Swimming at the Seacoast Family YMCA

Students enrolled in our special education/therapeutic day program for students with autism are learning swim and water safety skills during weekly lessons at the YMCA pool in Portsmouth. These lessons are made possible with help from the Seacoast Family YMCA staff and a generous grant from The Rite Aid Foundation.

Some of our students are experienced swimmers while others have never entered a pool. Instructors teach each student to approach the water safely and experience the pool at his or her own pace. Some children plunge in with enthusiasm, while others prefer to remain poolside, tentatively dipping a toe into the water while clutching an instructor’s hand.

Kelly Allinson, a Senior Clinical Instructor at The Birchtree Center and a certified Water Safety Instructor and Lifeguard, is helping coordinate the swim sessions. At the first lesson, she recalls, some students needed a lot of guidance and help as they struggled to navigate the unfamiliar environment at the YMCA. “But once they got in the water,” she says, “those same children were able to move more freely and without hesitation. I remember some of the children’s faces were filled with exhilaration and joy.” For many Birchtree students, the swim sessions have become a favorite activity that motivates their hard work throughout the week.

Many children with Autism Spectrum Disorders are drawn to the water. Some are mesmerized by the light that dances across its surface, others love the feel of water running through their fingers, and others enjoy the gurgle of a faucet or the crash of ocean waves. Because water affects all five senses at once, spending time in the water can be very beneficial to children with autism. It can help them learn to organize and integrate the input from all their senses, which enables them to become less overwhelmed in the face of daily multi-sensory input. Yet these children may not understand the danger that water represents. Many children with autism have an under-developed sense of fear and may be at increased risk for drowning.

“We are so grateful to The Rite Aid Foundation for their outstanding generosity, to the Seacoast YMCA and Rumble Tumble Gym for welcoming our students, and to the YMCA for helping transport our students to the pool,” says The Birchtree Center’s Executive Director, Christine Guarino, Ph.D. “Without support from community members like them, we couldn’t provide the full range of services our students need to prepare for full and productive adulthoods.”

Hot Rods Cruising to Benefit Birchtree

On August 12, hot rod enthusiasts of all ages gathered at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant in Newington for a Cruise-In to benefit The Birchtree Center's autism programs.  Volunteers drove in from throughout northern New England to display their prize vehicles.  Guests were able to get a close look at cars and trucks ranging from Fords of the 1930s, to Mustangs of the 1960s, to custom cars of today.

The Preston Wayne 4, a surf rock band from Worcester, Massachusetts, provided live entertainment.  A fundraising raffle offered prizes donated by Advance Auto Parts, Bayside Distributing Company, Best Buy, Car-Tooner.com, Charlie Decker, Deuces Wild Web, Glass Etching by the Colonel, Grundy Worldwide, Pep Boys, Texas Roadhouse, and Water Country.  

Several other businesses provided major donations in support of the event: Texas Roadhouse donated its facilities, Best Buy of Newington provided sound amplification, and Atlantic Parking Services of Portsmouth offered valet service.  Artist Scott Fisk of Car-Tooner.com illustrated the event's poster, offered a signed print for the raffle, and drove all the way from Vermont to show his support. The poster was printed with help from Staples of Newington.

This entirely volunteer-run event was the brainchild of Robert Canney, otherwise known as Hot Rod Bob.  Canney, a car restorer in Berwick, Maine, devoted countless hours to helping organize the Cruise-In.

Thank you to all the generous volunteers and donors who made this event possible!

Summer Learning at the Beach

Many students have the summer off from school, but students with autism in our special educational day program work year round, both inside and outside their classrooms. This week, we traveled to Newcastle Commons to explore the rocky shore and tidal pools, play in the sand and water, and enjoy a picnic lunch.


At the beach, students learned hands-on about topics ranging from personal safety to marine biology. Students also had the opportunity to practice their functional communication, behavioral self-regulation, and other skills in a new, unfamiliar environment.


Our clinical instructors and special educators prepared students for the trip with pre-teaching materials including seashore objects, photos, stories about the sea, and sequential pictures describing the day’s planned activities. Now students are reviewing what they learned back in their classrooms and creating artwork inspired by the excursion.

Student Art at Portsmouth Public Library

Art by Birchtree students is included in SPLASH! The Art of Portsmouth’s Young People, an exhibit at the Portsmouth Public Library now through Monday, 3/30/09. The Friends of the Portsmouth Public Library organized the exhibit, which features art by students at several local schools.


Birchtree students created their artwork to honor Eric Carle, who this year celebrates his 80th birthday and the 40th anniversary of his book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.


Here we see the life of a caterpillar, from egg to cocoon to butterfly, in a style inspired by Carle’s collages. We see all the food our caterpillar eats, including many of our students’ favorites. Do you see your favorite food here?


The exhibit is on display through Monday, March 30; call 603-427-1540 for more information.