What to Expect

What your child will learn:

Expectations

What your child will learn:

Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) is the safest and ONLY provider of comprehensive swimming and aquatic self-rescue™ instruction. Our method of clinically researched instruction emphasizes developmentally-appropriate skills training to ensure that your child is learning self-rescue skills and developing the competence required to enjoy the water.

Integrated into the skills training of infants and young children is the ISR Parent Education program. This program seeks to enable the parents and caretakers to understand drowning prevention methods and thereby safeguard their child’s aquatic environment. ISR lessons give children the competence and confidence to be aquatic problem solvers.

Children as young as 6 months can participate in ISR lessons. ISR lessons are intensive lessons held 5 days per week for an average of 4-6 weeks.

Infants (6 months- 12 months old) will learn to hold their breath underwater, roll onto their back and float unassisted.

Children (1 year- 6 years old) will learn the following sequence: how to hold their breath underwater; swim with their head down and eyes open; roll onto their back to float, rest, and breathe; and roll back over to resume swimming until they reach the side of the pool and can crawl out or be rescued by an adult.

Since statistics show that 83% of all children who drown are fully clothed at the time, during the final week of lessons, while under the watchful eye of an instructor, each of our students have the opportunity to practice their self-rescue skills in both their summer/fall and winter clothes.

FAQs

How do the kids react during the first few lessons?

Children often fuss during the first few lessons because they are in a new environment and around new people. As your child becomes more confident in his/her ability in the water, the fussing will decrease. It is not unlike the first time you tried a new exercise class or were asked to perform a task at work that you’d never done before: the first time you try a new task it is always challenging, until you get the hang of it. It is the same for your young child. Your child is learning to perform a skill that he/she’s never done before.

Why do you have the children swim in clothes?

Because 86% of children who fall in the water do so fully clothed, we want our students to have experience with such a situation. If a child has experienced the sensations of being in the water in clothing prior to an emergency situation, he/she is less likely to experience panic and be able to focus on the task at hand. If you have ever jumped in the water with clothes on, then you know that there is a significant difference in weight and feel with clothes as opposed to a bathing suit.

Why don’t parents participate in the water during the lessons?

We do not want the baby to initially associate the water with the love, attention, and affection of the parent while in the water. Also, it takes incredible concentration and objectivity to teach the baby how to respond to an aquatic emergency and our experience shows that parents often find it too difficult to be objective to be effective teachers with their own children in the water. We gladly invite parents to join us in the pool once their child has independent skills to practice at home.

Why does it take an average of 6 weeks for my child to learn this?

The 6-week average is an estimate that is based on the average time in which it takes most children to learn these survival skills. Every child is unique and ISR’s Self- Rescue program is specifically designed based on your child’s individual strengths and needs. It is important to realize that this is an average which means that some children will actually finish more quickly while others will need more practice. ISR is dedicated to safety and, therefore, we want to provide your child with the time and best opportunity to become proficient in his/her survival skills. We will always honor your child’s needs.

Download ISR's Family Aquatic Safety List to help protect your family from the hazards of an aquatic environment

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