I am the mother of a beautiful young lady born with Down syndrome. However, in her short thirteen years she has developed several other disabilities and medical conditions that has left her 100% dependent on her Father and I.
She required open heart surgery at 3 months of age to repair 4 holes in her heart and remove an extra artery which caused congestive heart failure. After her surgery and a short three day stay in the hospital she came home with a new nick name of "Rosebud" given to her by the nurses because as soon as her little heart was repaired her lips went from a pale grey color to a rose pink. She quickly grew into a happy, goofy little girl. She taught herself how to sit up, stand, walk and was even talking not to far behind what a typical child would be doing at her age.
Taylor was just twenty one months old when she was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes leaving her dependent on many blood sugar checks and insulin shots every day. Soon after came the diagnosis of Late Onset Autism Spectrum Disorder accompanied by a Sensory Integration Disorder. Because of this she does not like to be touched making it hard for her Father and I to be affectionate and unable to console her in any way, although I must say she is a Daddy's girl and he gets a little more luvin than I. She stopped communicating verbally or with sign language and began to display all the typical signs of autism. She now has mobility difficulties due to a combination of hypo-thyroidism causing weight gain and Hemihypertrophy causing one side of her body to be larger than the other. This condition also puts her at risk for a certain type of cancer that can come with this condition.
The most recent medical condition is the most heartbreaking of all. Although we have taken taylor for regular eye exams as well as a specialist to check for Glaucoma as her Dr. questioned the fact that she has unusually large eyes, which she has had almost since birth, the Ophthalmologist always said that everything checked out good. This was the case until about eighteen months ago when Taylor was diagnosed with Glaucoma which has caused her severe irreversible damage to the optic nerve leaving her legally blind. She has had nine eye surgeries along with several more eye pressure checks under anesthesia and needing several eye drops every day to try and preserve what little vision she has left. This sadly will continue on for the rest of her life or until they have exhausted all they can do to control the eye pressure.
Taylor has dealt with all this and much more in her short 13 years and will continue to do so but remains a sweet child with a spirit and personality like you've never seen.
Because of Taylor's emotional and medical issues she is unable to do most things that a child needs to keep fit and healthy. Other than going for a stroll around the neighborhood in the wheelchair when it's not to hot she is unable to go much further than our own back yard. Taylor loves to swing as it is calming and helps with some of the sensory issues she has. However here in Arizona it is too hot most of the year for her to even go out to do this which brings me to the reason for writing this article.
I am writing to raise awareness of Aquatic Therapy. It greatly benefits children diagnosed with Down Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sensory Integration Disorder, Cerebral Palsy, Developmental Delay and Spina Bifida among many other conditions.
For children with Down Syndrome and Autism aquatic therapy can make therapy fun! while working on functional movement and range of motion., it helps to improve balance, coordination, sensory integration, and mobility. It helps build social and communication skills, speech and language skills. It increases strength and low muscle tone that almost always comes with Down Syndrome. The buoyancy of the water allows these children to work muscles without putting stress on bones and joints helping to keep your child strong and active thus decreasing the risk of developing so many other health problems. Being in the water with Taylor is also a very bonding experience as she lets her guard down allowing us to get closer as the buoyancy helps so that I am able to lift and play with Taylor without hurting myself in the process.
Aquatic therapy is also very beneficial in children like taylor with Diabetes. Statistics show that when type I Diabetes is combined with Down syndrome, the risks for many other complications increases. Studies have proven that children with these conditions have an increased risk for infection because of poor blood circulation, unstable blood glucose levels related to lack of exercise and decreased energy, an increased risk for osteoporosis due to the lack of vitamin D and risk for obesity due to lack of exercise.
As much as we love our children, having a disabled child can be debilitating to a family even completely disabling it at times. In a case like ours having a pool is not only good therapy for Taylor as she loves the water, but is therapy for the family giving us outside time with Taylor that we would not normally have because of the high Arizona temperatures.
When deciding on a pool builder we went with Cameo pools. Steve and Nichole came to our home and worked with us on designing the perfect pool that would benefit Taylor's needs while keeping in mind the cost, as one can imagine the cost of caring for a special needs child. We talked about the different safety features from the ease of entrance, size and placement of the steps, safety handrail placement, best material used for the pool surface and decking as well as the water feature that would bring Taylor the most enjoyment as her loss of sight has enhanced her hearing. As her Mother it is still heart breaking and hard at times to talk about Taylor's needs however Steve and Nichole were very understanding and were very easy to talk to.
Lastly I would like to include that as boundless as the benefits may be to have a back yard pool, the water itself should have boundaries! Please put a fence around your pool with a self closing gate and make sure to teach your children all about water safety.
Most of all, always keep an eye on your children! You can never have too much safety when it comes to your children around water!