Passenger with autism

[inextremis 0]

Had a postiive, if complex, experience giving private instructon to a tandem passenger with autism. There is not much in these forums about autism, so I learned as I went and developed some lessons learned:
1 Prep. I started by asking his parents about his capabilities. They were skydivers and had taken him to a vertical wind tunnel as a 'check dive." Because people with autism vary in how much sensory stimulation they can handle, I would strongly recommend a trip to a VWT first. I also spent an hour with two volunteer experts--a school psychologist and a special ed teacher from the local public school district. They taught me a lot about the communication and learning styles of people with autism. For example, when my student said he was afraid and paced anxiously, I interpreted that as his autism--I don't think he was any more fearful than the typical first jump tandem passenger, but people with autism express their feelings with less social appropriateness than other people. I also failed to ask the family about OTHER physical issues--as it turned out his torso was asymmetrical and he had significant weakness on his left side, along with an arm that was half the size of his other arm and palseyed. Very difficult to even get a glove on his curled fingers. Because people with autism are very sensitive to sensory input, ear plugs are a must--I used the foam pillow type, which are good for noise reduction but hard for me to help him with insertion. If I had it to do over I would have used the reusable rubber "triple flange" variety. And he needed his helment and non-vented goggles even for the walk to the airplane. Noise inside the plane and in the door was no issue for him.
Training. I walked through every aspect of the jump with him, including hookup in the actual Otter. As it turned out, his physical problems also included significant lack of flexibility in his legs--he could not duck walk in the Otter once hooked up (6'2", 210). I wound up seating him on the floor by the door and doing a "Porter type" hookup and exit, which worked fine. Rehearsal is important with special needs jumpers--don't assume any capability without a physical walk through or you could be in for a surprise.
Ride up. Normal. His parents, brother, and two cousins were on the aircraft either solo or as tandems. Huge confidence boost for this young man facing a significant personal challenge.
Exit and Freefall. Aside from needing me to help him position his left hand on the harness, he was as good in the door as any student I've taken. In freefall he was inherently assymetrical, requiring a lot of compensation on my part to hold a heading. I do tandems in bootie pants and a freefly top, and that made flying straight a cinch.
Landing. Because he could not lift his legs much, or for long, and his arms were no help, we did only one practice landing up high. and told him I would tell him to lift his legs at only the last moment before touch down. We had a good, steady 10 mph wind. As I flared, I did a tiny carve to the right and we slid in on our right legs away from his weaker left side. He stood up, grinned, and told the photographer it was good and he'd like to do it again someday.
I'm glad I took a lot of time with this student, separate from the normal commercial tandem ops at my DZ, and I would recommend that for sure, rather than the more routine train up done for those without special needs. It's pretty fulfilling, definitely worth the time and effort--I left with a lot of respect for his parents, and especially him. Blue skies

[humanflite 0]

Well done Sounds like you did a fantastic job with a potentially difficult jump..

[ACMESkydiver 0]

cndo pointed me over here to your thread...very cool.

I have ten year old twin sons with severe Autism. It's encouraging to see other autistics overcoming.

All the prep you did -what an amazing thing. Thank you so much for taking the time to help that kid. That's awesome.

Our sons have such severe and unpredictable issues that skydiving won't be in their future until we make a major breakthrough; but some day we do hope to make it possible for them to try a wind tunnel. When we do, I sure hope to find someone that's just half as concerned with their safety and happiness as you were for your passenger.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[JohnDeere 0]

WOW.... that was so nice of you to just do the jump much less all of the preporation. You went above and beyond the call of duty. WOW

Nothing opens like a Deere!

You ignorant fool! Checks are for workers!

[Rover 11]

A mate who had a climbing accident 20 years ago and 'died' 5 times in the 2 days after his accident. For his 40th I took him for a tandem. He had his challenges - similar and different - to what you discribed. It was a most rewarding experience

2 wrongs don't make a right - but 3 lefts do.

[Baksteen 84]

Kudos man!
Would there be video by any chance?

It's always great to see skydivers take that extra bit of troubles so that handicapped people can live their dream.
More kudos to the passenger of course, who simply went and did something most so-called "normal" people would never dare to do.

"That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport."
~mom

[inextremis 0]

There is very high quality video, shot by Lazlo Andacs, one of the best freefall photographers in the world, but I don't feel I should post it because of privacy. It's like any other well edited tandem video we've all seen, but I flew most of the jump with my left hand cupped back by my thigh and my right leg extended (hard left turn) to keep us flying straight on heading. And of course I had the sun to my back and I landed way too far from the camera but Lazi made it all look good anyway

[danielcroft 2]

That's great, glad he had fun!
I think I saw you out at the otter, I said something about that being an impressive mock up.

[RkyMtnHigh 0]

Great experience! Glad you did your "homework". Sounds like you ended up with an amazing gift that you'll never forget
Kudos!

_________________________________________

[inextremis 0]

Thanks, I was really happy for him. The real lesson is that when you're doing something unfamiliar, "homework" and especially the physical walk-through rehearsal will uncover a lot of issues that you then don't have to deal with unexpectedly. When you think about it, knowing the student and then training by walking through the process is really fundamental to all student training in the ISP. We just take a lot of short cuts with average Joes and Janes, which is fine for them, but for someone who needs some extra help, the more realism in the training, the better for everyone.

[BillyVance 34]

Awesome job! I work with an autistic person, and they're all different. Some are less obvious and some you can tell almost right away.

It's all about accomodating their needs exactly, not them accomodating yours.

Job well done!

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[vskydiver 0]

Jaye,
If your boys ever get to that point and they want to do it and you want them to do it... I know someone that will take them and spend all the time they need in order to make it a good experience. We're there for ya!

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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Jaye,
If your boys ever get to that point and they want to do it and you want them to do it... I know someone that will take them and spend all the time they need in order to make it a good experience. We're there for ya!

Absolutely, I couldn't imagine anyone we'd have more confidence in.


-now if we could only get a wind tunnel up here in the NW....

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[vskydiver 0]

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Absolutely, I couldn't imagine anyone we'd have more confidence in.


-now if we could only get a wind tunnel up here in the NW....

Oh! Wouldn't that be sweet! You always hear rumors about that so maybe one of these days it will happen? IDK. How do you think your boys would do in a wind tunnel?

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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Oh! Wouldn't that be sweet! You always hear rumors about that so maybe one of these days it will happen? IDK. How do you think your boys would do in a wind tunnel?

I think the hard part initially would be getting ear plugs in (they don't like things touching their ears) then it would take about 3 times of screaming and thrashing and the 4th they would be all into it.

That's how everything is...it's very hard to get them 'used to' something in public. People think we're torturing them. We can't explain anything to the boys, as they have no verbal communication (well, very VERY limited) so we have to drag them down the big slides kicking and screaming until they 'get it'. Then you can't keep 'em off of 'em.

Sounds like the OP's passenger was high functioning, but getting a low functioning autistic into a wind tunnel might be so freeing to them...they love the water.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[elias123 0]

I just wanted to say, as an haver of asperger myself
That is SO fucking cool ! Thanks alot for posting this.
Next time I raise a beer It will be for you my man!

Eli

"In a mad world, only the mad are sane"

[vskydiver 0]

Well, if we ever do get a wind tunnel in our area, we'll have to take the boys and see what we can do.

[inextremis 0]

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Oh! Wouldn't that be sweet! You always hear rumors about that so maybe one of these days it will happen? IDK. How do you think your boys would do in a wind tunnel?

I think the hard part initially would be getting ear plugs in (they don't like things touching their ears) then it would take about 3 times of screaming and thrashing and the 4th they would be all into it.

That's how everything is...it's very hard to get them 'used to' something in public. People think we're torturing them. We can't explain anything to the boys, as they have no verbal communication (well, very VERY limited) so we have to drag them down the big slides kicking and screaming until they 'get it'. Then you can't keep 'em off of 'em.

Sounds like the OP's passenger was high functioning, but getting a low functioning autistic into a wind tunnel might be so freeing to them...they love the water.

He was, in fact, high functioning. His mother walked him through the waiver, but he signed it himself, she signed as witness. I was also able to ask him, as with all passengers before exit, "Do you want to skydive?" His ability to handle those two things got us to the legal and ethical place where we could do the jump.

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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He was, in fact, high functioning. His mother walked him through the waiver, but he signed it himself, she signed as witness. I was also able to ask him, as with all passengers before exit, "Do you want to skydive?" His ability to handle those two things got us to the legal and ethical place where we could do the jump.

That's great! I bet that's a jump neither of you will ever forget.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[elias123 0]

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We could have an autism hour at the wind tunnel!

That would be so cool! Or an auti dive.
I already planned one but don't know when we are going to do it yet becaus the two other people have to come from far away, but someday, we will do a three way auti skydive :) i'm gonna have a good time when that jump becomes reality. :D

Blues :)

eli

"In a mad world, only the mad are sane"

[Armour666 0]

My two boys have autism one more sever then the other and looking forward for them to try the tunnel. It's great to see some one take the time and care to give someone an opportunity to jump.

SO this one time at band camp.....

"Of all the things I've lost I miss my mind the most."

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

I had the opportunity a few years ago to take a young guy, about 21 years old, who was autistic on a couple of tandems at Raeford. His mother had come out and talked to me about it and I told her to bring him out and let me get a feel for him, both mentally and physically. He was pretty high-functioning and I had no problem whatsoever with this guy. We put frap hats on all of our tandem students at that dropzone, so I didn't have him use any ear plugs or anything else out of the ordinary. He had no problem following all of my instructions and he had a total blast on both jumps I took him on.

Chuck

[douwanto 22]

Great job!!!!! now I am jealous. Those who know me know my son Stephen. He is Autistic and has been traveling with me for several years. He helps with my passengers and is right at home at any DZ. He has asked to jump twice and been suited and harnessed twice but backed out both times on the walk to the plane. I know he wants to but I will wait until he goes all the way with no pressure. It will be his choice not mine. But Damn I can hardly wait for that day.

Any how Keep up the good work.

Chris and THE BOSS (Stephen)

Uncle/GrandPapa Whit
Unico Rodriguez # 245
Muff Brother # 2421