Ian and Miss Debby’s Incredible Journey

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Ian and Miss Debby’s Incredible Journey

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By Deborah Griffith MacSwain, Pikes Peak Chapter, American Red Cross

Monday, July 16, 2007 — Ian is a young boy who takes Red Cross
water adjustment and swim classes at Ft. Carson, Colorado. He sees the
swimming pool as a “blue river” and the diving board as the “plank.” He
loves the water and likes to splash, and when he climbs the ladder he
says, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel.”

Ian’s story is like that of any other 5-year-old child, but with
some important twists and turns. Ian makes little (if any) eye contact
with others and does not like to be touched. He sometimes says “No, no,
no” when approached. His verbal communication consists of only a few
words, and he often mimics the person he is with and says things that
make sense to him, but not to others.

Ian has autism, a developmental disorder characterized by impaired
communication skills and social interactions and by restricted,
repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior. I am Ian’s swimming
instructor. For me, the sessions with Ian have been an incredible
journey of joy.

Early Successes

Ian has taken 15 lessons thus far, and in each of those 45-minute
sessions he has achieved some form of success that might not be
discernable to a bystander but is, according to his mother, “huge.” For
example, during the fourth or fifth lesson, while showing Ian how to
hold his breath, I watched him push my bulging cheeks together and
laugh. He thought it was pretty funny, and so did I. I knew right then
he was having fun and beginning to enjoy the lessons.

Persuading him to let me pull him through the water with his legs
out (so he can kick) took a few tries. “Let’s be a shark in the water,”
I suggested. “No shark,” he countered. “Jonah the whale.” So a whale he
was, and a speedy one at that, always wanting to “go fast, no slow.”

Asking Ian to jump into the pool did not work in the usual way. He
liked to jump while holding my hands. When he said, “Miss Debby, Miss
Debby, hold hands,” I knew Ian was making progress beyond swimming.
Once, when he jumped in and his head went under the water, he came up
and proudly said, “Ian under water.” That was a milestone for him.

I learned early to use two swim aids—one for Ian and one for me.
Swim bars, which are poles with white round buoys on the ends, are used
in training and therapy programs. Ian called them “toilet paper”
because that’s what they looked like to him. The “toilet paper” bars
became a useful teaching tool. Ian and I would race, holding on to our
respective “toilet paper” and kicking. Of course, Ian always won!

Key Turning Point

Lesson 13 was a key turning point for Ian—he went under the water on
his own after watching me. Emerging with thumbs up, he exclaimed, “That
was super, Ian.” During that same lesson, he also jumped into the 3’
section without holding my hands. While climbing the ladder to jump, he
proclaimed himself “Prince Charming,” to which I responded, “Yes, Ian,
you are my Prince Charming.” I later learned he was watching a DVD at
home on the classic fairy tales.

Lessons 14 and 15 were even more dramatic. Ian had been watching
someone swim the back crawl stroke, and he imitated it by walking
backward and moving his arms. I knew he had the ability to float if I
could just get him to try it, so I asked three water safety instructors
to get in the water and help. I figured that if I talked while they
performed the skill, maybe Ian would try the skill with me.

The other instructors got into the water and showed Ian how to float
on his stomach and then on his back. He tried the front float with some
degree of success, but the back float was the big winner. When I held
Darla Hansen, a fellow WSI, in the back float position, Ian grabbed my
arm and turned himself over on his back. I was holding both Darla and
Ian, and I was so excited I wanted to jump up and down! Afterward, Ian
practiced the back float with me and Darla, thus taking another big
step by letting someone else work with him in the water.

Proud of His Accomplishments

Ian has come a long way toward learning basic swimming skills and is
signed up for group lessons. His family is proud of his
accomplishments, as they have every reason to be. Ian’s father, a staff
sergeant serving with the U.S. Army in Iraq, was able to attend Ian’s
first lesson prior to his deployment. He will return to see a little
boy who is fascinated with, and having fun in, the water.

As Commodore Wilbert Longfellow, founder of the Red Cross Life
Saving Corps (the forerunner of today’s water safety program), once
said, “Water unlocks inhibitions.” In Ian’s case, these words really
are true, much to the delight of those around him.

The American Red Cross helps people prevent, prepare for and respond
to emergencies. Last year, almost a million volunteers and 35,000
employees helped victims of almost 75,000 disasters; taught lifesaving
skills to millions; and helped U.S. service members separated from
their families stay connected. Almost 4 million people gave blood
through the Red Cross, the largest supplier of blood and blood products
in the United States. The American Red Cross is part of the
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. An average of 91
cents of every dollar the Red Cross spends is invested in humanitarian
services and programs. The Red Cross is not a government agency; it
relies on donations of time, money, and blood to do its work.