Blended Aquatics

Blended Aquatics At Blended Aquatics®, we use ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) principles targeting water safety and drowning prevention.

Blended Aquatics exists to fill a gap in water safety education — building practical frameworks for behavior analysts, caregivers, and aquatic professionals who support neurodivergent learners.

08/19/2026

⁉️ If you're a behavior analyst who addresses wandering or elopement with a client, do you also address water safety? 🌊

Autism-related accidental drowning involving wandering and elopement is too high to ignore.

74% — of fatal drownings in autistic children involve wandering (Denny et al., 2021, citing Guan & Li, 2017).

As of 2025, 87% of autism-related accidental drownings were wandering/elopement based (National Autism Safety Council).

✨️The BRIDGE to Safety Certification helps behavior analysts gain confidence and competency around addressing water safety with clients and their treatment plans. Link in bio or private message me! I'd love to hear from you, and look out for some new updates coming soon!✨️

08/11/2026

A passionate topic and caffeine have become my superpowers😆

✨️I've been hard at work building out The BRIDGE to Safety Certificate, which is a behavior analytic water safety certificate. Doors are still open for our founding cohort for behavior analysts! Excited to continue to share steps to be involved in water safety (even without a pool) and advocate for goals to be on treatment plans.

❤️If you're a behavior analyst looking to leverage your position, expand your scope, or want more to say to parents than "enroll in swimming lessons," see our link or bio or private message me! I would love to have you along for the journey! And follow along for more updates in the works!

07/30/2026

✨️Behavior analysis can change and save lives outside of the autism industry. But it can also change and improve lives for families living with autism.

I never wanted to work a traditional role or for someone else in the ABA field. Call me stubborn, but I was more motivated with working outside the box because it gave me freedom, possibility, and better connection with people I care about.

🧡 Parents have always been part of my water safety journey. Their vulnerability of sharing fear of a child drowning and the isolation that challenging behaviors can have on a family is what motivated me to push for better solutions.

❓️Are you motivated with what you're doing? What problems do you think you could build a better solution and future for?

07/21/2026

💦 Behavior analysts belong in the world of water safety. And no, you don't have to be a swim instructor to teach or be actively involved in water safety.

‼️ One large gap that a standard swim curriculum has is 'assuming' that foundational/ prerequisite or pre-attending (however you want to label it) are consistent. In other words, the way the lesson is taught is assuming children can consistently: wait, follow one or multi-step directions, imitate, respond to their name, communicate, etc.

Sure, there are swimming lessons catered for young children, but neurodivergent children may not always benefit from this structure or age group.

✨️ This is where BCBAs can play a role, those same foundational goals you are working on at home are already expected at the pool. And you can help plan and generalize for water-based settings and activities✨️

07/21/2026

✨️Mood: Proud 

I haven’t been able to reflect much on what I’ve been doing lately. And I’m probably more tired than anything, but realized I need to give myself some love and praise.  

I’m proud of myself for just getting out there. Even though I’m not type A, when it comes to my work, I need it perfect… to the point I don’t share it. This has been a work in progress. 

I’m proud of: 

❤️ Creating and building the BRIDGE to Safety, water safety education through a behavior lens.  

💙 The BRIDGE to Safety Certification, a water safety certification for behavior analysts to be more involved in the solution while remaining within scope of practice. 

🧡 The request of other professionals to be part of BRIDGE to Safety (expanding this to include more professionals- coming soon!) 

💜 Taking chances and putting stuff out there, even when it’s not perfect enough for me 

💚 Trying out speaking engagements, no matter how big or small (if you know, you know! This makes me want to puke and pass out at the same time! Thankfully it’s getting better😊) 

✨️ Overall, my motivation for educating others about safety and seeing positive outcomes is more than my fear of failure or public speaking.

07/06/2026

💦 Splashing, stimming and throwing nearby ‘toys’ in the sink might look like curiosity and innocent water play, but are actually non-obvious risky behavior. This could unintentionally be reinforcing unsafe behavior around water that could increase risk for the future.

🚩 When water play becomes non-functional and ritualistic, it becomes a red flag. For some profiles, splashing or stimming in the sink doesn’t stop there.

For all children, ❌ Instead of this: Allowing water play at the sink, during transitions, after the bathroom, during teeth brushing

✅ Do this: Set clear rules for when water play is open vs closed

Closed: Sink, transitions, bathroom routine, brushing teeth

Open: Only when an adult sets the time and a designated place for water play like buckets outside, a water table, or a slip n slide.

✨️ In the BRIDGE to Safety Certification for behavior analysts, we talk a lot about obvious and non-obvious risky behaviors around water and what to do instead.

06/24/2026

🌊Parent training meets families where they are, such as their homes.

It builds trust before it builds skills, and it positions water safety as something that starts at home- in daily routines, not swim lessons.

✨️If insurance pushes back on water-based treatment goals, parent training is already a billable, defensible vehicle. You don't have to choose between clinical integrity and practical implementation.

06/17/2026

🌊 Sounds weird to think about how continuously flushing the toilet could be part of water safety, right?!

✨️ In the BRIDGE to Safety Certification cohort, we talk a lot about obvious and non-obvious behaviors and risks that could lead to water related injuries.

Water exploration and water play is highly encouraged, it’s how we learn! But under certain circumstances.

🚩When water play becomes non-functional and ritualistic, it becomes a red flag. For some profiles, flushing the toilet to hear the sound and watch moving water doesn’t stop there.

❗️From a behavioral standpoint, the reinforcement from watching moving water can generalize across settings in ways that increase risk for the future. A client who consistently engages with water during toileting or handwashing routines may seek out that same reinforcement in other settings: school, public restrooms, community spaces where supervision is less consistent and water access is less controlled.

Watching the toilet flush becomes seeking out the mall fountain. Or the pond at the park.

⁉️ What are some non-obvious behaviors or risks have you seen?!

06/16/2026

🌊Because it is a process, it can be recognized. It can be interrupted. It can be prevented.

Swim lessons are valuable, but for some profiles, they may not be the best starting point.

Most BCBAs are not swim instructors. But BCBAs are already assessing and teaching the very skills that are foundational for safety and navigating environments. Reframing water safety and incorporating it into parent/ caregiver training can help start water safety expectations at home.

✨️Building the skills that make swim lessons possible is the starting point.

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Minneapolis, MN
55423

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