13 hours ago
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong charity's SEN swimming class a lifesaver for autistic, ADHD children
A Hong Kong charity has set up one of the city's biggest-ever learn-to-swim programmes for children with special education needs (SEN), aiming to teach 1,500 youngsters over three years.
Splash Foundation, which teaches Hong Kong's disadvantaged communities to swim, has launched the Jockey Club Move Without Borders Project – Swim with Splash, giving children with mild to moderate SEN potentially life-saving skills.
Data from the foundation suggests that youngsters with autism are 160 times more at risk of drowning than other children, and parents have said there had been a lack of classes in Hong Kong catering for those with SEN, especially for swimming.
'It is very important for them to take this course, because there are very few opportunities like this for SEN children,' mother-of-three Kwok Sin-ting said.
Children and instructors pose for a photograph during the course. Photo: Edmond So
'And other swim classes are not suitable, because people will complain, thinking that my children are naughty, or the coach doesn't know how to work with SEN children, so they will ask us to leave.
