PADI / SSI Junior Open Water Theory

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Here my experience with the younger of my sons, Giacomo (Jack).
He had his first air tank in the pool at 2.5 years, and started diving in the sea, in Sardinia, at 4.5 years.
Both I and my wife are Cmas instructors and my wife is one of the few instructors certified for children of ages 3 and up.
My son was literally born in water, he was already swimming at 12 months in the pool, while of course he was not walking yet.
So in water he never had problems.
But he always had problems at school and with formal theoretical instruction.
We discovered the origin of the problem only much later, when he was at high school: he is dislexyc, and this explains why he could not learn anything reading a book...
After discovering the origin of the problem, he did learn how using different strategies at school, and this caused him to become a super-brilliant student. He got a master degree in biotechnology without any delay and he is now doing his PhD in the best Italian research lab in Milan.
Dislexy is a pain at school, but is a big advantage at the university and in research-related work, as dislexyc people do not use their brains in the usual mode, they have lateral thinking and can solve problems using their skewed perspective...
Let's come back to when Jack was 11 y.o.
We had planned a travel to Australia, we wanted to spend some days diving on the Great Barrier, so we needed him to be certified J-OW before the trip.
Of course at that time the in-water portion of the course was not a probem, my son had already done more than 100 dives in the sea, both from shore and from boat, and he was capable of dealing with his equipment autonomously, without any help.
Disconnecting or connecting the pressurised BCD hose? Not a problem!
But he had severe problems with the formalism of the theory and understanding the written questions.
Remember, at the time we did not know he is dislexyc!
The Padi instructor who was teaching his OW class did see the he had in reality understood everything about gas laws, lung expansion, equalisation, breathing control, buoyancy management, etc.
But he was never able to complete succesfully the questionnaire.
He decided to certify him despite this, jumping over the problem.
Then, a few months later, we went to Cairns. Jack was 12 at that time. During a LOB with 11 planned dives my son followed the Padi J-AOW course, which is just a platter of 5 dives: deep, navigation, night, etc.
No problem with them!
But there was also "advanced" theory, and this was again a problem.
The language barrier was an additional obstacle, as we are not native English speakers. And Australians do not really speak English, but some sort of "slang" which was really very hard for all of us.
The instructor on the LOB was very patient with my son. He immediately recognised that he was already a fully capable diver, but he had in some way to solve the problem of theoretical tests.
The solution was to perform an oral "in practice" examination. Which is out of standards, but did proof that my son had gained the proper knowledge, albeit it was not possible to ascertain this through traditional written questionnaires.
So I suggest that you talk with your instructor and see if he can accomodate something similar with your son.

As this episode was one of the first evident signals of the undetected dislexy, and as you seem to have the same problems as your son (dislexy is often hereditary), I also suggest that he (and also you) is tested for dislexy by your doctor.
 
Here my experience with the younger of my sons, Giacomo (Jack).
He had his first air tank in the pool at 2.5 years, and started duving in the sea, in Sardinia, at 4.5 years.
Both I and my wife are Cmas instructors and my wife is one of the few instructors certified for children of ages 3 and up.
My son was literally born in water, he was already swimming at 12 months in the pool, while of course he was not walking yet.
So in water he never had problems.
But he always had problems at school and with formal theoretical instruction.
We discivered the origin of the problem only much later, when he was at high school: he is dislexyc, and this explains why he could not learn anything reading a book...
After discovering the origin of the problem, he did learn how using different strategies at school, and this caused him to become a super-brilliant student. He got a master degree in biotechnology without any delay and he is now doing his PhD in the best Italian research lab in Milan.
Dislexy is a pain at school, but is a big advantage at the university and in research-related work, as dislexyc people do not use their brains in the usual mode, they have lateral thinking and can solve problems using their skewed perspective...
Let's come back to when Jack was 11 y.o.
We had planned a travel to Australia, we wanted to spend some days diving on the Great Barrier, so we needed him to be certified J-OW before the trip.
Of course at that time the in-water portion of the course was not a probem, my son had already dine more than 100 dives in the sea, both from shore and from boat, and he was capable of dealing with his equipment autonomously, without any help.
But he had severe problems with the formalism of the theory and understanding the written questions.
Remember, at the time we did not know he is dislexyc!
The Padi instructor who was teaching his OW class did see the he had in reality understood everything about gas laws, lung expansion, equaljsation, breathing control, buoyancy management, etc.
But he was never able to complete succesfully the questionnaire.
He decided to certify him despite this, jumping over the problem.
Then, a few months later, we went to Cairns. Jack was 12 at that time. During a LOB with 11 planned dives my son followed the Padi J-AOW course, which is just a platter of 5 dives: deep, navigation, night, etc.
No problem with them!
But there was also "advanced" theory, and this was again a problem.
The language barrier was an additional obstacle, as we are not native English speakers. And Australians do not really speak Engkish, but some sort of "slang" which was really very hard for all of us.
The instructor on the LOB was very patient with my son. He immediately recognised that he was already a fully capable diver, but he had in some way to solve the problem of theoretical tests.
The solution was to perform an oral "in practice" examination. Which is out of standards, but did proof that my son had gained the proper knowledge, albeit it was not possible to ascertain this through traditional written questionnaires.
So I suggest that you talk with your instructor and see if he can accomodate something similar with your son.

As this episode was one of the first evident signals of the undetected dislexy, and as you seem to have the same problems as your son (dislexy is often hereditary), I also suggest that he (and also you) is tested for dislexy by your doctor.
Thanks Angelo for your feed back on your experience. I'm in talks with two instructors already who I know personally and who know my son well already. We decided against online learning for our son today after seeing the information. We will work with either of the Instructors to make sure our Son gets the time and effort it will need. But we will not pressure the Instructor in any way, they are the one who needs to be comfortable signing off our son to dive. We are going to be looking at getting our child tested as we are sure he has some form of learning disorder. Just not many reliable testers in Qatar.
 
Thanks Angelo for your feed back on your experience. I'm in talks with two instructors already who I know personally and who know my son well already. We decided against online learning for our son today after seeing the information. We will work with either of the Instructors to make sure our Son gets the time and effort it will need. But we will not pressure the Instructor in any way, they are the one who needs to be comfortable signing off our son to dive. We are going to be looking at getting our child tested as we are sure he has some form of learning disorder. Just not many reliable testers in Qatar.
Very good!
And enjoy the dives with your wife and your son...
They have always been some of the best moments in my life!
 
In regards to risk, my Kid, my responsibility as he will only dive with myself and a very select few people who I dive with regularly.
Actually, for ages 10-11 he MUST dive with parents/guardian or a dive professional at depths less than 40 ft; for ages 12-14 he can dive with any certified adult. The constraints don't come off until age 15.
 
Actually, for ages 10-11 he MUST dive with parents/guardian or a dive professional at depths less than 40 ft; for ages 12-14 he can dive with any certified adult. The constraints don't come off until age 15.
He will dive mainly with myself and his Mother. Other than that he would occasionally dive with friends of ours who are all highly competent Dive Masters, these are people I trust and who would happily take him underwater with them as we chill on the beach, but cant see this situation 99.9% of the time as if someone's diving, then Im diving lol
 
I would say, "why the rush to get the kid certified"?
So yeah of course he wants to be able to to go diving, but he doesn't have to be certified for that.
A good Discover Scuba diving experience with a little bit of buoyancy work aswell will get him diving. Most of the theory and extra skills are to make somebody self sufficient. A junior can't go without a certified professional anyway and no parent that is diving with their own 10 year will be more than an arms reach away and not taking their eyes off them for a split second either...also their maximum depth is still the same. Let them learn just what they need to go on the nice easy dives they would do anyway, gain experience as they go along. I personally wouldn't teach OW to anyone less than 15 years old, there is just no point. Getting their little fingers to properly disconnect a self inflating inflator hose is pointless...they can't do it plus the realistic action would be the DM or parent would be there and do it anyway. Not to mention trying to teach them physics air volume etc. Only people who will benefit are dive shops and agencies..
Get them diving, equalising, mask, reg, buoyancy maybe sharing air....the rest when they are older.
I pretty much agree, though we're not answering the OP's question (like that never happens on SB.....). I've always said age 15 is the youngest I'd want to see kids on scuba. I'd have to give it some thought about your point that they could do a DSD. I've never been crazy about those "courses", children or adult taking it. Has to do with instructor (or DM) to student ratios being IMO unrealistic. So I probably would vote no for a young kid doing DSD.
 
I pretty much agree, though we're not answering the OP's question (like that never happens on SB.....). I've always said age 15 is the youngest I'd want to see kids on scuba. I'd have to give it some thought about your point that they could do a DSD. I've never been crazy about those "courses", children or adult taking it. Has to do with instructor (or DM) to student ratios being IMO unrealistic. So I probably would vote no for a young kid doing DSD.
I got my son certified at 12 since I felt he was physically and emotionally ready to deal with whatever came up. He's been a dinghy sailor on Lake Michigan since he was 6, so I knew he could handle a little adversity without freezing or falling apart.

I shared your concern about instructor to student ratio though, so I paid for a private course. The price wasn't that much higher and I feel it was money well spent.
 
I got my son certified at 12 since I felt he was physically and emotionally ready to deal with whatever came up. He's been a dinghy sailor on Lake Michigan since he was 6, so I knew he could handle a little adversity without freezing or falling apart.

I shared your concern about instructor to student ratio though, so I paid for a private course. The price wasn't that much higher and I feel it was money well spent.
Yeah we will be paying for the 1-1 training for him.
 
My 10 & 12 year olds just did their junior open water with SSI. The online theory was worded so dryly that it was just too much for them to take in. This is something that could easily be fixed and should be as it’s advertised as a junior course, not the adult one with more conservative limits. Our dive school didn’t administer a written test but checked their knowledge through questions throughout their training.
 
To be honest I have found it odd that these dive agencies do not approach teaching younger individuals differently to teaching Adults.
It's not odd. PADI/SSI OWD materials are already really dumbed down. There is a minimum you should know in order to dive safely. And that minimum pretty much is the OWD class.
Having taught a number of kids, I think 12 years is already very young... too young for some if not most kids. I would not do a class with kids under 12. The issue is not that they can't learn the motor skills (usually easier for them than many for many people over 50) or even the physics (even though some adults have issues with some of it), the issue is that young kids are not good at judging what's dangerous.
The danger when climbing, skiing, mountain biking, etc is very apparent to kids, in scuba diving, it's not.

Many of the +50 year old diver have too much fear and young kids too little. A kid can't really be a buddy, a kid needs to be watched by a very solid and attentive diver. IMHO, 20 - 30 feet should be the max depth for kids under 14 or 15...
 

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