The Adapted Aquatics Credential is making a comeback after it had been unavailable for a few years.
The program, meant for professionals who anticipate the need to adapt their water programs to suit students and clients with special needs, became unavailable a few years ago when the credentialing agency reorganized. Now, Starfish Aquatics Institute is picking the program back up.
SAI is working with a number of professionals who developed the original program, including Dr. Monica Lepore and other master trainers. The program will remain largely based on the original materials, including the textbook Adapted Aquatics Programming: A Special Guide, by Human Kinetics. SAI will deliver the program and serve as the credentialing agency.
The instruction and credential is targeted at several audiences, including university students studying recreation or physical education; special education and therapeutic recreation educators and those in related fields; as well as swim instructors and others hoping to more effectively help those with special needs.
It includes instruction on the needs and adaptive strategies for approximately 30 conditions, as well as education on administrative issues and ways to collaborate and work in different environments, including therapeutic, medical, recreational and educational.
“The goal is really to be able to train a wide variety of people on how to create safe, successful and rewarding programs for the participants who come to learn in the water,” said Jill White, a co-founder of SAI.
Sessions will be offered at the college and university level, as well as at conferences and online.
SAI is currently setting its educational calendar for the Adapted Aquatics Credential. Those with questions can email the organization at info@sai-intl.org.
“We’re excited about revitalizing this and working with the folks who developed it initially to take it to the next level,” White said.