FAQs

Where are you located?

Sessions are held at various residential pools located across diverse areas within South Orange County.

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If you have a pool and would like to host an ISR session, please let us know. We are always eager to bring ISR and enhance our service to various communities.

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We can also accommodate private sessions based on our availability in the schedule.

 

Are there currently any availability?

Availability depends on returning families, who are given priority for each session.  During every session, we accommodate a varying number of new families, typically ranging from 1-10.

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What time of day are you offering lessons?

Typically, lessons are scheduled between 8:00AM to 12:00 noon and/or 2:30PM to 6:00PM.

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How many days a week are lessons and how long is each session?

Sessions consist of a daily commitment of 10 minutes, Monday through Friday, spanning approximately 6 weeks. The daily lesson consistency is pivotal for optimal learning efficiency. If you are unable to commit to this schedule, it is advisable to defer registration until you can ensure your availability.

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Why are lessons 5 days per week and for only 10 minutes?  

The reason for this is multifaceted. First, repetition and consistency are crucial elements of learning for young children. 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 84-88 degrees, the temperature is still lower than your child's body temperature. Lessons are work and therefore will also be losing body heat. Instructors check students regularly for temperature fatigue since this is an indicator of physical fatigue. 

 

Why does it take approximately 6 weeks for my child to learn the Infant Swimming Resource Self-Rescue Program? 

The duration 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 specific strengths and needs. It is important to realize that this is an average which means that some children will finish more quickly while others will need more practice. ISR is dedicated to safety and, therefore, we want to provide your child with the appropriate time and best opportunity to become proficient in his/her survival skills. We will always honor your child’s needs. 

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Is my child too old/too young for ISR lessons?

The ISR program is for infants and children aged 6 months-6 years, but really there is no upper age limit. Older children are just more likely to learn in a shorter period of time than the typical 6 week session. On the younger end, he or she must be 6 months AND must be able to sit in an upright position.

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My child loves/hates/is fearful of/has no experience in the water. Will he still be able to learn the skills?

Absolutely! We teach children to have a healthy respect for the water, and we work in very small increments each days. We present children with small achievable tasks and always set them up to succeed. They learn to trust their skills, and in turn, they gain an incredible amount of confidence in the water. 

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How much does it cost?

There is a one-time registration fee of $105 which goes directly to ISR to cover a comprehensive medical background check that you complete online when you register for lessons. 

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The weekly tuition fee is $200 per child, and a sibling discount of $50 is applicable. We also offer discounts to Active Military and First Responders. 

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That's more than I can afford. Are there other options?

There are options to see if you qualify for an ISR scholarship via non-profit partners of ours, such as Live Like Jake Foundation. The foundation was created in honor of Jake Roarke Morrison who passed away in a tragic drowning accident on November 30, 2013. For more information on the Live Like Jake Foundation, visit www.livelikejake.com.  

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What happens when a session is over? Will my child need additional lessons? 

We offer Maintenance and Refresher lessons. Maintenance lessons are offered to children whom have recently completed self-rescue skills and want to continue improving their skills and confidence throughout the year. Lessons can be scheduled one, two or three days a week.

 

Refresher lessons are for children who have completed self-rescue lessons. As the name implies, these lessons enable the children to "refresh" the skills that they have already learned. Since these skills are not new to the children, refresher lessons usually take approximately two-four weeks. 

 

Based on our research, we know that refresher lessons are important because children change so much both cognitively and physically during the first few years of life. Their water survival skills must grow with their bodies. This is especially important if your child has not been able to practice any appropriate aquatic skills between seasons.

 

Are flotation devices safe for my child to use?

Flotation devices such as arm bands, inflatable rings, noodles, puddle jumpers, etc., puts children in the drowning position (vertical) in the water and creates muscle memory for that position. The vertical posture is not compatible with swimming skills - it is the drowning position. The scariest part about flotation devices is that it gives a child a false sense of security. 

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What is ISR and how is it different from other swimming programs? 

ISR is the product of more than 60 years of ongoing development in the area of aquatic survival instruction for infants and 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! 

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Why should parents enroll their children in ISR lessons?

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. 

 

What qualifications does a Certified ISR Instructor have? 

Every Certified Instructor worldwide completes an 6-8 week intensive academic and in-water training and certification program with a minimum of 60 hours of in-water time with a Certified Master Instructor. All instructors must have current CPR and First Aid certification. Once certified, ISR Instructors must undergo annual recertification and are recognized as highly skilled, precise aquatic behavior specialists who understand the unique cognitive, intellectual and physical development dynamics of young children. Understanding the behaviors of children in the water allows each Instructor to respond with ISR’s proprietary technique.  

 

I hear you say your priority is survival skills. Will my child learn to actually swim? 

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. 

 

If my child is under one year old, what will he/she learn?

Children between the ages of 6-16 months old are taught to roll over and maintain a back-float position in the event of an accidental fall into the water. ISR highly recommends survival training once your infant begins to crawl.

 

If my child is over a year old, what will he/she learn?

Children over the age of one year and strong walkers are taught to swim with their face in the water, and when they sense the need for air, to roll back onto their back to float. After resting and breathing, they will roll over and continue to swim to the nearest point of safety. 

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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 before an emergency, 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. Swimming in clothes is part of ISR’s check out procedures, which a student completes near the end of his/her session when his/her skills are fully shaped. 

 

Will my child fear the water because of lessons? 

There is an important difference between being fearful and being apprehensive because you are not yet skilled in a new environment. ISR is not like traditional swim lessons; it is a drowning prevention program that teaches survival swimming. Sometimes as a parent, you make choices for your child’s safety, like sitting in a car seat, because you know they are important. The same can be said for ISR. Fun can be defined as when skill meets challenge. Once competent in their skills, many children cannot be dragged away from the pool. They are having entirely too much FUN. 

 

Can't babies swim naturally?

Unfortunately, babies cannot naturally swim. If this were the case, there wouldn't be so many drownings every year. According to the Center for Disease Control and Accident Prevention, drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for children ages 1-4 in the United States.

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How do you teach them to hold their breath?  

Breath-holding skills are taught in the first lesson. We shape breath control using highly effective positive reinforcement techniques. We continue to reinforce these breath-holding techniques throughout every lesson.  

 

What other benefits do the ISR lesson experience provide students?

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 if often demonstrated in other aspects of their personalities. There are also obvious health and other psychological gains. 

 

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 research shows that parents often find it too difficult to be objective to be effective teachers with their children in the water. 

 

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.

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Do parents have to leave during the lessons? 

No. You are truly the best cheerleader your child have.  Your positive support and encouragement is invaluable to creating an effective learning environment for your child.

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Could my child vomit during lessons?

Our goal is that no child ever vomits.  However, it does occasionally happen.  Most often this is due to feeding issues. We ask parents to avoid feeding children 2 hours prior to lessons because having food in the stomach while learning breath holding can cause discomfort. When a child is first learning to hold his/her breath, he/she will often swallow some air which can cause big burps. If a burp gets under food remaining in the tummy, it can cause vomiting.  

 

Why can’t children have anything to eat or drink for 2 hours before lessons?

First off, no one works well on a full stomach. Your child is going to be working hard in lessons. We want them to be comfortable. In addition, when children are first learning to hold their breath, they often swallow air. If you get a lot of air in your stomach it will often come out as a burp. If there is food in there as well the air can get under that food and bring them up together. That isn’t fun for any of us, especially the baby. Once again, we want to set the child up for success. In this case, we want them to be comfortable so they can focus on the task at hand. 

 

How much will my child remember from his initial lessons?

Like any physical skill, children don’t “forget” the skills but will need to adjust their skills to account for their physical growth. In addition, 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 you child goes through lessons, you will begin to understand, through communication with your Instructor, what actives may interfere with his/her learned ISR Self-Rescue skills. Contacting and/or returning to your instructor in a timely manner is imperative to maintaining effective habits.

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What is the retention rate with ISR lessons? 

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 promptly is imperative to maintaining effective habits. 

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How do you know there is no water going into a child’s lungs?  Will a child aspirate water during lessons and have a dry drowning later?

If the child were to get water in his mouth and swallow some, the epiglottis, a flap of cartilage which lies behind the tongue in front of the entrance to the larynx, closes by a reflexive action over the tube leading to the lungs and prevents aspiration just as it does if they were drinking water from a cup or a bottle.

 

You have registration forms, updates, BUDS sheets and sometimes need medical releases to allow a child to participate in this program. Why is there so much paper work?  Who looks at all this stuff?

At ISR, safety will always come before convenience. While it is a fair amount of paperwork, any program that involves the safety and well being of infants and young children needs to be conscientious and very thorough. The ISR medical team, consisting of an on-staff team of registered nurses, review the information from the registration form and provide feedback to your child’s Instructor so that he/she can provide the safest possible lessons for your child.

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Why do we have to bring 3 towels every day?

There is truly a reason for each towel. The bottom towel protects your child from anything that could be on the pool deck, germ safety. The second towel protects the deck from anything that might come off your child. The third towel is to dry and warm your child. 

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Does this program give parents a false sense of security and raise the risk of a child drowning?

In addition to education infants and young children, ISR also teaches parents that there is “no substitute for adult supervision” and “No child is drown proof.” If a child needs his/her ISR Self-Rescue skills, it means what should be several layers of defense have failed. The first goal is that the is never able to access the water alone.  ISR lessons are the last line of protection such that, should all else fail, your child has a chance of helping him/herself by using the survival skills they were taught. 

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What is the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) position on swimming lessons for young children? 

In March of 2019, the AAP updated its drowning prevention policy and lays out strategies to protect children at each stage of their life. According to the AAP, “Evidence reveals that many children older than 1 year will benefit from swim lessons. Swim lessons are increasingly available for a wide range of children, including those with various health conditions and disabilities such as ASD. A parent or caregiver’s decision about when to initiate swim lessons must be individualized based on a variety of factors, including comfort with being in the water, health status, emotional maturity, and physical and cognitive limitations. Although swim lessons provide 1 layer of protection from drowning, swim lessons do not “drown proof” a child, and parents must continue to provide barriers to prevent unintended access when not in the water and closely supervise children when in and around water.” Further, the AAP states, “There is tremendous variability among swim lessons, and not every program will be right for each child. Parents and caregivers should investigate options for swim lessons in their community before enrollment to make sure that the program meets their needs and the needs of the child. High-quality swim lessons provide more experiential training, including swimming in clothes, in life jackets, falling in, and practicing self-rescue.”