Serious Skills
A Solution is Born
Serious Skills
It ’ s a big task , but one she has the requisite skills to tackle . The Behaviour and Autism Specialist has worked internationally in London and Sri Lanka , as well as nationally across Perth , Canberra and Sydney . She ’ s also been twice nominated for Young Australian of the Year and recently was named one of Australian Anthill ’ s 30 Under 30 winners .
“ I was desperate for all of my clients to engage in swimming services ,” she says . “ I contacted all the swimming services in the area , however the feedback I received was fairly consistent : they wanted to help , but lacked the necessary skills and expertise .” Service providers also said they ’ d experienced failure after failure in the past . “ I had all of the clinical knowledge in terms of how the ASD brain acquires skill-sets , how to respond to behaviours of concern , how to alleviate sensory challenges and the overall therapeutic and support needs of individuals with ASD . It was simply a matter of applying these to water environments .”
A Solution is Born
Thus , was born Autism Swim ( AS ), a multi-disciplinary program using Behavioural Specialists ,
Occupational Therapists and Swimming Teachers to right the alarming wrongs of water safety for people with ASD . “ I didn ’ t sit down and decide to start a business , meticulously planning how to go about this ” Ms Gleeson , the company ’ s Clinical Director , says . “ I just leapt into action and the rest merely followed . I worked with a wonderful young man named Paddy in trialling our methodologies and principles . As a result , I was able to bring together a wonderful , clinical team to design training , resources and support packages so that this information could be really accessible for people far and wide .”