Questions, answered

ISR is the product of over 45 years of ongoing development in the area of aquatic survival instruction for infants, toddlers, and young children. ISR's primary focus is to teach your child to become a productive swimmer, or floater in any depth of water. The goal of ISR is that your child becomes an “aquatic problem solver.” ISR will greatly increase your child's chance of surviving an aquatic accident, even when fully clothed!

Yes. At ISR, we believe that part of survival for a child who can walk is swimming. Children learn the swim-float-swim sequence so that they could get themselves to safety. The difference in our program is that they will learn swimming AND survival skills and how to be an aquatic problem solver.

ISR claims a retention rate of 94–100% up to one year following lessons. Having said this, children will explore and may pick up bad habits watching other children or with interference like floating in a bathtub or playing on the steps. As your child goes through lessons, you will begin to understand, through communication with your Instructor, what activities may interfere with his/her learned Self-Rescue skills. Contacting and/or returning to your instructor in a timely manner is imperative to maintaining effective habits.

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.

The reason for this is multifaceted. First, repetition and consistency are crucial elements of learning for young children — research shows that short, more frequent lessons result in higher retention. Second, most children have fairly short attention spans and will not be able to focus on the task for longer, and we want to take advantage of the best time for learning. A third reason is that, though the pool temperature is maintained at 78–88 degrees, it is still lower than your child's body temperature. Lessons are work and children will also be losing body heat, so Instructors check students regularly for temperature fatigue since this is an indicator of physical fatigue.

The 4–6 weeks is an estimate 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. Some children will actually finish more quickly while others will need more practice. ISR is dedicated to safety and 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.

ISR parents are intelligent and enroll their children because they understand their children's abilities and want to give them every opportunity to learn. They also feel it is important to teach their children how to help themselves should they find themselves alone in the water. Research shows that there are better times to learn certain things and swimming is best learned early in life.

Every child is unique. However, many parents report that once their young children have mastered learning to swim, the resulting confidence in their abilities engenders a positive self-concept that is often demonstrated in other aspects of their personalities. There are also obvious health and other psychological gains.

YES! ISR is dedicated to safety and maintains numerous safety protocols to promote safe lessons. Your child's health and well-being are our highest priority and are closely monitored on a daily basis. Your child's medical and developmental history is a mandatory part of the ISR national registration process, all of which is held strictly confidential. All ISR instructors undergo intensive and rigorous training that far exceeds any other program of this kind, and each is required to attend a yearly re-certification symposium that includes quality control and continuing education. You will also receive access to the “Parent Resource Guide,” written by Dr. Harvey Barnett and JoAnn Barnett.

We do not want the baby to initially associate the water with the love, attention and affection of the parent while in the water. It also takes incredible concentration and objectivity to teach the baby how to respond to an aquatic emergency, and our research shows that parents often find it too difficult to be objective enough to be effective teachers with their own children in the water.

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 — it is challenging until you get the hang of it. Your child is learning to perform a skill that he/she has never done before.