KRCC mixes fun with therapy during annual water week

Children who receive services at the Kenny Rogers Children’s Center in Sikeston play in the pool of an inflatable water slide Monday, July 29 as part of the Center’s water week. The Center hosts a water week every summer for the children who attend the Center.

Gina Curtis/Standard Democrat

SIKESTON — Kenny Rogers Children’s Center in Sikeston celebrated a fun water week for all the children who receive its services.

Instead of their regular therapy sessions, children were able to participate in water play during their therapy times.

According to Michelle Fayette, executive director of the Kenny Rogers Children’s Center, this is the sixth year the Center has offered water week.

According to Fayette, water week is always held in the summer, and this year’s event was Monday, July 29 through Thursday, Aug. 1. The children brought their own swimsuits, towels and sunscreen.

Water week activities included a splash pad, sensory input water tables and a blow-up waterslide. 

“There are several reasons why we do water week,” Fayette said. “First off, it’s just a fun thing to do and the kids like being in the water.”

Water week also teaches children a variety of things, she said.

“It teaches the kids socialization with other kids,” Fayette said. “Usually the kids who are being treated are treated one-on-one — just them and their therapist — but when we do water week, there are other kids out there at the same time with their therapists.”

Fayette said it also teaches the children how to take turns in activities. 

“It’s another sensory input,” Fayette said. “For kids who maybe, for example, don’t like bath time or are resistant to the water, it’s an opportunity for us to make them aware of a different sensory input.

Fayette continued: “And for other kids who love it and enjoy it, it just creates fun environment.”

According to Fayette, water week can also help children build strength because they use a lot of foam water squirters, which improves hand strength and coordination, as well as safety awareness.

“It’s a fun thing for them to do and also an opportunity to still give them therapy,” Fayette said. “Our job as pediatric therapists is to make their work also play. So they’re out here playing and having fun, but they don’t even realize that they are actually working.”

Fayette explained the therapists chose a water week rather than a water day to ensure that every child who attends the center had the opportunity to participate. 

“Some children only come one day a week for treatment, so a water week allows for everyone to get the chance to participate,” Fayette said.