Raphael Ong (12) joined the new Rainbow Club at Glenmore Park on Opening Day in February 2021. Raphael is diagnosed with Autism, Level 3, Sensory Processing Disorder and a Language Disorder and while he loved diving under water, he could not swim, he was not safe and he had challenging behaviours.
Initially Learning to Swim the Rainbow progressed slowly. Raphael’s teacher worked through Red (Water Confidence) and Orange (Safety Basics) and her patient and consistent teaching and use of visual aids was a great help in getting Raphael to follow instructions more readily. Prior to lockdown of Glenmore Park Club due to Covid-19, Raph was learning to move forward through the water in a horizontal position with his head down.
Raphael’s Mum, Virna writes “The Rainbow Club team are awesome. They worked with Raphael to make sure his confidence was balanced with safety in the water. Now he just keeps requesting to go swimming and we have a focus for our weekends. Thank you, Rainbow Club, you’ve been a blessing.”