Enter Marshall University graduate student Gianna Petrella, who after observing her mother work with people with disabilities for years, created her own customized swim program, “Safe Swim for All” when she was just 16 years old. Gianna has since launched the program at multiple sites in the Pittsburgh area, Athens, Ohio and now in Huntington.
“I started working at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Blind where my mother is a teacher and that’s where my passion for working with children with disabilities began,” Gianna said. “I also was a competitive swimmer in high school, so this is where the two loves merged.”
Gianna recalled that while her high school offered swimming lessons to the community, there was nothing for students with disabilities.
“I had the idea that we’re doing such a disservice by not helping these children, and there are such alarming rates of drowning for children with autism,” she said. “So, I combined the two passions of working with children with disabilities and swimming.”
Official estimates show drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury deaths for children ages 1-4 and the third leading cause of unintentional injury deaths for children ages 5-19. Moreover, some children with disabilities have a greater risk of drowning, such as those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Down syndrome, heart disease and seizure disorders (like epilepsy).
Gianna, a student in Marshall’s speech pathology graduate program, brought together a team of her classmates to volunteer for the swim program, which took place in July at the Marshall Rec Center with a small group of about 12 students, all with a diagnosis on the Autism Spectrum. Safety is the program’s top priority; each participant is supported by several college volunteers, certified instructors and lifeguards on deck.
“A lot of our students are non-verbal, so we made visual picture cards to help communicate with them, but we also use all neuro-divergent forms of communication,” Gianna said. “Students with multiples disabilities learn differently, so my program is totally customized so they can go at their own pace.”
Marshall’s Rec Center and the West Virginia Autism Training Center at the university partnered with Gianna to launch the swim program, which she said she would love to see continue.
“My goal is to find someone in Huntington to take over the program when I graduate,” Gianna said. “To make it sustainable and continue to offer the program is the ultimate goal.”
For more information about Gianna’s program, visit the Safe Swim for All website.
To learn about the Autism Training Program at Marshall, visit www.marshall.edu/atc.
