Disabled kids make a splash

The swimming sessionsprovide both fun andtherapy for the children.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
HOWLAND -- Gail Fowler, 10, of Howland splashes in the Avalon Inn pool, a smile spread across her face.
Gail is one of several pupils in the adapted aquatics program for children with multiple physical disabilities. The program is a partnership between the American Red Cross's Trumbull County Chapter and the Trumbull County Educational Service Center. The Red Cross receives funding from the United Way of Trumbull County.
Gail, a pupil at Howland Glen Primary School, has been attending the classes for about four years and looks forward to the weekly swimming sessions.
"You say, 'It's a swim day,' and she gets excited and goes to get her bookbag and her swimsuit ready," said Karen Fowler, Gail's mother.
For some of the children, the sessions marked the first time they got into a pool.
Benefits: For pupils with severe conditions such as spastic cerebral palsy, the warm water enables their muscles to loosen up and their range of motion to improve, said Dr. Tom Edison of the TCESC. Others with less severe handicaps learn basic swimming strokes.
The program includes 34 multiple-handicapped children from all over Trumbull County, divided into smaller sessions. Avalon Inn donates the pool time to the program twice each week during the school year.
The children, each supported by a volunteer, bounce, splash, kick and squeal.
"I'm swimming, I'm swimming," yelled one little girl.
Amanda Cartwright, 15, of Brookfield, emerged from the pool Wednesday, looking contented.
"It's fun," she said, adding that she looks forward to the weekly swim sessions.
Help needed: Volunteers, who complete a training course, guide the children, supporting them in the water. The program needs more volunteers, said Jackie Wolf, director of development and marketing for the American Red Cross' Trumbull County Chapter. People interested may call the agency at (330) 392-2551.
Helen Harnish of Newton Falls has been volunteering with the program since the early 1970s.
"When you see how much it means to them, what an accomplishment it is for them, it's a really good feeling," Harnish said. "It's an inspiration to see what the kids can do."
Bonding: Dr. Edison, supervisor of adapted physical education for the center, said organizers try to match volunteers with the same child at each session.
"A bond develops," he said.
Harnish has kept in touch with one of the children she worked with in the program many years ago. He now volunteers at Forum Health Hillside Hospital.
"He's a very sweet little boy," Harnish said. "I shouldn't say little boy; he's grown up now."
Nancy Jozwiak, a special education teacher at Howland Glen, said the sessions are therapeutic for the children, and they get excited when it's time to leave the classroom for the swimming pool.
Gail, clad in a Tweety Bird bathing suit and holding a colorful inner tube in one hand, playfully splashes up at her mother, who stands near the water's edge.
"You don't have to fight with her to get her to go to school on a swim day," her mother said.
dick@vindy.com