Hot Springs Special Olympics swimmer exceeding expectations in and out of the pool

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.- Anna Kate Slatton is swimming her way to the top in the Arkansas Special Olympics, finding herself a support system to cheer her on while making waves of victory in the pool.

“We really credit the Special Olympics activities to helping her develop that confidence and what’s been really beautiful about it is just her having this whole village of people that are her cheerleaders,” Anna Kate’s mother Libby Slatton said.

Libby and her husband Jeffrey Slatton adopted Anna Kate at the age of 4. She had experienced multiple placements before finding her forever home.

“We knew that she had a lot of energy, and she was super cute, and so we ended up going through the process and we adopted her and that was it,” Libby said.

“She was really good at times, and then she just had some behavior issues,” Jeffrey added. “We first thought it was from her not having stability and just the carryover from foster care.”

After a few weeks of stability, they decided to test Anna Kate to understand where the behavior issues were stemming from.

“We had an awesome team of medical providers and really tried to give her the best potential that we possibly could,” Libby said.

A treatment plan was created for Anna Kate following her diagnosis of behavioral challenges and ADHD. The diagnosis hit her new parents pretty hard.

“As a special needs parent, when you see a social media post of different kids being celebrated for different things, it really was a huge loss, knowing some of those celebrations Anna Kate would never have,” Libby said.

After feeling a sense of loss, it was time to shift everyone’s mindset, set goals and make the best of the situation.

One of the changes that needed to be made was the school that Anna Kate attended. At the start of seventh grade, her parents decided to move her to Lakeside School District, a district that prides itself on inclusion.

A part of their inclusion efforts is a Special Olympics team. Anna Kate was beyond excited, and upon joining, her parents saw a drastic improvement in her behavior.

“She became a model student,” Jeffrey said. “She got here, and they did an amazing job bringing her into these different programs.”

“I think we were kind of shocked that she was getting included in something, and so we didn’t really know anything about Special Olympics,” Libby explained.

Anna Kate’s father said she liked being included and being on a team with other kids who had challenges like her.

“It was really fun to watch her get to do the same kinds of things that other kids are doing,” Jeffrey said. “Maybe a little bit of a different way, but still she was out there with the other kids that were in Special Olympics, and she was participating just like they were,”

Anna Kate tried out many of the Special Olympics sports, but one of her favorites is swimming.

“It’s fun to do but it can be hard at times,” Anna Kate said.

At her first meet, Anna Kate walked away first in three events, shocking her parents and the Lakeside Varsity Swim Coach.

“Coach Haynes came up to me and goes, ‘Libby, what do you think about her coming and joining the regular varsity swimming team?’” Libby recalled. “And I was like, ‘Let me talk to her and see what she thinks,’ and Anna Kate said yes almost immediately.”

Her father said he got prouder as her times went down at each meet and cheered, “I swam faster, I swam faster,” all the way home.

“She finally beat somebody on varsity, so that was really exciting, and I think she was really excited about that, and I was even more proud,” Jeffrey said.

Anna Kate says the best part is getting to meet a lot of different people and make a lot of new friends through the Special Olympics.

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