Swim teaching - To struggle to think of reasonable adjustments for ADHD?

This isn't the job for Jenny and she needs to leave.

It is highly inappropriate for her to be snappy and tearful with/in front of the kids, especially when the pool is a space of anxiety for lots of little children having swimming lessons without parents. I also doubt her ability to keep children safe.

Some places are not able to make accommodations for ADHD, and this is one of them.

What Jenny is like personally or what her home life is like doesn't matter. She can't do her job.

As an aside 90% of people with ADHD have RSD - rejection sensitive dysphoria. If she senses she is failing at her job it's quite likely this will make everything worse. So instead of her making progress and getting better she might struggle more. Pulling back demands and giving her small achievable goals might well reset her anxiety and have a big impact. But not necessarily.

I'm parent to autistic and ADHD kids plus likely have ADHD myself. I work with kids regularly but I am aware it can't be the main part of my job. I find it loads of fun but very intense and I burnout quickly. I do like swimming but there's no way I'd manage hours of screaming kids in that environment in particular.

I think your suggestion of a month trial for a more admin based role is good. Perhaps send her on a time management or similar course too? If that doesn't work the job is clearly unsuitable. As others said not all jobs suit all people and the disability side of things needs 'reasonable' adjustment not a total change of job.

@Gotabadfeelingaboutthis
As someone with ND and from an ND family i think you have to try and think logically about the situation.

Nowhere is it stated that just because we like the idea of something can we necessarily do this as a job. So just as I haven't got the brains to be a nuclear physicist or the temperament to be police officer or the looks to be model Jenny doesn't have the capability to be a swimming instructor.
Simple as.

You don't have to come up with adjustments for the essence of the job. Adjustments should be so that someone who is capable of the job can focus on that and not on all the smaller things that others wouldn't even notice that make their life difficult. Adjustments aren't about helping someone who is incapable of the doing the one thing that is needed.

Reasonable adjustments could very well be the spare set of uniform available, or the extra reminder or even help with admin, ie the smaller and although necessary non essential part of the job, but the actual lessons should be just as good as anyone else. That's the only reason she should have the job.

It's not wrong to say someone isn't cut out for something.

I agree there's more going on. I actually wondered about autism alongside ADHD. Her dysregulation sounds very extreme. But tbh she might just need to learn her personal limitations. I can't bear swimming pools because of the noise / light / screaming of children (I have real noise and light sensitivity). Sometimes there are adjustments which can be made and sometimes there aren't.

Either way she can't compromise the children's safety.

One other thing you can try is letting her work short hours, if it fits with how you run the business.

Targets is a bit of a problem, think more aspirations!

Maybe she can regulate for a while, then gets trigger-stacked. I'd also say that if she's in a calm environment, she should be better at regulating. But it's tricky, I never know quite which situations I'll excel or bomb in, bit of a lottery.

There's a lot of adhd people in the first responder services, as the nature of those roles, releases dopamine and they can deal with whatever happens really well.

So I still think there's more going on here...

Good post, helps a lot of us think!

What has Jenny tried? Has she taken any responsibility for considering and trying out possible solutions?

Jenny needs a new job. A swim teacher can't become frantic and cry during a lesson!

The rest she ought to be able to sort with organisation. Someone should help her write a list of what equipment she needs and a timetable for when she should get up inorder to arrive at work calmly and not disheveled.

But if my child's swim teacher got frantic in a swim lesson I'd be looking elsewhere for lessons

She needs to find a new job or a new way to teach. I’d find a new teacher tbh. A one off crying etc I would let slide because everyone has shit days but if I thought my Dd was being taught by someone who was late, emotionally unstable and unreliable I wouldn’t be happy.

I had severe mental health issues myself so it’s not that I’m not sympathetic but it’s not right to expect other people to pay to experience that, especially children.

Has anyone checked out her actual Swim Teacher qualifications? (ASA if in UK). What level qualification does she actually have, Full Teacher or Assistant?

This. I have ADHD.

As well as the obvious risk to the children from Jenny's behaviours, in deciding how to manage this, you also need to be aware of how health & safety law works. It works on the basis of strict liability, looks to the top of the chain and has personal criminal penalties (ie individuals can go to prison as well as the company itself being fined).
I presume you are Jenny's manager. Are you also the owner of the swim school or are there levels above you? If there are levels above you, given the obvious risk here, you shouldn't continue to support Jenny without the support of your manager (and they may wish to alert someone above them).

Agreed.

I have some reasonable adjustments in my current job, I'm very much in favour of reasonable adjustments as a thing. But my reasonable adjustments would not be feasible for very valid reasons if I had other types of jobs. And so I don't do those jobs.

Think you've been amazing and supportive. You're obviously very kind. However, your duty of care to the children must trump your kindness in this situation. It's simply untenable and I think everyone here is giving you permission to go for dismissal.

This can’t be for real. I have a close relative who behaves very much like this in jobs (and keeps getting fired because of it) but she works in offices, not supervising children in a swimming pool. She suspects she is nd (no diagnosis yet), and she may well be, but I know for a fact she is also on drugs. I’ve seen her get high before heading off for work. Just because someone has ADHD doesn’t mean that any and all failings can be attributed to that and fixed with “reasonable adjustments”. People with adhd can also have mh problems, problems with addiction or just be incompetent. The person you’re describing is completely incompetent at her job. A job where she’s responsible for the safety of kids! Being kind and a nice person doesn’t balance that out.

Erm, yes, my previous post was more general about reducing the overwhelm, in order to do the job. But I think, on reflection, the other posters are right.

Not the job for her currently.

She also needs more support at home. However, she needs to find her own way.

The adhd coach suggestion is a good one.

I also think there's more going on here too. She needs more help than some accommodations, do it's not unkind to try to start that process.

It shouldnt really have gone on this long to have had her in tears or panicking when children are dysregulated, one or two incidents of that and it should have been nipped in the bud

You sound like you’ve done your best but jenny can’t do this job.

I've actually found this thread really upsetting. A young relative of mine died by drowning.

At my local pool parents aren't allowed poolside during lessons, and the idea that children might be being supervised by someone who is getting frantic and crying while children are in the water is terrifying.

Nothing should come before the children's safety, and you say another teacher is always there but presumably Jenny's disregulation is taking some of that other teacher's attention? This can't carry on.

Wow.

As a parent, if I witnessed that in one of my children’s classes, I wouldn’t bother asking you to put my child in a different class, I would be looking for a new swim school.

As a (former) swimming teacher, I would have been (quite rightly) fired if I were routinely late, disorganized or unprepared for my classes.

I understand you want to help her. And that is lovely. But a reasonable adjustment for your employee cannot be something that puts your clients in danger. And if she can’t cope with unregulated children in the pool, she is putting them in danger. We all know how quickly something can wrong in water.

In your shoes, I’d be telling her all of this and ask her how you can help her without endangering your clients.

Some possible answers - can she get herself organised and to work in time by using alarms and reminders? That is not an unreasonable expectation! She could then consider coming in 5 or 10 mins early to get her shit together. Both mentally and the props she needs for her class. Being properly prepared will probably help her a huge amount in class. But being early would also give her the opportunity to dive into the pool and do a few laps to calm her down (it works for me).

Could she teach a babies and toddlers class? It is a lot less pressure for some people because you are essentially teaching adults to teach the babies. And adults, although a pain and potentially intimidating for younger instructors, are less likely to put themselves or their children in danger. Also, the parents are responsible for their babies’ mood and behaviour which would take the pressure off her.

I think that you are being very kind to ask us what might help in this situation, and it sounds as though you have tried several reasonable adjustments already.

Part of my job is supporting children with SEND in a swimming pool, and it is so much easier if the staff are calm, reasonably quiet and give clear instructions. You know you've got it right when children are keen to get in the pool and don't want to leave!

The swimming pool is not the best place for someone to be if they are as you describe. It's bright, the sound and light bounces off the water and it could easily lead to sensory overwhelm without the added pressure of having to teach, and just think of the children who are new to swimming seeing all of this. I just cannot see how you could put anything more in place to help.

Is she on medication and does that help at all?

Reasonable adjustments need to be reasonable. You can't demand a reasonable adjustment to become a bus driver if you're blind. Or even to be a professional pilot if you're too short sighted.

In the same way, I'm not sure there is a reasonable adjustment that will enable someone who becomes dysregulated and cries to be able to teach swimming to small children. Would she do better with older children/ adults who can already swim and are looking to improve their technique?

This woman gives other people with ADHD a bad name. Many of us have worked out our own workarounds eg bag packed the night before, leaving extra time to reach the venue, having clothes set out the night before and things left in defined places such as the car keys always being in a bowl in the hallway. We work on things we find difficult. I have systems set up at work to make up for my weaknesses in executive functioning so that people actually think I am very organised. Yes, we might feel bad or stressed at times but we carry on. I would fire her without hesitation before somebody drowns on her watch. If I was a parent there is no way that I would her teaching my small children..