‘PARTNERING WITH THE NDPA’

Alissa Magrum, Executive Director, National Drowning Prevention Alliance (NDPA)

Happy April Everyone. The weather in most parts of the country is warming up and I imagine you are entering your busiest season. Unless of course you are in a warm all year round location like Florida, Arizona, California and Hawaii- then you might always be in the busy water safety and pool season.

Regardless of where you are, keeping water safety top of mind is so important in this line of work. You have the ability to educate your customers about the simple things they can do to keep their families safer around water.

April is Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month and we shine the light on the increased risk of drowning for individuals with Autism. Do you know if any of your customers have children with Autism living in, visiting or near their home and accessing their pool? If so, we ask you to pass this lifesaving information on to your customers, your friends and your own family.

Did you know that drowning is the leading cause of death for individuals with autism? Statistics from the Autism Society of Florida tell us that children with Autism are 160x more likely to experience a non-fatal or fatal drowning than their neurotypical or typically developing peers.

This is incredibly alarming and makes the need for autism awareness and drowning prevention strategies

https://ndpa.org/autism-awareness-and-drowning-prevention/ specific to this population absolutely critical.

Here are some Key Strategies for Autism-Awareness and Drowning Prevention 1. Find Specialized Swim Lessons: It is important to locate learn to swim programs and facilities that are aware of the challenges of autism and who offer specialized swim lessons that address these needs directly.

2. Be Mindful of Sensory Integration: When exposing a person with Autism to water, please do so slowly and gradually, acknowledging each child’s individual sensory sensitivities. This will allow them to develop a safer and more positive relationship with water.

3. Choose Appropriate Learning Environments: Choose swimming and swim lesson environments that align with the child’s attention and sensory preferences. Look for lessons during quieter times or select private lessons to reduce overwhelm and overstimulation.

4. Prepare for the Swimming Experience: Use videos and pictures to make the swimming experience, pool and other bodies of water a familiar and less intimidating place. Consider visiting the location ahead of time if at all possible for a “practice” run.

5. Consistency is Key: Regularly talk about and reinforce safety skills and rules to build competence in the water. Ask your child’s swim instructor about best practices for the home and ways you can reinforce what they learned during swim lessons.

6. Establish Clear Water Safety Rules: Develop and implement structured, consistent rules around water and water activities to provide a predictable framework for safety for the child.

7. Wandering and Eloping Prevention: Educate your neighbors and your community about your child’s needs. Alert neighbors to their wandering habits and provide them with emergency contact info in case they see your child without an adult.

8. Always Secure your home and pool area: If you have a pool, you should have a pool fence that is at least 4 feet high with a self-closing, selflatching gate. If there are accessible water features, (neighboring pools, lakes, ponds, rivers, etc.), having alarms on exits will help alert you in the case that any door is opened. This will protect your family as well as anyone who wanders onto your property.

9. Practice Active Supervision: Many children with Autism are drawn to water yet may not fully grasp the dangers of water or understand that they cannot swim. Constant visual supervision of an undistracted adult can help to prevent wandering and ensures immediate intervention in case of an emergency.

While some of these strategies are specific to support individuals with Autism, they can also be applied to all children, creating a safer water environment. Again, I ask you to share this information with those you interact with on a daily basis, especially those who may have a loved one or a neighbor who has Autism. This information can save lives.

Please always consider the National Drowning Prevention Alliance (NDPA) as your go-to place for water safety and drowning prevention information and I invite you to visit www.ndpa.org and make use of the free resources that can help to decrease the number of drowning accidents.

Thank you for all you do each and every day for your clients and their families. If you have any questions, any ideas of what additional resources you would like to see and use or if you want to support the NDPA as a sponsor or partner, please contact us anytime or reach out to me directly at alissa@ndpa.org.

Thank you for helping us deliver lifesaving water safety information to so many families. You help us save lives.

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