ADI recently inaugurated its state-of-the-art hydrotherapy pool as an integral part of the Jerusalem facility. ADI residents, students and community children are now able to receive ongoing hydrotherapy treatment in the on-premises pool, and no longer have to travel to outside facilities with limited availability.
The new pool also offers a unique opportunity for people with disabilities to practice AAC (augmentative and alternative communication). Special communication boards placed in strategic locations around the pool enable non-verbal students to communicate at the pool by using various icons and symbols. This customized communication enhances the experience, allowing participants to express their feelings, wishes and emotions to their caregivers, support staff, attending therapists and the lifeguard.
We are pleased to report that the program – the first of its kind in Israel – has gone swimmingly!
Hydrotherapy is one of the most enjoyable and beneficial therapeutic avenues available for children with severe disabilities. It improves and strengthens physical abilities, coordination, sensory awareness and the respiratory and pulmonary systems, and enhances quality of life through the positive release of energy and building self-esteem. In the water, children are free of their everyday constraints, enabling them to move differently and freely, without pain, in ways inaccessible to them outside of the water.
