About Individual Support
Individual support chosen from all over the country and abroad
So you can exercise in peace!
We provide water exercise and rehabilitation support in the form of individual support in a relaxed atmosphere.
Please don’t worry if you have any physical problems or disabilities.
Our goal is to help you develop real swimming skills that you can enjoy outside of the pool in the future.
There is no end to the news about people who can swim in the pool but drown in the sea or river. When we analyze the causes and triggers that lead to drowning, one of the reasons is that people have only learned how to swim and have not acquired the skills to handle water safely and, by extension, to know and use their own bodies.
If you are interested in swimming or have a challenge that makes it difficult to swim in the normal way, we will show you the “perfect way to swim” that will make it easier and less breathless for you.
If you don’t have a swimsuit or are just starting out, you can start here.
We will start from the basic “Ki” by practicing at everyone’s pace.
Because it is individual support, we consider each person’s challange characteristics and ease of learning, and devise ways such as starting with the backstroke like in Europe.
In addition to the four swimming events (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and crawl), we also offer a wide range of other activities such as artistic swimming, swimming for people with severe physical disabilities, underwater walking, aichi (standing body movement like tai chi), and assisted aquabics.
About Individual Support
Click here for more information about MISHOP’s concept of individual support.
【Main contents】
Swimming, water exercise and artistic swimming (outside of teams) are also individual support.
We provide lifestyle support not only for swimming, but also for physical movement and control of one’s own body according to the developmental stage of the body.
After exercises to promote physical development in the water, we will support individual goals such as water play, where you can get used to the water, walking in the water, swimming, and artistic swimming (formerly synchronized swimming).
We also offer a wide range of activities for children with disabilities. (Up to 3 people at most).
(e.g.) One child with a disability and one child without a disability can be accommodated in turn, or if they are close in level, they can be accommodated together.
You will learn how to swim in a way that suits you and is not physically demanding.
You will learn how to swim without damaging your body.
You can practice every other week without any difficulty because you will feel the change in your body.
(Once a month is too short of a gap and the effect is lost, and in some cases, children may not be able to do the things they used to be able to do.)
There are regular meeting days so you can learn the basics of your own swimming. (If you wish)
You can develop an exercise habit.
【Therapies we mainly use】
Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Receptive Interaction Therapy, Music Therapy, Play Therapy, Adlerian Psychology, Physiological Psychology, Applied Behavior Analysis (Free Operant Method), Breathing Techniques, ABA, TEACCH, Underwater Relaxation, Aqua Therapy, Seitai Method, and many more
We provide underwater exercise support that incorporates integrative psychotherapy that combines a number of psychotherapies and exercise therapies along with social support (rare in the world).
Each support is analyzed based on statistics, and the support method is reviewed and tailored to each individual.
Based on data from over 21,080 cases, we offer an effective support method that multiplies daily life support and swimming/water exercise.
Therefore, instead of learning the rules of movement (support for the so-called “bumping off” points that stick to the pattern and cannot get out, or cannot link with other movements), swimming and daily life support that realizes the sensation from the inside of the body and links the whole body can be achieved.
About our support staff
The Association is a
①Holders of a swimming instructor’s license for the disabled (or those who have undergone equivalent training and passed an examination)
②At least five years of experience in both instruction and assistance (or nursing care)
③Knowledge level that enables a single support worker to hold training and courses
We hire high-level support staff who are
Some of them are
People from the disability welfare industry (care support specialists, guide helpers for the mentally handicapped, guide helpers for the visually impaired), and
Support staff who can speak everyday conversation and swim sign language (2 sign language test level 3, 1 level 2)
Support staff who can translate into Braille (2 persons)
Underwater Relaxation Specialist, and
International qualification holders (childcare, swimming, water exercise)
Japan Paralympic Para-Athlete
World Swimming Award Winners
Paralympic gold medalist trainer
Masters gold medalist.
We also have a number of
We are the only school in Tokyo that offers continuous individualized support for swimming, underwater exercise and para-artistic swimming classes. From welfare support to competitions, we provide individual support to raise your child’s level of performance.
【Details】
●Subjects
☆We welcome everyone from inexperienced swimmers to experienced swimmers.
☆Those who can have a preliminary interview (we will call you by phone)
Due to pool conditions, we are currently unable to accept participants who are not wearing diapers.
We are willing to accept the following people
- Those with physical, intellectual or developmental disabilities, or intractable diseases. (You do not need to have a certificate if you have a doctor’s permission.)
- Siblings or friends who want to swim or do water exercise together.
- Those who have been refused by other swimming schools due to challenged people or epilepsy. (To prevent accidents, please inform us of the type of epilepsy you have at the time of interview)
- Those who want to learn swimming and water exercise even if they have a physical ailment.
- People with dementia or people who want to start swimming as a preventive measure for caregivers. Please contact us for more information)
- Able to change into and out of the pool by themselves or with assistance. (Except for getting in and out of the pool from the red table or poolside)
- Those who can come to the class venue (we do not provide our own transportation service, but we can refer you to local helper agencies and consultation support services).
- Those who want to learn how to swim in a healthier way.
- Those who want to do underwater exercise or underwater walking.
- Those who want to do para-artistic swimming (formerly synchronized swimming for the disabled).
- Those who want to develop an exercise habit.
●Date & Time
- Due to the effects of the coronavirus, the program has been scaled back. Please contact us to make a request.
- 1 time, approx. 1 hour ※(approx. 50 minutes in the pool, 10 minutes handover to family members or helpers)
- ※This includes time to talk with the family after the activity.
For those who need time to change clothes due to a disability, we try to leave as much time as possible between the students before and after the activity, including time to change clothes, etc. - Closed: Thursday
●Location
Location to be decided by mutual discussion (including online.) (Currently, we do not do business trips.)
(Place of activity) Mitaka City, online
●Membership fees and benefits
There is no charge for membership or membership-related expenses.
Please be assured that there will be no commercial solicitation from the Association.
As a member, you will receive the following benefits
①You can watch videos on our members-only website anytime for free, including videos of land stretching, swimming, and exercises that lead to artistic swimming that you can use as a reference when you are not in the pool.
②There is no charge for the rental of swimming welfare equipment used for support.
③You can challenge record meetings and competitions. We will also guide you through some that are open to first-timers and those with severe physical disabilities.
④You can also do stretches and exercises that lead to online development and swimming, and artistic swimming run drills (land movement exercises).
⑤Swimming lessons are not test-based but goal-oriented with individual support. We will give your child a certificate when they meet the goals of their individual support plan.
●Please
- Providing support in the water requires a great deal of physical strength and concentration on the part of the support staff.
- Currently, there is a high demand for individual support, and in order to protect the voices of those who wish to receive individual support, as well as to protect the support staff from the cold and water pressure, we limit the number of people each support staff member can receive in a given day. Please make an appointment as soon as possible.
- As a rule, we ask that you meet us by the pool. We will discuss this with you at the time of interview or trial.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1 How long does it take to improve?
A1 The speed of progress depends more on the student’s fear of water than on the degree of disability.
Some students aim for fast progress because swimming is part of the school curriculum, but it is highly individualized and the growth process varies.
For this reason, we have devised a curriculum that includes a lot of time for relaxation and running to integrate water familiarization and developmental issues to facilitate progress.
We have had swimmers who were not afraid of the water and were able to crawl in one day; one swimmer with memory impairment was able to complete all four events in about three days; and a child with a moderate level of challenged mastered all four events (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and crawl) after a year of bi-weekly lessons.
Q2 Do parents have to enter the water?
A2 It is optional for family members or attendants such as helpers to enter the water. We can change the program according to the child’s growth, for example, we may share the water with the child until the child is not used to it, and then separate the mother and child as the child gets used to the program.
Q3 Does individual support mean one-on-one support?
A3 It will change as your child grows.
We will provide one-on-one support for those who are new to the program or have severe needs for supervision, but we also provide individual support for two children per support person. This is an important experience for the children to build
relationships with people who are different from their peers and support staff, such as learning to cooperate, encouraging each other through friendly competition with friends, and above all, being considerate of others’ feelings, which cannot be gained through one-on-one support.
As a welfare support worker, one of the common characteristics of people with disabilities who live happily in the community is that they are good at interacting with people in the community and building trusting relationships with people they know and meet when they walk the streets, and they live long lives while making use of community resources.
This is something that cannot be experienced on a one-on-one basis, so we consider it important to have this kind of support system from those who are able.
Of course, we will continue to provide support while gradually changing the environment, such as starting once a month.
Q4 I have a hearing impairment. Are there support staff who can sign?
A4 We have support staff who speak Japanese Sign Language. I am able to speak enough for daily conversation and swimming that I don’t need to use written communication. (There is some drawing and note-taking).
As for swimming events, we have experience supporting competitive swimming, artistic swimming, and underwater walking. Please contact us for more details as the days of the week are fixed.
Click here to contact us (a new window will open).
Online Individual Support
We use online to create a system that allows us to share the joy of swimming with those who are far away.
We teach water familiarization that can be done with parents and children in a fun way by projecting a plastic pool at home, swimming in a park pool, land training, relaxation, and more.
We also aim to integrate developmental issues in daily activities such as running, cooking, shoeshine, housework, and flower arranging, and we work to maintain physical and mental health and fitness by promoting development.
Conditions for participation are the same as those for “Individual Support in Underwater Activities” above.
If you wish, we can also offer online advice to those in the athlete class who wish to go further.
＜Achievements＞
Developmentally disabled children who want to practice developmental exercises and their families, Para-athletic swimming※ run drills, Masters competition participants, major swimming school instructors, Paralympic development class athletes, and many others.
※Para-artistic swimming: formerly known as synchronized swimming for the disabled
Click here to contact us (a new window will open).