The Benefits of Multisensory Learning
Students whose communication skills benefit from her background in speech language pathology soar with multisensory learning. Kids with needs in sound production grasp and apply tips and strategies through kinesthetic learning – putting these tips into practice as they play. Forget worksheets, drill, and flashcards: learning occurs best when it doesn’t feel like learning. Utilizing swimming, engagement and movement in the water has yielded phenomenal results in children with speech sound errors or stutter like behaviors.
Neurodivergent Swimmers
Beck Hastings has a heart for working with neurodivergent swimmers. She specializes in working with adults and children with needs in sensory processing, increasing verbal language, and/or swimmers with needs in attention
Meet Your Instructor
Beck grew up around the water as both a lifeguard and swim instructor. The summer she spent at Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, North Carolina, was nothing short of transformative. The camp for children with complex medical conditions encourages kids to do what they do best — learn through play and imagination. That resonated with Beck, whose focus on language, taught through laughter and play, directed her future as a speech language pathologist.
Beck holds an undergraduate degree in Communication Studies from Christopher Newport University and a Master’s in Speech Language Pathology from Longwood University. She also earned a Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech Language Pathology, a nationally recognized professional credential from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Her experience as a swim instructor and as a speech-language pathologist exceeds 20 years. She is a level four adaptive swim certification through Swim Angelfish, Infant Swimming Resource Certification, lifeguard, CPR certified and trained as a water, safety instructor.
When most parents think of speech therapy, it is in a traditional school environment, an adult sitting across the table from a child. When learning happens naturally — so seamless that kids don’t even realize it — the skills stick and it’s fun!
“Life isn’t spent at a table,” Beck says. “I see breakthroughs on a daily basis: for my swimmers with and without needs in communication. I see kids who were afraid to put their lips in the water, dive for dive sticks. I see people who were terrified to enter the pool, jump from the diving board and swim to the ladder in the 10ft. For my friends combining speech, I see these same breakthroughs in swim as well as in communication. I hear children mastering speech sounds that they worked for years in speech therapy to accomplish. I hear children using verbal language for the first time.”
During the summer, Speech and Swim™ is offered in Williamsburg and Newport News. Sessions are held in Williamsburg year round.
In 2019, Beckwith Hastings founded Speech & Swim, a program that combines her passion for speech language pathology and swimming instruction.
Speech & Swim is swim for all — all ages, all skill levels and all needs. Swimmers with and without needs in speech, seek sessions with Beck Hastings because of her ability to ease anxiety, caring yet results driven personality, and expertise in individualizing swim instruction to accomplish their reason for coming to swim.
Beck can’t wait to work with you whether you’re the parent of an infant, interested in Speech & Swim™ for your child or simply want to take traditional swim lessons!
