Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) is a nationally recognized system of aquatic survival instruction for infants and young children. The program focuses on educating parents and children about aquatic survival and safety issues. ISR is the product of more than 36 years of research and development by Dr. Harvey Barnett. More than 160,000 infants and young children have gone through our program with more than 6 million safe and effective lessons to our credit.

 

ISR Instructors are highly trained and qualified. Instructors must undergo strict re-certification testing annually. Each instructor is academically trained and tested in areas such as child psychology, physiology, anatomy and behavioral science to provide the safest lesson possible for your child. In addition, each instructor spends a minimum of 60 hours hands on, supervised in-water training working with actual students.

What your child will learn: Students who are crawling (generally 6-8 months) through about 11 months will learn survival floating. He or she will be taught to rotate from a face-down position in the water to a back float. The baby will be taught to rest and breathe on his or her back until help arrives. You can expect that the typical infant will attend 5 lessons per week for an average of 3-4 weeks to attain these skills.

 

A child who is walking or very close to walking (usually anytime after 11 months to about 6 years) will learn a swim-float-swim sequence. He or she will be taught to swim face down using arms and legs (similar to a freestyle stroke); roll on his or her back to float, rest and breathe when he or she needs air; and then flip over onto his or her stomach to continue swimming until he or she reaches the wall or stairs. This swim-float-swim sequence can be repeated as many times as is necessary to reach safety. This skill set can be achieved with 5 lessons per week in about 4-6 weeks.

 

After accomplishing these skills in a bathing suit, children will then practice their skills in summer clothing and then progress onto winter clothing. This additional work is critical to survival swimming because most children who find themselves in the water alone are fully clothed.

 

Class Structure: Your child’s classes are 5 days a week, Monday – Friday. Each class will be approximately 10 minutes long with just one child and myself in the water. Much is accomplished in a short but very intense private lesson. Your child will have the same 10 - minute time slot each day. The average time period for a child over age one to complete the initial swim-float-swim survival skills is between 4 – 6 weeks. All children are individually skilled.