Super Swimmers Academy are the only swimming club for young people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) nationally, despite drowning being the leading cause of accidental death for children with autism.

The club has had 75 keen new swimmers since it began and the monthly sessions have helped them to develop life-saving skills, as well as improving their physical health and wellbeing, important for their development.

The bespoke one to one sessions and splash and play opportunities have allowed swimmers to enhance key transferable life skills including socialisation and communication. One parent notes

Matthew has hugely benefitted from the monthly lessons. He would not cope in a group mainstream setting and these sessions have given him the confidence to be able to swim. These sessions have enabled us to go to Centre Parcs and Matthew was able to join in on the rapids, we could never do these before as he was so nervous and had no confidence in his ability to swim. Matthew has enjoyed making new friends (this is very difficult because of his autism) and it has also been great to see the same families who are in the same situation

Another parent says

Before he started swimming at this club, he would cling on to me and wouldn't let go when he was in the water, however since joining six months ago he is much more confident and is loving swimming. They just 'get' autistic children and what they do is amazing

Due to the high levels of success and popularity at the club, Super Swimmers Academy have developed a new advanced session in Filton. It provides a pathway for swimmers who have built confidence in the water and learnt to swim a minimum of 25m. It also creates spaces for new beginners to join.

The Advanced session already has 8 members that can swim a length without stopping, which is a fantastic achievement. In fact they have progressed so much that they are now going to take on the challenge of swimming the distance of the English Channel-

that’s an incredible 22 miles, a total of 1,416 lengths of Filton Leisure Centre pool!

The swimmers are taking on the challenge to raise money for the National Autistic Society and setting a goal for themselves. In two sessions the swimmers have already swum a grand total of 131 lengths which is a total of 3,275 metres. Good luck Super Swimmers!

For more information about the Super Swimmers Academy, please contact [email protected].