Pool-Pals

Autistic people love to swim. I have learned that over the years. I love being in the pool whether it is working out or just floating around. Nicky loves the pool way more than I do.It doesn't matter if it's warm, chilly, or freezing...he will stay in a pool all day if you let him.

During this semester of my college year, the Kelberman Center does Pool Pals with Utica College at the campus pool. Little Autistic children of all kinds get paired up with a volunteer and they swim and play games together in the pool.

I watched all the sessions last semester from the side of the pool, but this time I was volunteering and being an active participant. I'll never forget the first session.It was Monday September 21st, and our first session was about to begin. My swim-pal partner arrives. I won't reveal his name because of privacy reasons so I will just use the "Norbert" name for this blog post.

Norbert was wearing a Pokemon shirt which was an advantage to me because I used to watch Pokemon all the time when I was younger but I lost interest in the newer seasons. I asked him if he liked Pokemon and he replied "Yes".

He went on to tell me that there were 493 Pokemon, 513 episodes, the whole works. I was amazed. He knew so much about it. I asked him if he had watched all of the episodes? He informed me that he only missed three individual episodes out of the 500 plus episode series. How can he keep track of that?

Pokemon came out in 1998. He's only eight years old, or how he said it to me, 8 3/4. That means that the show had a few seasons already on the air before he was even born. He informed me of what number each Pokemon represents. Unbelievable!!

Get this! I was doing an article for my Reporting Class about famous people with Autism. It turns out that the creator of Pokemon is in fact, Autistic. I couldn't believe that. When I informed Norbert of this, he was stunned too. Norbert is aware of other autistic people. He told me that there are a lot of autistic people in his class. I'll never forget the stunned look on his face when I told him that I was autistic myself. He gave me a stunned look and asked, "really?"

Norbert claims that he is not autistic, even though he really is. I obviously wasn't going to inform him myself. The counselors suggested that I asked him what he thinks Autism is. However, I felt that I shouldn't push it. At the same time, I don't want Norbert to find out he's autistic when I did, during my first semester at college.

Norbert loves to swim. We always race each other at the end of every session. Despite claiming I will win before every race, he always beats me. Towards the end of the Pool Pals semester, one of the counselors informed me that Norbert really likes me and she can tell because he looks at me a lot. Autistic people have been known to not like looking people in the eye. Norbert doesn't really look at people but likes to look at me. I thought that was a huge compliment.

All the other kids were swimming to. It was interesting to see all of the autistic kids on different ends of the spectrum interact with each other. One time, the pool was cold and I was shivering. A high functioning Autistic girl informed me to "be a man!" She also gave me and the rest of the kids advice on how to swim in the cold water by just moving around. Another kid was a Power Rangers' fan which I can relate because Power Rangers is my favorite show. We have had some discussions about the show. He always refers to me as the "Power Rangers guy."

Even a non-verbal six year old was having a great time. You can always tell just by the way he smiles and plays with the water.

We had this game called the raft jump where kids stand on it, wave to their parents, and jump in. Norbert the first week just slid off because he was afraid, but the next couple of weeks, he did it no sweat and even wanted to do it again. That is a sign of growth.

Norbert's dad took a picture of us at the last session while we were swimming. He also took a picture of the two of us outside of the pool. Norbert requested that he take a picture with me and the entire Pool-Pal staff. We did! Norbert want me to be his teacher again and I agreed. One of the Counselors told me that this is what it's all about. "Oh Yeah!" I agreed.

Norbert e-mailed me just the other day since he and I exchanged e-mails with each other. He told me to make sure I sign up to be his partner again and he'll send me the pictures soon. In another e-mail, he told me to check out the latest Pokemon game coming out. He said I should buy it and that it's great for both kids and adults. I may have an interest in Pokemon again.