Adaptive Swim Lessons Through CLTS
The Peninsula Aquatics Center is a registered Wisconsin DHS Children's Long-Term Support (CLTS) provider, offering private (and semi-private where available) adaptive and water-safety swim lessons that families may request through their child's ISP.
What is CLTS?
CLTS is a Medicaid home- and community-based waiver that helps children with developmental, physical, or severe emotional disabilities live at home and in the community. Services must be tied to goals written in the child's ISP, developed with the family and their county SSC using the "Deciding Together" process.
How Swim Lessons Can Fit
These are the outcomes families commonly connect to aquatics — useful language to share with your SSC.
Water Safety & Drowning Prevention
Skills that protect kids around water — especially important in Door County.
Comfort & Independence in Water
Building confidence and the ability to move safely and independently in the pool.
Physical Health, Strength & Motor Skills
Aquatic resistance builds strength, coordination, and motor skills with low joint impact.
Confidence, Self-Regulation & Community
Lessons support self-regulation, confidence, and meaningful participation in the community.
Possible CLTS categories (the county decides which to authorize): Health and Wellness, Counseling and Therapeutic Services, Daily Living Skills Training, Safety Planning and Prevention. We are enrolled under Health and Wellness.
Steps for Families
Follow these steps with your SSC to request lessons through CLTS.
Talk with your child's SSC
Contact your Support & Service Coordinator at your county waiver agency. Door County families: Door County Department of Health & Human Services, 421 Nebraska St., Sturgeon Bay — CLTS/CCOP line 920-746-2338. Families in other counties use their own county agency.
Ask about adding lessons to the ISP
Ask whether private adaptive / water-safety swim lessons can be added to your child's Individual Service Plan (ISP) and which service category the county will use. We are enrolled under Health and Wellness.
Request a prior authorization / referral
Request a prior authorization or referral that names Peninsula Aquatics Center and the authorized units (hours or sessions).
Have the SSC send authorization to us
Your SSC should send the authorization to us before the first billed lesson — we cannot start billing CLTS until it is received.
Schedule lessons
Once we have the authorization, schedule your child's lessons with our team.
What to Expect at PAC
- Private lessons in our Endless Pools — warm, current-controlled, and a smaller environment many children find easier than a large municipal pool.
- Focus on water safety, breath control, floating, and skills matched to your child's needs and comfort.
- Parent or caregiver participation when needed (an additional facility fee applies if an adult must enter the water).
- Bring: swimsuit, towel, swim diaper if not potty-trained, and a signed facility waiver.
- Typical session length and our cancellation / no-show policy apply — CLTS units are limited, so consistent attendance matters.
- Authorized CLTS units are billed by us through the ForwardHealth Portal — families usually have no out-of-pocket cost for those authorized units.
- Unauthorized lessons or extra sessions are private-pay.
- We confirm the authorized number of units and service dates with the family and SSC.
For SSCs and families coordinating a CLTS referral
Support & Service Coordinators and families can reach us through our contact form for CLTS referrals, prior authorizations, and coordination. Select the CLTS option and we'll follow up to confirm enrollment details and next steps.
Enrollment as a CLTS provider does not guarantee that any particular child's lessons will be authorized. Authorization decisions are made by the county waiver agency based on the child's ISP and qualifying outcomes. These lessons are not a substitute for medically prescribed aquatic therapy unless the county authorizes them under a therapeutic service category.