3 year old on the spectrum
Hey yall, i’ve been teaching this 3 year old girl for a few months now. she’s just about non verbal, on the spectrum, and has seizures out of the water. some times she’ll come in after having 10-30 seizures over the weekend and she’ll be kind of aloof, completely in her own world walking back and forth in our small pool (2 ft and warm). sometimes she’ll come in and be receptive to my requests sometimes. i’ve gotten her to blow bubbles, kick a little bit, and start doing backfloat. in her back float she’s *always* lifting her head up. i’ve tried lying on the stairs to get her ears in the water but she always finds a way to escape me.
her dad and i have tried to get her to transition over to the big pool (4 feel, colder water with tables. just so much easier for me to be in control and focus on learning) but she screamed bloody murder. he told me when she was younger she was thrown into a lake so she’s probably got some trauma associated with big cold bodies of water.
i really really want to get her to learn just some basic safety skills in case something were to happen, but i just can’t get her to listen or focus on me. she understands the majority of things i say to her but she just chooses to go off on her own. i’ve worked with many kids who have special needs but nothing like this. what would you guys do and how would you go about it?
(this is my bosses friends kid so i really want to do my best here)
edit: im not worried about getting her into the big pool too much im just worried about becoming stagnant and not making progress. i have very little experience teaching in a pool so small, its hard for me to get down to their level to work on the skills. mostly looking for advice as far as that goes.