Why and How Does Drowning Happen, from a Neurological Perspective?

If you are a mom with a child with special needs, you are not going to be able to “pay more attention” to avoiding drowning. But while the deck may be stacked against the child neurologically, hopefully this article will provide perspective and concrete strategies to change their environment, routines, types of daily activities and sensory input to keep them safe while we wait for the neurological skills to develop, so they can manage safely around water.

 “Drowning is among the leading causes of death of individuals with autism,” states the National Autism Association in their article about swimming safety.

If you haven’t yet seen this video that’s been circulating of a young child with autism running toward and jumping into the pool, and then beginning to silently drown until a neighbor saves him, it gives a visual reference to the points we’re covering in this article. Note: If you are sensitive, please use caution, as it is a difficult video to watch.

First and Foremost – Why Do Our Friends on the Autism Spectrum Seek Out Water?

·  Sight: To fill sensory needs — sparkling ripples and color in the water are visually stimulating.

·  Ideation: You can see the boy in the video link above, with his arms out, up, and both hands with fingers spread apart; he almost skips and leaps to the water, and even though we cannot see his facial expression, the idea of the water causes him to shriek with joy and anticipation as he seeks the water.

· Touch and Proprioception - Many sensory disorganized friends seek the proprioceptive input. Proprioception is the sense that allows you to perceive how hard and and soft to push and pull when performing everyday activities. The brain’s ability to interpret the feedback from the muscles and joints then allows the individual to adjust based upon the situation. OTs use proprioceptive input to calm the nervous system. In a child with autism, the compression of the body when submerged under water can be very grounding and orienting.

Fact: Layering in proprioception input during a sensory-seeker’s day in alternative ways can prevent them from seeking it from inappropriate or un-safe ways. Proprioception is one of the senses that many do not know about, and is a crucial factor for this type of seeking behavior. So as you can imagine, being submerged and surrounded by water provides soothing proprioception input to the entire body!  So viewing this seeking behavior from a neural lens, allows for a deeper understanding of the behavior, and can allow a caregiver to adjust her environment and routine more successfully when addressing the neurological need.

• Sounds - Do sound sensitivities exist under water? The hyper arousing and often emotionally destabilization from sensitivities to sounds is muted when the head is underwater, comparable to silencing headphones that some prefer to wear when they are not underwater, to prevent the intensity of the sounds from igniting the fight, flight, freeze, or fold response.

When we look at all of these stimuli that entice our friends on the autism spectrum, it makes sense why that little boy was so desperate to get in the water.

If a Child Makes it to the Water, what are Some Neurological Factors that Contribute to Drowning?

Primitive retained reflexes like a retained Moro affect the process of learning to swim from the alternating of the extremities from the core, to paddle and kick, to the breathe regulation in and out of the water. For the little boy in the video, you could see his full-body movement patterns, and that he could not raise his head out of the water by pushing up with his arms and coordinating a breath. This was the hardest part of the video for our Chief Clinical Officer, Carol, to watch, knowing exactly what he was experiencing.

Lack of cognitive maturity to understand and execute impulse control to prevent jumping into a pool is also a factor here.  Accelerated cognitive development IS obtainable, from modalities like the listening programs used in the Brain Harmony programs, vagal regulation, and neurological organization. Complete the quiz to determine the risk for your child.

Tips Regarding Swimming Lessons

If you have a lack of exposure to water safety or swimming lessons, click here to find local resources, but you will still need to break apart the full body movement patterns before you ask them to perform the movements for swimming with lessons. This will decrease the frustration level for the child and the instructor.

To facilitate the development of those skills faster, you participate in therapeutic activities like reflex integration, vestibular strengthening, ocular motor and autonomic nervous system regulation, and then you can now teach them how to swim because now they are more neurologically prepared to be able to follow through with the desired skill or tasks. We can teach you how to correctly employ these activities with our lesson plans that accompany our listening system. Take our quiz and book a free consult to find out how.

In the meantime, here is a video for Moro exercises that you can try with your child at home. Here also are two Proprioceptive PDFs with physical activities for children to work on to strengthen their body’s ability to sense movement, action, and location.

PDF 1 for Children and PDF 2 for Adults and Teens

Impulse control and sensory input regulation is a reflection of the state of the brain and nervous system. It can be facilitated if it is not there yet, or not yet strong. Without it, some families become more isolated as they cannot manage the child’s behavior outside of the home, so they don’t or can’t leave. Everyone deserves the chance to feel at peace and confident that your child is safe.

This is a crucial topic for parents this and every summer. Brain Harmony is here to provide support, helping you prioritize your energy to prevent elopement and helping your child learn to swim to safety if the child does find their way to a pool. Also, elopement and any occurrences at the pool with any children - even one that’s not your own - for example, one of our Brain Harmony members witnessed a child silently struggling in the water this past weekend, and jumped in to help pull them out and make sure they were okay, so it can happen anywhere, anytime.

We want to make sure you are in a healthy place to prevent this from ever happening, as well as assist and also to recover from the stress it can cause, whether it’s your child or someone else’s.