Great question! ISR has been researched and developed for 55+ years. It’s nationally recognized as the safest swim program for infants and children. Your children will learn life saving skills that traditional lessons do not provide. If you are looking for a swim class that focuses on socialization and play rather than safety and survival, you might consider traditional swim lessons. 1. ISR teaches your children to SWIM. There are no other programs in our area that will teach your child to swim with his face in the water or offer any sort of guarantee about what he will learn. Many parents come to us after spending hundreds of dollars on traditional “swim” programs frustrated because their child doesn’t have any discernible skills after weeks, months, or even years of lessons. 2. You do not need to enroll your children into swim lessons summer after summer, year after year. Once they learn these skills, they have them forever. With maintenance and refresher lessons, they will retain their skills indefinitely. You end up spending more money over time on traditional lessons that are taught by former high school swimmers or college students trying to make some spending money over the summer. Speaking of teaching credentials… 3. ISR instructor requirements: First aid and CPR certified; minimum 80 hours of in-water training with a Master Instructor and a minimum of 100 hours academic work outside the water. Academic work includes anatomy and physiology, advanced applied behavioral science, and studies of childhood development, communication, and interpersonal skills. Mandatory yearly recertifications are required as well as ongoing in-water and theoretical development. ​ ​Lastly, if you add up what you’d spend in a traditional swim program for a few weeks during the summer – where they leave the class with little to no skills – and then multiply that by every summer until he is 6 years old, this program costs significantly less and the value is infinitely greater.

Lessons are attended 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week for an average to of 6 - 8 weeks. The consistency of daily lessons is critical for learning efficiency. Lessons need to be consistent. The duration and presentation of the lesson is essential to the retention of skills.

Repetition and consistency are crucial elements of learning for young children. Research shows that short, more frequent lessons result in higher retention. 10 minute lessons ensure the safety of the student and prevents them from becoming too fatigued to learn and retain skills effectively. Lessons are hard work and therefore your child will also be loosing body heat. Instructors check students regularly for temperature fatigue since this is an indicator of physical fatigue. We are teaching highly specialized skills and it is very important to attend class every day.

Babies don’t yet have the verbal skills to express themselves, and crying is a completely normal reaction for a young child who is in a new and challenging situation. Some never cry and most children stop crying when they become confident and more skilled in the water. It is VERY important that the parent sets the example by keeping a positive tone when at lessons and when discussing lessons with or around the child.

ISR families choose our program because they understand that before children learn that the water is a fun place to play, they must have the skills to handle this environment independently. Reaching a body of water alone is the biggest danger that your healthy child under the age of 5 will face in their young lives. ​ Survival skills must come before games and songs. Statistics show that a large majority of drowning accidents occur when kids were not expected to be swimming. This means that most kids who drown are fully clothed, and find themselves in the water without goggles or floatation devices.

The ISR program is for infants and children aged 6 months-6 years, but really there is no upper age limit! Older children also need survival skills and are able to learn Self-Rescue skills. Babies must be 6 months old AND must be able to sit in an upright position independently.

You deserve to know how long it will take your child to be skilled to swim and float independently if you are paying them for instruction! If they can't tell you that, it is highly probable that you will spend the same amount of money on those lessons (just spread out over years) that you would in 6 weeks of ISR. Also if your young child can learn to swim at one of these places, that's great. However, they need an option to safely rest & breathe. Treading water is NOT a desirable option as young children (and even adults) tire of this very quickly. Students should know how to swim, float to rest & get their breath, and continue swimming.

Children often fuss during the first few lessons because they are in a new environment, learning something new 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. Crying is their way of communication before they have learned other ways to express themselves.

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