FAQ
Here are the answers to all your questions
What is ISR and how is it different from other swimming programs?
ISR is the product over 46 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 become an “aquatic problem solver.”
ISR will greatly increase your child’s chance of surviving an aquatic accident.
Are swimming lessons for infants and small children safe?
With research, you will find that ISR is the safest survival swimming program but also the most effective for teaching infants and found children.
How do you teach a baby to swim?
ISR Instructors teach infants to swim by honoring each child’s individual strengths and experiences. They understand the fundamentals of the behavioral sciences, child development and of sensorimotor learning as it relates to the acquisition of aquatic survival skills; they use this education to guide each child through the sequence of learning to swim and float.
Why should parents enroll their child in ISR lessons?
ISR parents 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. (Newsweek and Drowning Statistics).
ISR will greatly increase your child’s chance of surviving an aquatic accident.
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 ISR Self-RescueTM skills. Contacting and/or returning to your Instructor in a timely manner is imperative to maintaining effective habits.
Has there ever been any outside research on the ISR program?
Dr. David Carr, a pediatrician in Orlando, Florida, conducted an extensive study on ISR. After completing this study, Dr. Carr and his wife enrolled their daughter in ISR lessons.
How is it that babies can learn to respond to the danger that water presents then they fall in?
A baby does not need to perceive danger or be afraid to respond appropriately to being underwater. If a baby has learned to roll over and float when he needs air, he doesn’t need to perceive danger in order to respond in this manner. He needs skill, practice and confidence to calmly deal with the situation.
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 never done before.
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 own children in the water.
Will my child learn to fear the water?
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 sure your child does things for his or her 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.
Why can't ISR teach infants under 6 months old?
Children under the age of 6 months are not neurologically mature enough to benefit from ISR instruction.
What about the use of flotation devices and life jackets?
Flotation devices give children a false sense of security and hold them in postures that are not compatible with swimming skills. If a child learns that he can jump in the water and go into a vertical posture and he will be able to breathe, he is getting the wrong idea about that environment. Flotation devices are for children who cannot swim. Children, who cannot swim, should not be allowed to learn that it is safe to play in the water while relying on a crutch. Life jackets must be worn in a boat or around the water when there is the potential for an accidental submersion; they are not a substitute for the ability to swim or for adult supervision.
13002 Diamond K Trail
Helotes, Tx 78023
ISR San Antonio
Ph: (321) 662.3718
g.sanchez@infantswim.com
Swimming with Laura
Ph: (210) 488.4874
laura.kokesh@gmail.com