YMCA autism and sensory disorder swim class

The Bismarck YMCA now offers a special swim program for children with autism and sensory disorders.

The Let's Swim program is one of the few programs offered in the area for kids with specials needs. The program is designed to guide children to become more comfortable with themselves and around others. One of the parents, Brian Dehnert, talks about how the one-on-one interaction with the instructor and his son has shown positive results.

"This seems to be working really well, they interact really well and he looks forward to it every Saturday," Dehnert said.

Occupational therapy student Corinna Niebur is one of the swim instructors for the program. Niebur works hands on with the children in the pool.

"I think finding anything that they can be good at and have pride in is really awesome, too. So just developing those skills and anything else they can be confident in is really awesome, too," Nieber said.

The end goal is for the children to advance into other physical activities and to become more comfortable in varying social settings.