AngelFishGA – Helping Families Stay Safe in the Water

By Traci Sanders

Awareness and safety around water is important to protect young children in these situations, especially those with physical or mental learning disabilities.

AngelFishGA–Adaptive Aquatics (AFGA) currently provides weekly swimming lessons for over 200 children of all ages and skills, from little babies to Special Olympics traditional swimmers. Working together with Gwinnett County Aquatics, AFGA provides the greatest access to all aquatic’s lessons offered by the county to these children, many of whom are from low or fixed-income homes.

AFGA believes in a “force No child/do No harm” philosophy, viewing each child as unique. All AFGA instructors are experienced swimmers, Red Cross WSI instructors, lifeguard and/or competitive swimmers, and most importantly, Swim Angelfish ® Adaptive Methodology Certified. This last vital link sets them apart from other organizations. As a representative shared, “It’s not enough to simply ‘want’ to swim with children with special needs. You must know how to do it. It takes an average of four to six months to train to become an AFGA instructor.”

Moms and dads are also invited to join their children in the water to learn how to understand the why and how these instructors teach swimming and to give them the tools to use when swimming unassisted with their angelfish (a term of endearment AFGA uses to reference their students).

AFGA offers the same cost of services as Gwinnett County, and this is one of their core values. They work toward safety, proficien-

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