden. In many cases, however, organizations can make reasonable accommodations.
Readily Accessible
The ADA law uses the phrase readily accessible to describe a facility that is easily and immediately usable-in other words, a facility in which a person with a disability can move around and use well (Scott, 1990). A readily accessible aquatics facility is one that already has ample parking for people with disabilities, an easily identifiable route into the facility, pools with handrails and ramps, braille signs, family restrooms, and usable lifts or movable pool floors.
Readily Achievable
Readily achievable refers to the ease with which a facility can remove a barrier. If the barrier can be removed easily, it is considered readily achievable. Examples of readily achievable modifications that an aquatics facility can make include removing bolted-down benches and lowering hooks in locker rooms, purchasing a Transfer Tier for getting into the pool, printing aquatics manuals in braille, removing concrete door risers between shower and locker areas, and removing footbath or water-collection troughs on decks or in showers.
Minimum Requirements
The ADA has changed the face of architecture in the United States and has allowed persons with disabilities to access previously inaccessible areas and programs. So why are there still questions about what the ADA does and does not mandate after years of its existence? It is because every facility has its own unique issues. The ADA standards of 2004 eliminated some of the uncertainty that surrounded what is and what is not accessible in relation to pools. These new amendments to the original guidelines include specifics for swimming pools, wading pools, and spas.
The ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) set the standard that is applied to buildings and facilities. They address only the built environment (structures and grounds). Reasonable accommodation in operational issues, procedures, and policies is not addressed in the ADAAG, but is a more nebulous area that relies on the spirit of the law and is not written in black and white. Best practice emerges from possible court decisions and standard of care in relation to health and safety practices. Program issues revolve around what is reasonable in reasonable accommodations, which is what the law intends for public accommodations in your aquatics facility. While the law attempts to level the playing field for persons with disabilities, providing them with equal accessibility to (in our case) aquatics programs, what is reasonable may differ from pool to pool, depending on the program. However, the ADA asks us to adapt our policies, facilities, and programs so that people with disabilities can participate with people without disabilities in mainstream American life.
To meet all pertinent legislation, where should you start? The first item on your list of things to do is to obtain a copy of Accessible Swimming Pools and Spas: A Summary of Accessibility Guidelines for Recreation Facilities, a manual published by the United States Access Board (2003). You may either download it (www.access-board.gov) or send for it by mail (1331 F Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20004-1111). This manual will guide you through the specific guidelines that were published in the Federal Register at 67 FR 56352 on September 3, 2002, and summarizes the applicable issues published later in the July 23, 2004, Federal Register. The accessibility guidelines are for newly constructed and altered recreation facilities, including swimming pools, wading pools, and spas. The manual also includes information on wave-action pools, leisure rivers, and sand-bottom pools. For a summary of these minimum requirements, see the sidebar Accessibility Guidelines for Swimming Pools on this page.
You may be wondering how much a pool has to be altered in order for the work to be deemed an alteration by the ADA. Alterations are changes that affect the usability of a pool and are not just "safe maintenance" type of work (Peggy Greenwell, personal communication, April 26, 2004). The Access Board addresses the issue of accessibility for existing recreation facilities on its Web site (www.access-board.gov/recreation/final.htm) and in the Federal Register dated September 3, 2002. In summary, Title II of the ADA obliges state and local governments providing recreation facilities and Title III obliges private entities providing recreation facilities to remove architectural barriers in existing facilities where it is readily achievable. Existing pools have an obligation to the U.S. Justice Department to remove barriers over time to provide access.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming, Second Edition.
Careful instruction lessens chance of immature skills in individuals with ADD
ADD is a common condition in children. Use these tips to ensure the safety of participants and to create a rich learning experience.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.
Monica Lepore discusses how she got into the field of adapted aquatics
Monica Lepore is the author of Advanced Aquatics Programming.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.
Legislation increases aquatics opportunities for individuals with disabilities
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community.
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community. In addition, legislation has created funding opportunities to subsidize local and state fiscal concerns for renovating existing structures and constructing new facilities. Individuals with disabilities not only are more visible but also are more vocal, as the laws have empowered them to make their own decisions and achieve greater independence. The motto "nothing about us, without us" has resulted in individuals with disabilities demanding more stringent laws and landmark access decisions. As accommodating people with disabilities is a rapidly developing area of the law, programs should seek professional advice as to current regulations and allowable exceptions.
Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 and Rehabilitation Act of 1973
In 1968, the U.S. Congress passed the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA), which required U.S. buildings and facilities to be accessible if they were designed, built, or altered with certain federal funds or if they were leased for occupancy by federal agencies (www.access-board.gov/ada-aba/index.htm). In 1973, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act was enacted. It mandated that all programs and facilities receiving federal support must be made accessible to individuals with disabilities. Consequently, federally funded organizations removed architectural barriers to people with disabilities and the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board developed accessibility codes. Many services became available for the first time to people with disabilities. For example, federally funded organizations made parking spaces, bathrooms, university classrooms, government offices, and recreational facilities accessible. Specific to aquatics, all federally funded facilities had to make their pools accessible through such means as hydraulic lifts or sloped entries (figure 1.4).
Individuals With Disabilities Education Act
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) began as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975. This federal legislation continued the thrust of the ABA and the Rehabilitation Act in integrating individuals with disabilities into society. It mandated free and appropriate public education, including special education, in the least-restrictive environment. As stated in the U.S. Federal Register, a government publication that contains regulations pertaining to laws, special education is defined as instruction that is specially designed to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities. This instruction includes physical education. Physical education is defined as
(I) the development of: (A) physical and motor fitness; (B) fundamental motor skills and patterns; and (C) instruction in aquatics, dance, individual and group games, and sports (including intramural and lifetime sports). (Federal Register, 1977a)
Including aquatics in the definition of physical education provides schools with the option of including swimming in the curriculum for students with disabilities (figure 1.5) and gives families the right to access school swimming programs in which children without disabilities are granted instruction.
Another important aspect of this law is the Individualized Education Program (IEP), which helps to make a child's education appropriate. This document, assembled by educators, related service professionals, and parents, plots the goals a student is expected to accomplish within the educational environment as well as the steps necessary to achieve these goals. Small group instruction, one-on-one assistants, and modifications to the general curriculum may be spelled out in the IEP. If aquatics is not specifically mentioned on the IEP, it is not a required school service.
It would be remiss to mention Public Law (PL) 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, without discussing some of its important amendments and reauthorizations: PL 99-457, PL 101-476, PL 105-17, and PL 108-446 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Inprovement Act, or IDEIA). PL 99-457, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (reauthorization of 1980), expanded the age range covered by the law from 3 to 21 to include infants and toddlers from birth to 3 years old. Accordingly, parents of young children with disabilities and personnel of early intervention programs may seek community aquatics programs as appropriate motor activities for young children. By becoming familiar with these laws, you can better meet the special needs of infants and toddlers with disabilities.
You should also be familiar with the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), which was a result of PL 99-457. The IFSP contains individual goals, objectives, and methods for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their family and service providers. Some tips for working with children under 3 years old are given on page 63.
PL 101-476, IDEA, was enacted in 1990 as an amendment to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. PL 101-476 changed the term handicapped to individuals with disabilities, added autism and traumatic brain injury as disability categories, and stressed the importance of transitional services within the IEP. Thus, the IEP must now include goals, objectives, and a plan for the transition into the community. This plan, called the Individualized Transition Plan, projects what skills participants should have when they leave the school. Transition refers to crossing the gaps (a) between infant, toddler, and preschool programs and school programs and (b) between high school programs and lifetime pursuits. As an aquatics instructor in a school or community facility, you might be called on to contribute to such a plan, especially for a young adult. Seize these opportunities whenever possible. After all, what better lifetime recreational pursuit is there than aquatics?
PL 105-17 and PL 108-446 were the IDEA amendments and reauthorizations of 1997 and 2004. PL 105-17 extended developmental delay to ages 3 to 9 years (you can now place preschool and elementary school children within this disability category rather than just infants and toddlers). PL 108-446 slightly modified the benchmark and objectives section of the IEP and emphasized that highly qualified professionals provide service to students with disabilities. It also added Tourette's syndrome to the list of other health impairments for students who are considered to have a disability.
The laws thus far described in this section focused on school or federally funded programs and buildings. The Americans with Disabilities Act, described in the next section, has implications for all school and community, public, and private facilities that are open to the public.
Americans With Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), PL 101-336, was passed in 1990 and mandated the elimination of discrimination against 54 million American citizens with disabilities. Its standards are enforced by the federal government (Center for an Accessible Society, 2004). The ADA has widespread implications for almost every area of life in the United States, including recreation and aquatics. The law makes illegal all discrimination based on disability and provides for access to the goods and services of the United States. It covers employment, public services, transportation, public accommodations, services of private entities, telecommunications, and activities of state and local governments (www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/ pubs/ada.txt). The section of the ADA dealing with public accommodations (Title III) has the greatest effect on aquatics participation by individuals with disabilities. The specific terminology and intent of Title III clearly apply to the aquatic realm. In the following sections, we'll look closely at the specific terminology of this all-encompassing law and then summarize its minimum requirements.
Qualified Individual
The U.S. Congress adopted the definition of disability first used in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Federal Register, 1991). The law defines a qualified individual as a person with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of life's major activities (www.ada.gov). Major life activities include self-care, manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working. Individuals with mobility or sensory impairments, mental retardation, and other mental and physical impairments as well as those with hidden disabilities such as diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, heart disease, mental illness, and HIV are all covered by this law. In addition, the law includes people who have a previous record of having an impairment (e.g., cancer in remission) and people perceived by others as disabled, such as those who are HIV positive but asymptomatic (Scott, 1990).
In Title III, a qualified person is one who meets the ADA definition of being a person with a disability and who has the prerequisite skills for participation in a given physical activity (Dummer, 2003a). An individual assessment of skills is the gold standard for determining who is a qualified person under Title III. Some experts use an informed consent document to advise participants of the risks of a physical activity if an individual assessment is impossible (Dummer, 2003a).
Reasonable Accommodation
Although reasonable accommodation is not firmly defined in the ADA, experts consider it to be an action that provides access to individuals with disabilities by modifying previous policies, procedures, and practices. The law specifically addresses discrimination in public accommodations and in services operated by private entities. An organization cannot exclude a person from participating in services, programs, or activities solely because of her disability. If the person is otherwise qualified for a reasonable accommodation, then an organization, school, place of business, or community agency must allow the individual access to the programs and facilities (Sullivan, Lantz, & Zirkel, 2000). The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted reasonable accommodations as those that do not require organizations "to lower or to effect substantial modifications of standards to accommodate" students with disabilities (Southeastern Community College v. Davis, 1979, p. 413) and that do not "impose undue financial and administrative burdens or require a fundamental alteration in the nature of the program" (School Board of Nassau County v. Arline, 1987).
There are certain exceptions to having to provide reasonable accommodations that must be judged one case at a time. Some exceptions include the following:
- When an individual does not meet the criteria of a qualified person with a disability
- When an individual does not meet the qualifications to participate in the activity (i.e., a time cut in the swim trials)
- When an individual's participation creates reasonable probability of substantial risk to himself or others
- When program modifications significantly alter the primary purpose of the set aquatics program (e.g., a competitive diving meet may not be able to reasonably accommodate a person with atlantoaxial instability, for whom diving is contraindicated)
Must-read materials on this subject include the article "Reasonable Accommodations for Swimmers with Disabilities" by Gail Dummer in Palaestra (Dummer, 2003a, pp. 44-45) and the article "Leveling the Playing Field or Leveling the Players? Section 504, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Interscholastic Sports" in the Journal of Special Education (Sullivan et al., 2000).
The way to make modifications and reasonable accommodations depends on many variables, such as the specific disability issues for each person, the programs and facilities that the person wants to access, the amount of time given to make the accommodation, the dollar amount of the accommodation, and the amount of support in the program and facility administration. These variables may affect the method that a pool operator uses to make a change for a given participant, but the pool operator must make accommodations no matter what the variables.
The spirit of the ADA suggests that we should do what we can to allow people with disabilities to participate as much as possible in a given program while ensuring the safety of all participants and maintaining the intent of the program. The safety of all participants is an important concept in the aquatic realm. While some program accommodations might seem reasonable to a participant with a disability, a safety rule might prevent these accommodations. You need to judge whether the rule is for the actual safety of participants and cannot be modified or whether it is in place for crowd control. For example, a person who uses a prosthetic limb might want to remove her prosthesis in the locker room and then hop to the pool edge, but doing so would be a safety hazard because of wet pool decks. Making an accommodation such as providing a sitting bench close to the steps or poolside would allow this person to use her prosthesis while approaching the pool edge and it would also give her a place to keep it dry while she is swimming.
Sometimes the aquatics staff may be unsure of what to do about a request for an accommodation or may believe that the accommodation is unreasonable. The staff may feel that the participant is not appropriate for the program or class for which the accommodation is being requested due to a lack of prerequisites or that the request is outside of the realm of the class or program. An example of this is a person who has Down syndrome with atlantoaxial instability who wishes to dive but because of the instability in the cervical area of his neck is not allowed to dive. His family applied to a diving camp and asked for reasonable accommodations for the child. They stated that the child could learn the basics of the approach, hurdle, and streamlined entry with a jump. While the spirit of the ADA suggests that using a jump as a modification to a dive might be possible, an accommodation does not need to be made if it subverts the fundamental nature of the activity. Diving is diving, not jumping. In good faith, the child could be served if he understands that he is not allowed to dive, but as a person with cognitive involvement who may make a poor decision and try to dive from the board, it is not in his best interest to be at this camp.
Courts consider it discrimination to place a person in a segregated aquatics program based on her disability rather than on her ability. This means that a facility cannot offer a person with a disability only the segregated, adapted program. The segregated program may be the one that is chosen by the participant, caregivers, and aquatics instructor, but stereotyping an individual and forcing her to accept an adapted program is not permissible. One of the purposes of the ADA is to integrate individuals with disabilities into the mainstream of society. Therefore, the staff of each facility needs to assess program admission policies, looking for possible barriers to participation. Some examples of reasonable accommodations in aquatics programs include the following:
- Providing flotation devices for individuals who cannot stand on the bottom of the pool while they wait for instructions during swim lessons (e.g., for people with paraplegia or dwarfism)
- Allowing a person who has a urine bag to wear long, baggy shorts over the swimsuit to avoid embarrassment
- Allowing an aide to participate, at no additional cost, with an individual who needs support
- Providing a water chair and incorporating arm movements into water aerobic classes for people with lower-body impairments
- Designating an area on deck for guide dogs, crutches, wheelchairs, and other mobility equipment
- Installing nonskid carpet from the shower area to the pool ladder for individuals who need such help for balance, crutch traction, orientation, or mobility
- Providing auxiliary aids and services, such as alternative formats (e.g., braille, computer disk), for registrations, handouts, and certificates
- Providing family and caregiver restrooms and changing areas for caregivers of the opposite gender so that they are able to provide assistance
- Removing requirements that discriminate, such as a height requirement of being able to stand on the bottom of the pool, which individuals who use wheelchairs or have dwarfism may not be able to meet
It is not acceptable to claim the inconvenience or inaccessibility of a facility as an inhibitor to participation. You cannot claim that a program is unavailable because the staff is untrained. Further, your program must avoid barriers of omission, or overlooking the special needs of certain individuals. An example of omission is circulating a program flyer that does not include accessibility information and therefore will not attract individuals with disabilities. The ADA supports that a program should have an attitude of accessibility and should seek knowledge of how to serve individuals with disabilities.
Undue Hardship
An undue hardship defines situations in which trying to accommodate an individual or to provide general access would lead to profound costs or difficulty for an organization in respect to its size and financial resources. A small nonprofit organization, for example, might have such a narrow pool deck that it cannot fit a transfer lift into the area to make it accessible. To make the necessary accommodations, this organization would need to build a new addition, knocking down the wall to extend the deck. The organization may, in this case, plead undue hardship, although "federal tax credits and deductions are available to private entities for architectural barrier removal in existing facilities. Federal funds are also available through the Community Development Block Grant Program to remove barriers in existing facilities. Entities requesting guidance on their obligations for existing facilities should contact the Department of Justice" (www.access-board.gov). Organizations that believe that their financial situation would be overwhelmed by the cost of complying with the law can apply for an exception to the law and show how the modifications pose an undue financial burden. In many cases, however, organizations can make reasonable accommodations.
Readily Accessible
The ADA law uses the phrase readily accessible to describe a facility that is easily and immediately usable-in other words, a facility in which a person with a disability can move around and use well (Scott, 1990). A readily accessible aquatics facility is one that already has ample parking for people with disabilities, an easily identifiable route into the facility, pools with handrails and ramps, braille signs, family restrooms, and usable lifts or movable pool floors.
Readily Achievable
Readily achievable refers to the ease with which a facility can remove a barrier. If the barrier can be removed easily, it is considered readily achievable. Examples of readily achievable modifications that an aquatics facility can make include removing bolted-down benches and lowering hooks in locker rooms, purchasing a Transfer Tier for getting into the pool, printing aquatics manuals in braille, removing concrete door risers between shower and locker areas, and removing footbath or water-collection troughs on decks or in showers.
Minimum Requirements
The ADA has changed the face of architecture in the United States and has allowed persons with disabilities to access previously inaccessible areas and programs. So why are there still questions about what the ADA does and does not mandate after years of its existence? It is because every facility has its own unique issues. The ADA standards of 2004 eliminated some of the uncertainty that surrounded what is and what is not accessible in relation to pools. These new amendments to the original guidelines include specifics for swimming pools, wading pools, and spas.
The ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) set the standard that is applied to buildings and facilities. They address only the built environment (structures and grounds). Reasonable accommodation in operational issues, procedures, and policies is not addressed in the ADAAG, but is a more nebulous area that relies on the spirit of the law and is not written in black and white. Best practice emerges from possible court decisions and standard of care in relation to health and safety practices. Program issues revolve around what is reasonable in reasonable accommodations, which is what the law intends for public accommodations in your aquatics facility. While the law attempts to level the playing field for persons with disabilities, providing them with equal accessibility to (in our case) aquatics programs, what is reasonable may differ from pool to pool, depending on the program. However, the ADA asks us to adapt our policies, facilities, and programs so that people with disabilities can participate with people without disabilities in mainstream American life.
To meet all pertinent legislation, where should you start? The first item on your list of things to do is to obtain a copy of Accessible Swimming Pools and Spas: A Summary of Accessibility Guidelines for Recreation Facilities, a manual published by the United States Access Board (2003). You may either download it (www.access-board.gov) or send for it by mail (1331 F Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20004-1111). This manual will guide you through the specific guidelines that were published in the Federal Register at 67 FR 56352 on September 3, 2002, and summarizes the applicable issues published later in the July 23, 2004, Federal Register. The accessibility guidelines are for newly constructed and altered recreation facilities, including swimming pools, wading pools, and spas. The manual also includes information on wave-action pools, leisure rivers, and sand-bottom pools. For a summary of these minimum requirements, see the sidebar Accessibility Guidelines for Swimming Pools on this page.
You may be wondering how much a pool has to be altered in order for the work to be deemed an alteration by the ADA. Alterations are changes that affect the usability of a pool and are not just "safe maintenance" type of work (Peggy Greenwell, personal communication, April 26, 2004). The Access Board addresses the issue of accessibility for existing recreation facilities on its Web site (www.access-board.gov/recreation/final.htm) and in the Federal Register dated September 3, 2002. In summary, Title II of the ADA obliges state and local governments providing recreation facilities and Title III obliges private entities providing recreation facilities to remove architectural barriers in existing facilities where it is readily achievable. Existing pools have an obligation to the U.S. Justice Department to remove barriers over time to provide access.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming, Second Edition.
Careful instruction lessens chance of immature skills in individuals with ADD
ADD is a common condition in children. Use these tips to ensure the safety of participants and to create a rich learning experience.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.
Monica Lepore discusses how she got into the field of adapted aquatics
Monica Lepore is the author of Advanced Aquatics Programming.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.
Legislation increases aquatics opportunities for individuals with disabilities
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community.
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community. In addition, legislation has created funding opportunities to subsidize local and state fiscal concerns for renovating existing structures and constructing new facilities. Individuals with disabilities not only are more visible but also are more vocal, as the laws have empowered them to make their own decisions and achieve greater independence. The motto "nothing about us, without us" has resulted in individuals with disabilities demanding more stringent laws and landmark access decisions. As accommodating people with disabilities is a rapidly developing area of the law, programs should seek professional advice as to current regulations and allowable exceptions.
Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 and Rehabilitation Act of 1973
In 1968, the U.S. Congress passed the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA), which required U.S. buildings and facilities to be accessible if they were designed, built, or altered with certain federal funds or if they were leased for occupancy by federal agencies (www.access-board.gov/ada-aba/index.htm). In 1973, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act was enacted. It mandated that all programs and facilities receiving federal support must be made accessible to individuals with disabilities. Consequently, federally funded organizations removed architectural barriers to people with disabilities and the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board developed accessibility codes. Many services became available for the first time to people with disabilities. For example, federally funded organizations made parking spaces, bathrooms, university classrooms, government offices, and recreational facilities accessible. Specific to aquatics, all federally funded facilities had to make their pools accessible through such means as hydraulic lifts or sloped entries (figure 1.4).
Individuals With Disabilities Education Act
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) began as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975. This federal legislation continued the thrust of the ABA and the Rehabilitation Act in integrating individuals with disabilities into society. It mandated free and appropriate public education, including special education, in the least-restrictive environment. As stated in the U.S. Federal Register, a government publication that contains regulations pertaining to laws, special education is defined as instruction that is specially designed to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities. This instruction includes physical education. Physical education is defined as
(I) the development of: (A) physical and motor fitness; (B) fundamental motor skills and patterns; and (C) instruction in aquatics, dance, individual and group games, and sports (including intramural and lifetime sports). (Federal Register, 1977a)
Including aquatics in the definition of physical education provides schools with the option of including swimming in the curriculum for students with disabilities (figure 1.5) and gives families the right to access school swimming programs in which children without disabilities are granted instruction.
Another important aspect of this law is the Individualized Education Program (IEP), which helps to make a child's education appropriate. This document, assembled by educators, related service professionals, and parents, plots the goals a student is expected to accomplish within the educational environment as well as the steps necessary to achieve these goals. Small group instruction, one-on-one assistants, and modifications to the general curriculum may be spelled out in the IEP. If aquatics is not specifically mentioned on the IEP, it is not a required school service.
It would be remiss to mention Public Law (PL) 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, without discussing some of its important amendments and reauthorizations: PL 99-457, PL 101-476, PL 105-17, and PL 108-446 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Inprovement Act, or IDEIA). PL 99-457, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (reauthorization of 1980), expanded the age range covered by the law from 3 to 21 to include infants and toddlers from birth to 3 years old. Accordingly, parents of young children with disabilities and personnel of early intervention programs may seek community aquatics programs as appropriate motor activities for young children. By becoming familiar with these laws, you can better meet the special needs of infants and toddlers with disabilities.
You should also be familiar with the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), which was a result of PL 99-457. The IFSP contains individual goals, objectives, and methods for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their family and service providers. Some tips for working with children under 3 years old are given on page 63.
PL 101-476, IDEA, was enacted in 1990 as an amendment to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. PL 101-476 changed the term handicapped to individuals with disabilities, added autism and traumatic brain injury as disability categories, and stressed the importance of transitional services within the IEP. Thus, the IEP must now include goals, objectives, and a plan for the transition into the community. This plan, called the Individualized Transition Plan, projects what skills participants should have when they leave the school. Transition refers to crossing the gaps (a) between infant, toddler, and preschool programs and school programs and (b) between high school programs and lifetime pursuits. As an aquatics instructor in a school or community facility, you might be called on to contribute to such a plan, especially for a young adult. Seize these opportunities whenever possible. After all, what better lifetime recreational pursuit is there than aquatics?
PL 105-17 and PL 108-446 were the IDEA amendments and reauthorizations of 1997 and 2004. PL 105-17 extended developmental delay to ages 3 to 9 years (you can now place preschool and elementary school children within this disability category rather than just infants and toddlers). PL 108-446 slightly modified the benchmark and objectives section of the IEP and emphasized that highly qualified professionals provide service to students with disabilities. It also added Tourette's syndrome to the list of other health impairments for students who are considered to have a disability.
The laws thus far described in this section focused on school or federally funded programs and buildings. The Americans with Disabilities Act, described in the next section, has implications for all school and community, public, and private facilities that are open to the public.
Americans With Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), PL 101-336, was passed in 1990 and mandated the elimination of discrimination against 54 million American citizens with disabilities. Its standards are enforced by the federal government (Center for an Accessible Society, 2004). The ADA has widespread implications for almost every area of life in the United States, including recreation and aquatics. The law makes illegal all discrimination based on disability and provides for access to the goods and services of the United States. It covers employment, public services, transportation, public accommodations, services of private entities, telecommunications, and activities of state and local governments (www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/ pubs/ada.txt). The section of the ADA dealing with public accommodations (Title III) has the greatest effect on aquatics participation by individuals with disabilities. The specific terminology and intent of Title III clearly apply to the aquatic realm. In the following sections, we'll look closely at the specific terminology of this all-encompassing law and then summarize its minimum requirements.
Qualified Individual
The U.S. Congress adopted the definition of disability first used in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Federal Register, 1991). The law defines a qualified individual as a person with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of life's major activities (www.ada.gov). Major life activities include self-care, manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working. Individuals with mobility or sensory impairments, mental retardation, and other mental and physical impairments as well as those with hidden disabilities such as diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, heart disease, mental illness, and HIV are all covered by this law. In addition, the law includes people who have a previous record of having an impairment (e.g., cancer in remission) and people perceived by others as disabled, such as those who are HIV positive but asymptomatic (Scott, 1990).
In Title III, a qualified person is one who meets the ADA definition of being a person with a disability and who has the prerequisite skills for participation in a given physical activity (Dummer, 2003a). An individual assessment of skills is the gold standard for determining who is a qualified person under Title III. Some experts use an informed consent document to advise participants of the risks of a physical activity if an individual assessment is impossible (Dummer, 2003a).
Reasonable Accommodation
Although reasonable accommodation is not firmly defined in the ADA, experts consider it to be an action that provides access to individuals with disabilities by modifying previous policies, procedures, and practices. The law specifically addresses discrimination in public accommodations and in services operated by private entities. An organization cannot exclude a person from participating in services, programs, or activities solely because of her disability. If the person is otherwise qualified for a reasonable accommodation, then an organization, school, place of business, or community agency must allow the individual access to the programs and facilities (Sullivan, Lantz, & Zirkel, 2000). The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted reasonable accommodations as those that do not require organizations "to lower or to effect substantial modifications of standards to accommodate" students with disabilities (Southeastern Community College v. Davis, 1979, p. 413) and that do not "impose undue financial and administrative burdens or require a fundamental alteration in the nature of the program" (School Board of Nassau County v. Arline, 1987).
There are certain exceptions to having to provide reasonable accommodations that must be judged one case at a time. Some exceptions include the following:
- When an individual does not meet the criteria of a qualified person with a disability
- When an individual does not meet the qualifications to participate in the activity (i.e., a time cut in the swim trials)
- When an individual's participation creates reasonable probability of substantial risk to himself or others
- When program modifications significantly alter the primary purpose of the set aquatics program (e.g., a competitive diving meet may not be able to reasonably accommodate a person with atlantoaxial instability, for whom diving is contraindicated)
Must-read materials on this subject include the article "Reasonable Accommodations for Swimmers with Disabilities" by Gail Dummer in Palaestra (Dummer, 2003a, pp. 44-45) and the article "Leveling the Playing Field or Leveling the Players? Section 504, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Interscholastic Sports" in the Journal of Special Education (Sullivan et al., 2000).
The way to make modifications and reasonable accommodations depends on many variables, such as the specific disability issues for each person, the programs and facilities that the person wants to access, the amount of time given to make the accommodation, the dollar amount of the accommodation, and the amount of support in the program and facility administration. These variables may affect the method that a pool operator uses to make a change for a given participant, but the pool operator must make accommodations no matter what the variables.
The spirit of the ADA suggests that we should do what we can to allow people with disabilities to participate as much as possible in a given program while ensuring the safety of all participants and maintaining the intent of the program. The safety of all participants is an important concept in the aquatic realm. While some program accommodations might seem reasonable to a participant with a disability, a safety rule might prevent these accommodations. You need to judge whether the rule is for the actual safety of participants and cannot be modified or whether it is in place for crowd control. For example, a person who uses a prosthetic limb might want to remove her prosthesis in the locker room and then hop to the pool edge, but doing so would be a safety hazard because of wet pool decks. Making an accommodation such as providing a sitting bench close to the steps or poolside would allow this person to use her prosthesis while approaching the pool edge and it would also give her a place to keep it dry while she is swimming.
Sometimes the aquatics staff may be unsure of what to do about a request for an accommodation or may believe that the accommodation is unreasonable. The staff may feel that the participant is not appropriate for the program or class for which the accommodation is being requested due to a lack of prerequisites or that the request is outside of the realm of the class or program. An example of this is a person who has Down syndrome with atlantoaxial instability who wishes to dive but because of the instability in the cervical area of his neck is not allowed to dive. His family applied to a diving camp and asked for reasonable accommodations for the child. They stated that the child could learn the basics of the approach, hurdle, and streamlined entry with a jump. While the spirit of the ADA suggests that using a jump as a modification to a dive might be possible, an accommodation does not need to be made if it subverts the fundamental nature of the activity. Diving is diving, not jumping. In good faith, the child could be served if he understands that he is not allowed to dive, but as a person with cognitive involvement who may make a poor decision and try to dive from the board, it is not in his best interest to be at this camp.
Courts consider it discrimination to place a person in a segregated aquatics program based on her disability rather than on her ability. This means that a facility cannot offer a person with a disability only the segregated, adapted program. The segregated program may be the one that is chosen by the participant, caregivers, and aquatics instructor, but stereotyping an individual and forcing her to accept an adapted program is not permissible. One of the purposes of the ADA is to integrate individuals with disabilities into the mainstream of society. Therefore, the staff of each facility needs to assess program admission policies, looking for possible barriers to participation. Some examples of reasonable accommodations in aquatics programs include the following:
- Providing flotation devices for individuals who cannot stand on the bottom of the pool while they wait for instructions during swim lessons (e.g., for people with paraplegia or dwarfism)
- Allowing a person who has a urine bag to wear long, baggy shorts over the swimsuit to avoid embarrassment
- Allowing an aide to participate, at no additional cost, with an individual who needs support
- Providing a water chair and incorporating arm movements into water aerobic classes for people with lower-body impairments
- Designating an area on deck for guide dogs, crutches, wheelchairs, and other mobility equipment
- Installing nonskid carpet from the shower area to the pool ladder for individuals who need such help for balance, crutch traction, orientation, or mobility
- Providing auxiliary aids and services, such as alternative formats (e.g., braille, computer disk), for registrations, handouts, and certificates
- Providing family and caregiver restrooms and changing areas for caregivers of the opposite gender so that they are able to provide assistance
- Removing requirements that discriminate, such as a height requirement of being able to stand on the bottom of the pool, which individuals who use wheelchairs or have dwarfism may not be able to meet
It is not acceptable to claim the inconvenience or inaccessibility of a facility as an inhibitor to participation. You cannot claim that a program is unavailable because the staff is untrained. Further, your program must avoid barriers of omission, or overlooking the special needs of certain individuals. An example of omission is circulating a program flyer that does not include accessibility information and therefore will not attract individuals with disabilities. The ADA supports that a program should have an attitude of accessibility and should seek knowledge of how to serve individuals with disabilities.
Undue Hardship
An undue hardship defines situations in which trying to accommodate an individual or to provide general access would lead to profound costs or difficulty for an organization in respect to its size and financial resources. A small nonprofit organization, for example, might have such a narrow pool deck that it cannot fit a transfer lift into the area to make it accessible. To make the necessary accommodations, this organization would need to build a new addition, knocking down the wall to extend the deck. The organization may, in this case, plead undue hardship, although "federal tax credits and deductions are available to private entities for architectural barrier removal in existing facilities. Federal funds are also available through the Community Development Block Grant Program to remove barriers in existing facilities. Entities requesting guidance on their obligations for existing facilities should contact the Department of Justice" (www.access-board.gov). Organizations that believe that their financial situation would be overwhelmed by the cost of complying with the law can apply for an exception to the law and show how the modifications pose an undue financial burden. In many cases, however, organizations can make reasonable accommodations.
Readily Accessible
The ADA law uses the phrase readily accessible to describe a facility that is easily and immediately usable-in other words, a facility in which a person with a disability can move around and use well (Scott, 1990). A readily accessible aquatics facility is one that already has ample parking for people with disabilities, an easily identifiable route into the facility, pools with handrails and ramps, braille signs, family restrooms, and usable lifts or movable pool floors.
Readily Achievable
Readily achievable refers to the ease with which a facility can remove a barrier. If the barrier can be removed easily, it is considered readily achievable. Examples of readily achievable modifications that an aquatics facility can make include removing bolted-down benches and lowering hooks in locker rooms, purchasing a Transfer Tier for getting into the pool, printing aquatics manuals in braille, removing concrete door risers between shower and locker areas, and removing footbath or water-collection troughs on decks or in showers.
Minimum Requirements
The ADA has changed the face of architecture in the United States and has allowed persons with disabilities to access previously inaccessible areas and programs. So why are there still questions about what the ADA does and does not mandate after years of its existence? It is because every facility has its own unique issues. The ADA standards of 2004 eliminated some of the uncertainty that surrounded what is and what is not accessible in relation to pools. These new amendments to the original guidelines include specifics for swimming pools, wading pools, and spas.
The ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) set the standard that is applied to buildings and facilities. They address only the built environment (structures and grounds). Reasonable accommodation in operational issues, procedures, and policies is not addressed in the ADAAG, but is a more nebulous area that relies on the spirit of the law and is not written in black and white. Best practice emerges from possible court decisions and standard of care in relation to health and safety practices. Program issues revolve around what is reasonable in reasonable accommodations, which is what the law intends for public accommodations in your aquatics facility. While the law attempts to level the playing field for persons with disabilities, providing them with equal accessibility to (in our case) aquatics programs, what is reasonable may differ from pool to pool, depending on the program. However, the ADA asks us to adapt our policies, facilities, and programs so that people with disabilities can participate with people without disabilities in mainstream American life.
To meet all pertinent legislation, where should you start? The first item on your list of things to do is to obtain a copy of Accessible Swimming Pools and Spas: A Summary of Accessibility Guidelines for Recreation Facilities, a manual published by the United States Access Board (2003). You may either download it (www.access-board.gov) or send for it by mail (1331 F Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20004-1111). This manual will guide you through the specific guidelines that were published in the Federal Register at 67 FR 56352 on September 3, 2002, and summarizes the applicable issues published later in the July 23, 2004, Federal Register. The accessibility guidelines are for newly constructed and altered recreation facilities, including swimming pools, wading pools, and spas. The manual also includes information on wave-action pools, leisure rivers, and sand-bottom pools. For a summary of these minimum requirements, see the sidebar Accessibility Guidelines for Swimming Pools on this page.
You may be wondering how much a pool has to be altered in order for the work to be deemed an alteration by the ADA. Alterations are changes that affect the usability of a pool and are not just "safe maintenance" type of work (Peggy Greenwell, personal communication, April 26, 2004). The Access Board addresses the issue of accessibility for existing recreation facilities on its Web site (www.access-board.gov/recreation/final.htm) and in the Federal Register dated September 3, 2002. In summary, Title II of the ADA obliges state and local governments providing recreation facilities and Title III obliges private entities providing recreation facilities to remove architectural barriers in existing facilities where it is readily achievable. Existing pools have an obligation to the U.S. Justice Department to remove barriers over time to provide access.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming, Second Edition.
Careful instruction lessens chance of immature skills in individuals with ADD
ADD is a common condition in children. Use these tips to ensure the safety of participants and to create a rich learning experience.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.
Monica Lepore discusses how she got into the field of adapted aquatics
Monica Lepore is the author of Advanced Aquatics Programming.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.
Legislation increases aquatics opportunities for individuals with disabilities
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community.
Federal legislation has mandated the demise of architectural barriers and has served as a catalyst for encouraging school and agency programming to accommodate all members of the community. In addition, legislation has created funding opportunities to subsidize local and state fiscal concerns for renovating existing structures and constructing new facilities. Individuals with disabilities not only are more visible but also are more vocal, as the laws have empowered them to make their own decisions and achieve greater independence. The motto "nothing about us, without us" has resulted in individuals with disabilities demanding more stringent laws and landmark access decisions. As accommodating people with disabilities is a rapidly developing area of the law, programs should seek professional advice as to current regulations and allowable exceptions.
Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 and Rehabilitation Act of 1973
In 1968, the U.S. Congress passed the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA), which required U.S. buildings and facilities to be accessible if they were designed, built, or altered with certain federal funds or if they were leased for occupancy by federal agencies (www.access-board.gov/ada-aba/index.htm). In 1973, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act was enacted. It mandated that all programs and facilities receiving federal support must be made accessible to individuals with disabilities. Consequently, federally funded organizations removed architectural barriers to people with disabilities and the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board developed accessibility codes. Many services became available for the first time to people with disabilities. For example, federally funded organizations made parking spaces, bathrooms, university classrooms, government offices, and recreational facilities accessible. Specific to aquatics, all federally funded facilities had to make their pools accessible through such means as hydraulic lifts or sloped entries (figure 1.4).
Individuals With Disabilities Education Act
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) began as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975. This federal legislation continued the thrust of the ABA and the Rehabilitation Act in integrating individuals with disabilities into society. It mandated free and appropriate public education, including special education, in the least-restrictive environment. As stated in the U.S. Federal Register, a government publication that contains regulations pertaining to laws, special education is defined as instruction that is specially designed to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities. This instruction includes physical education. Physical education is defined as
(I) the development of: (A) physical and motor fitness; (B) fundamental motor skills and patterns; and (C) instruction in aquatics, dance, individual and group games, and sports (including intramural and lifetime sports). (Federal Register, 1977a)
Including aquatics in the definition of physical education provides schools with the option of including swimming in the curriculum for students with disabilities (figure 1.5) and gives families the right to access school swimming programs in which children without disabilities are granted instruction.
Another important aspect of this law is the Individualized Education Program (IEP), which helps to make a child's education appropriate. This document, assembled by educators, related service professionals, and parents, plots the goals a student is expected to accomplish within the educational environment as well as the steps necessary to achieve these goals. Small group instruction, one-on-one assistants, and modifications to the general curriculum may be spelled out in the IEP. If aquatics is not specifically mentioned on the IEP, it is not a required school service.
It would be remiss to mention Public Law (PL) 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, without discussing some of its important amendments and reauthorizations: PL 99-457, PL 101-476, PL 105-17, and PL 108-446 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Inprovement Act, or IDEIA). PL 99-457, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (reauthorization of 1980), expanded the age range covered by the law from 3 to 21 to include infants and toddlers from birth to 3 years old. Accordingly, parents of young children with disabilities and personnel of early intervention programs may seek community aquatics programs as appropriate motor activities for young children. By becoming familiar with these laws, you can better meet the special needs of infants and toddlers with disabilities.
You should also be familiar with the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), which was a result of PL 99-457. The IFSP contains individual goals, objectives, and methods for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their family and service providers. Some tips for working with children under 3 years old are given on page 63.
PL 101-476, IDEA, was enacted in 1990 as an amendment to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. PL 101-476 changed the term handicapped to individuals with disabilities, added autism and traumatic brain injury as disability categories, and stressed the importance of transitional services within the IEP. Thus, the IEP must now include goals, objectives, and a plan for the transition into the community. This plan, called the Individualized Transition Plan, projects what skills participants should have when they leave the school. Transition refers to crossing the gaps (a) between infant, toddler, and preschool programs and school programs and (b) between high school programs and lifetime pursuits. As an aquatics instructor in a school or community facility, you might be called on to contribute to such a plan, especially for a young adult. Seize these opportunities whenever possible. After all, what better lifetime recreational pursuit is there than aquatics?
PL 105-17 and PL 108-446 were the IDEA amendments and reauthorizations of 1997 and 2004. PL 105-17 extended developmental delay to ages 3 to 9 years (you can now place preschool and elementary school children within this disability category rather than just infants and toddlers). PL 108-446 slightly modified the benchmark and objectives section of the IEP and emphasized that highly qualified professionals provide service to students with disabilities. It also added Tourette's syndrome to the list of other health impairments for students who are considered to have a disability.
The laws thus far described in this section focused on school or federally funded programs and buildings. The Americans with Disabilities Act, described in the next section, has implications for all school and community, public, and private facilities that are open to the public.
Americans With Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), PL 101-336, was passed in 1990 and mandated the elimination of discrimination against 54 million American citizens with disabilities. Its standards are enforced by the federal government (Center for an Accessible Society, 2004). The ADA has widespread implications for almost every area of life in the United States, including recreation and aquatics. The law makes illegal all discrimination based on disability and provides for access to the goods and services of the United States. It covers employment, public services, transportation, public accommodations, services of private entities, telecommunications, and activities of state and local governments (www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/ pubs/ada.txt). The section of the ADA dealing with public accommodations (Title III) has the greatest effect on aquatics participation by individuals with disabilities. The specific terminology and intent of Title III clearly apply to the aquatic realm. In the following sections, we'll look closely at the specific terminology of this all-encompassing law and then summarize its minimum requirements.
Qualified Individual
The U.S. Congress adopted the definition of disability first used in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Federal Register, 1991). The law defines a qualified individual as a person with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of life's major activities (www.ada.gov). Major life activities include self-care, manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working. Individuals with mobility or sensory impairments, mental retardation, and other mental and physical impairments as well as those with hidden disabilities such as diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, heart disease, mental illness, and HIV are all covered by this law. In addition, the law includes people who have a previous record of having an impairment (e.g., cancer in remission) and people perceived by others as disabled, such as those who are HIV positive but asymptomatic (Scott, 1990).
In Title III, a qualified person is one who meets the ADA definition of being a person with a disability and who has the prerequisite skills for participation in a given physical activity (Dummer, 2003a). An individual assessment of skills is the gold standard for determining who is a qualified person under Title III. Some experts use an informed consent document to advise participants of the risks of a physical activity if an individual assessment is impossible (Dummer, 2003a).
Reasonable Accommodation
Although reasonable accommodation is not firmly defined in the ADA, experts consider it to be an action that provides access to individuals with disabilities by modifying previous policies, procedures, and practices. The law specifically addresses discrimination in public accommodations and in services operated by private entities. An organization cannot exclude a person from participating in services, programs, or activities solely because of her disability. If the person is otherwise qualified for a reasonable accommodation, then an organization, school, place of business, or community agency must allow the individual access to the programs and facilities (Sullivan, Lantz, & Zirkel, 2000). The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted reasonable accommodations as those that do not require organizations "to lower or to effect substantial modifications of standards to accommodate" students with disabilities (Southeastern Community College v. Davis, 1979, p. 413) and that do not "impose undue financial and administrative burdens or require a fundamental alteration in the nature of the program" (School Board of Nassau County v. Arline, 1987).
There are certain exceptions to having to provide reasonable accommodations that must be judged one case at a time. Some exceptions include the following:
- When an individual does not meet the criteria of a qualified person with a disability
- When an individual does not meet the qualifications to participate in the activity (i.e., a time cut in the swim trials)
- When an individual's participation creates reasonable probability of substantial risk to himself or others
- When program modifications significantly alter the primary purpose of the set aquatics program (e.g., a competitive diving meet may not be able to reasonably accommodate a person with atlantoaxial instability, for whom diving is contraindicated)
Must-read materials on this subject include the article "Reasonable Accommodations for Swimmers with Disabilities" by Gail Dummer in Palaestra (Dummer, 2003a, pp. 44-45) and the article "Leveling the Playing Field or Leveling the Players? Section 504, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Interscholastic Sports" in the Journal of Special Education (Sullivan et al., 2000).
The way to make modifications and reasonable accommodations depends on many variables, such as the specific disability issues for each person, the programs and facilities that the person wants to access, the amount of time given to make the accommodation, the dollar amount of the accommodation, and the amount of support in the program and facility administration. These variables may affect the method that a pool operator uses to make a change for a given participant, but the pool operator must make accommodations no matter what the variables.
The spirit of the ADA suggests that we should do what we can to allow people with disabilities to participate as much as possible in a given program while ensuring the safety of all participants and maintaining the intent of the program. The safety of all participants is an important concept in the aquatic realm. While some program accommodations might seem reasonable to a participant with a disability, a safety rule might prevent these accommodations. You need to judge whether the rule is for the actual safety of participants and cannot be modified or whether it is in place for crowd control. For example, a person who uses a prosthetic limb might want to remove her prosthesis in the locker room and then hop to the pool edge, but doing so would be a safety hazard because of wet pool decks. Making an accommodation such as providing a sitting bench close to the steps or poolside would allow this person to use her prosthesis while approaching the pool edge and it would also give her a place to keep it dry while she is swimming.
Sometimes the aquatics staff may be unsure of what to do about a request for an accommodation or may believe that the accommodation is unreasonable. The staff may feel that the participant is not appropriate for the program or class for which the accommodation is being requested due to a lack of prerequisites or that the request is outside of the realm of the class or program. An example of this is a person who has Down syndrome with atlantoaxial instability who wishes to dive but because of the instability in the cervical area of his neck is not allowed to dive. His family applied to a diving camp and asked for reasonable accommodations for the child. They stated that the child could learn the basics of the approach, hurdle, and streamlined entry with a jump. While the spirit of the ADA suggests that using a jump as a modification to a dive might be possible, an accommodation does not need to be made if it subverts the fundamental nature of the activity. Diving is diving, not jumping. In good faith, the child could be served if he understands that he is not allowed to dive, but as a person with cognitive involvement who may make a poor decision and try to dive from the board, it is not in his best interest to be at this camp.
Courts consider it discrimination to place a person in a segregated aquatics program based on her disability rather than on her ability. This means that a facility cannot offer a person with a disability only the segregated, adapted program. The segregated program may be the one that is chosen by the participant, caregivers, and aquatics instructor, but stereotyping an individual and forcing her to accept an adapted program is not permissible. One of the purposes of the ADA is to integrate individuals with disabilities into the mainstream of society. Therefore, the staff of each facility needs to assess program admission policies, looking for possible barriers to participation. Some examples of reasonable accommodations in aquatics programs include the following:
- Providing flotation devices for individuals who cannot stand on the bottom of the pool while they wait for instructions during swim lessons (e.g., for people with paraplegia or dwarfism)
- Allowing a person who has a urine bag to wear long, baggy shorts over the swimsuit to avoid embarrassment
- Allowing an aide to participate, at no additional cost, with an individual who needs support
- Providing a water chair and incorporating arm movements into water aerobic classes for people with lower-body impairments
- Designating an area on deck for guide dogs, crutches, wheelchairs, and other mobility equipment
- Installing nonskid carpet from the shower area to the pool ladder for individuals who need such help for balance, crutch traction, orientation, or mobility
- Providing auxiliary aids and services, such as alternative formats (e.g., braille, computer disk), for registrations, handouts, and certificates
- Providing family and caregiver restrooms and changing areas for caregivers of the opposite gender so that they are able to provide assistance
- Removing requirements that discriminate, such as a height requirement of being able to stand on the bottom of the pool, which individuals who use wheelchairs or have dwarfism may not be able to meet
It is not acceptable to claim the inconvenience or inaccessibility of a facility as an inhibitor to participation. You cannot claim that a program is unavailable because the staff is untrained. Further, your program must avoid barriers of omission, or overlooking the special needs of certain individuals. An example of omission is circulating a program flyer that does not include accessibility information and therefore will not attract individuals with disabilities. The ADA supports that a program should have an attitude of accessibility and should seek knowledge of how to serve individuals with disabilities.
Undue Hardship
An undue hardship defines situations in which trying to accommodate an individual or to provide general access would lead to profound costs or difficulty for an organization in respect to its size and financial resources. A small nonprofit organization, for example, might have such a narrow pool deck that it cannot fit a transfer lift into the area to make it accessible. To make the necessary accommodations, this organization would need to build a new addition, knocking down the wall to extend the deck. The organization may, in this case, plead undue hardship, although "federal tax credits and deductions are available to private entities for architectural barrier removal in existing facilities. Federal funds are also available through the Community Development Block Grant Program to remove barriers in existing facilities. Entities requesting guidance on their obligations for existing facilities should contact the Department of Justice" (www.access-board.gov). Organizations that believe that their financial situation would be overwhelmed by the cost of complying with the law can apply for an exception to the law and show how the modifications pose an undue financial burden. In many cases, however, organizations can make reasonable accommodations.
Readily Accessible
The ADA law uses the phrase readily accessible to describe a facility that is easily and immediately usable-in other words, a facility in which a person with a disability can move around and use well (Scott, 1990). A readily accessible aquatics facility is one that already has ample parking for people with disabilities, an easily identifiable route into the facility, pools with handrails and ramps, braille signs, family restrooms, and usable lifts or movable pool floors.
Readily Achievable
Readily achievable refers to the ease with which a facility can remove a barrier. If the barrier can be removed easily, it is considered readily achievable. Examples of readily achievable modifications that an aquatics facility can make include removing bolted-down benches and lowering hooks in locker rooms, purchasing a Transfer Tier for getting into the pool, printing aquatics manuals in braille, removing concrete door risers between shower and locker areas, and removing footbath or water-collection troughs on decks or in showers.
Minimum Requirements
The ADA has changed the face of architecture in the United States and has allowed persons with disabilities to access previously inaccessible areas and programs. So why are there still questions about what the ADA does and does not mandate after years of its existence? It is because every facility has its own unique issues. The ADA standards of 2004 eliminated some of the uncertainty that surrounded what is and what is not accessible in relation to pools. These new amendments to the original guidelines include specifics for swimming pools, wading pools, and spas.
The ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) set the standard that is applied to buildings and facilities. They address only the built environment (structures and grounds). Reasonable accommodation in operational issues, procedures, and policies is not addressed in the ADAAG, but is a more nebulous area that relies on the spirit of the law and is not written in black and white. Best practice emerges from possible court decisions and standard of care in relation to health and safety practices. Program issues revolve around what is reasonable in reasonable accommodations, which is what the law intends for public accommodations in your aquatics facility. While the law attempts to level the playing field for persons with disabilities, providing them with equal accessibility to (in our case) aquatics programs, what is reasonable may differ from pool to pool, depending on the program. However, the ADA asks us to adapt our policies, facilities, and programs so that people with disabilities can participate with people without disabilities in mainstream American life.
To meet all pertinent legislation, where should you start? The first item on your list of things to do is to obtain a copy of Accessible Swimming Pools and Spas: A Summary of Accessibility Guidelines for Recreation Facilities, a manual published by the United States Access Board (2003). You may either download it (www.access-board.gov) or send for it by mail (1331 F Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20004-1111). This manual will guide you through the specific guidelines that were published in the Federal Register at 67 FR 56352 on September 3, 2002, and summarizes the applicable issues published later in the July 23, 2004, Federal Register. The accessibility guidelines are for newly constructed and altered recreation facilities, including swimming pools, wading pools, and spas. The manual also includes information on wave-action pools, leisure rivers, and sand-bottom pools. For a summary of these minimum requirements, see the sidebar Accessibility Guidelines for Swimming Pools on this page.
You may be wondering how much a pool has to be altered in order for the work to be deemed an alteration by the ADA. Alterations are changes that affect the usability of a pool and are not just "safe maintenance" type of work (Peggy Greenwell, personal communication, April 26, 2004). The Access Board addresses the issue of accessibility for existing recreation facilities on its Web site (www.access-board.gov/recreation/final.htm) and in the Federal Register dated September 3, 2002. In summary, Title II of the ADA obliges state and local governments providing recreation facilities and Title III obliges private entities providing recreation facilities to remove architectural barriers in existing facilities where it is readily achievable. Existing pools have an obligation to the U.S. Justice Department to remove barriers over time to provide access.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming, Second Edition.
Careful instruction lessens chance of immature skills in individuals with ADD
ADD is a common condition in children. Use these tips to ensure the safety of participants and to create a rich learning experience.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.
Monica Lepore discusses how she got into the field of adapted aquatics
Monica Lepore is the author of Advanced Aquatics Programming.
The ability to initially attend to a task and then maintain attention to complete it greatly improves the chances of learning the task. Individuals who experience chronic and intense difficulties with addressing and sustaining attention on demand, persisting in tasks that are developmentally appropriate, following rules, and concentrating tend to have trouble improving their skills. They may perform a task once or twice and then be ready to move on. Their lack of attention and persistence often leads to immature skills.
Teaching Tips
- Say the participant's name to gain attention before providing feedback or giving directions.
- Provide only one aspect of feedback at a time and make it frequent and specific.
- Stay near the participant in order to ascertain changes in attention and on-task behavior.
- Provide advance notice of upcoming changes to the routine or a switch from one task to another, as transitions from activity to activity may be difficult.
- Plan activities that deemphasize competition.
- Plan for additional emotional support during times of stress and fatigue.
- Encourage self-monitoring of activities, because self-control is an important goal.
- Assign one task to be completed at a time.
- Provide learning support such as cue cards, a paraeducator, or a peer tutor for tasks that require a longer time to complete or are very challenging.
- Maintain eye contact when providing verbal directions.
- Use positive reinforcement to encourage correct behavior.
- Use a calm, firm voice during discipline.
- Use preestablished cue words or hand motions to decrease unwanted behavior.
- Follow through with preestablished consequences that are as natural to the setting as possible.
- Structure swim lessons to be no more than 30 minutes long.
- Schedule pool times during which crowds, noise, and other distractions are at a minimum to help decrease time spent off the task.
- Use a one-on-one ratio when appropriate and available.
- Arrange for the participant to swim toward a wall or face away from the rest of the pool while practicing.
- Supply lap counters to help the participant keep track of laps.
- Provide kitchen timers to help the participant visualize how much time he has spent on a task.
Safety Issues
- Use additional lifeguard coverage to enhance the supervision of impulsive participants.
- Repeat rule explanations often and ask the participant to repeat the rules when distractions are present.
- Keep the pool decks dry and free of equipment, as hyperactivity may accompany attention deficit in some students.
Goals to Target
Strive to increase the participant's ability to follow multitask directions, time spent on task, and quality of aquatic skills; work to decrease impulsive behaviors.
This is an excerpt from Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Professional Guide, Second Edition.