I just signed up Chance for swimming class just as I have done for the past 5 summers. We started out in the mom and tot class and now Chance can tackle the water on his own. He still has much to learn, but he loves to swim.
When we first found out that Chance was deaf, I would tell the people when signing up for lessons that Chance was deaf. This was always followed by some stammering on the part of the person doing the sign-ups, followed by a furrowed brow and expressions of concern. Who needs to know how to swim the most....a hearing child who can hear you call out to him by the water, or a deaf child who will take out their implants by the water and not be able to hear you yell out a warning?
So I don't tell them anymore at sign ups that Chance is deaf. Chance has been taking classes on his own for 4 years now and he knows how the system works. I tell the teacher on the first day of class. Usually the teacher is a teen-ager earning money for the summer. Not one of the teachers has had a problem with Chance being deaf yet. They just take it in stride. I explain that Chance wears devices to hear, but that he takes them off in the water. I tell the teacher that if they just demonstrate what he is supposed to do, Chance will follow. I explaing to them that Chance can read lips quite well, so if they tap Chance to get his attention, and make sure that he is looking at them, he is good at figuring out what is going on. If Chance does not get what the teacher is saying, demonstrating what Chance is supposed to do usually takes care of that problem. This system has worked each year for the past few years. Every teacher that has taught Chance, has approached me at the end of the session and told me how much they enjoyed working with Chance and what a great kid he is. I figure why cause undue stress in the lives of those doing the sign-ups when it all works out in the end:)
Chance's implants actually can get wet, that is one of the selling points of this particular brand. We were really drawn to that feature after burning many calories each summer making sure that Chance was not in the sprinklers with his hearing aids or monitering neighborhood water gun fights to ensure that Chance had his hearing aids out before he got squirted.
So the implants can get wet, but they are not supposed to be submerged. So Chance takes them out for swimming. And we think a psychological barrier is neccessary at this point due to Chance's age and the fact that he baths with siblings:) Chance is used to having to keep the hearing aids dry, and until he is older and understands the limits of the water proofing, we don't let the implants get wet. Besides, when bathing with a brother, one can never be sure that ones implant is not going to be submerged. This could of course be solved by having Chance bathe alone, but he and his brother love to play in the tub and shower together. So for now, we just keep that psychological barrier in place.
I have peace of mind knowing though, that if Chance spontaneously decides to run through the neighbors sprinklers or gets into a water gun fight, that his implants are going to be ok. Chance takes his implants off if he is going to play in or with water, which is good anyway. I can't expect neighbor kids to know at what level is too much water for the implants when they are swimming or playing on slip and slides. We just play it safe at our house. But someday, when Chance is older, we will sit down and have the big talk with him. The talk that unfolds the mystery of his water tolerating implants.
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