I am thrilled to bring these lessons to families in Southern Maine. There are plenty of swimming programs available in our community, but none offer the research, safety and unparalleled results ISR provides with over 60 years in practice. ISR instructors teach young children and infants (in some cases before youngsters can walk and talk) how to successfully float and swim in the water through extensive training in sensory-motor learning and operant conditioning. Your child will learn aquatic problem-solving survival skills in order to effectively cope with many possible water emergency scenarios. Just watch them!

WILL MY CHILD BE THROWN INTO THE POOL?

I get this question a lot! That would not be a safe, nor effective approach to teaching a child to be water safe. I take a gentle, hands-on approach with each of my students and follow their lead. I tailor each lesson plan to the individual child’s ability and progress, allowing them to develop their aquatic skills at their own pace. The videos you see of children sitting on the edge and gently falling in are ISR and are most likely the final week of lessons, once skills are acquired. Anyone who forcefully shoves a child into the pool, should not be allowed to teach swim in my opinion (and those coaches 100% are not ISR).

ARE ISR LESSONS SAFE?

Your child's health and well-being are our highest priority and are closely monitored on a daily basis. All ISR instructors undergo intensive and rigorous training that far exceeds any other training program of this kind. ISR is dedicated to safety and instructors are required to maintain numerous safety protocols to promote safe lessons. With a focus on safe, customized, one-on-one lessons by certified Instructors, ISR’s survival swimming lessons emphasize health, ongoing program evaluations and parent education to deliver the most effective and safest results in the industry.

HOW OFTEN ARE LESSONS?

— Lessons are 5 days a week (Monday - Friday) for an average of 6 weeks.
— Lessons are 10 minutes in length.
— All lessons are one-on-one with only your child and the instructor in the water.
— All lessons are customized to each individual child.
— All lessons are conducted in an indoor heated pool on Route 1 in Wells

Once your initial 6-week session is complete, it is recommended to return monthly for maintenance lessons and “as needed” (usually 2-3 times a year) for a 1-week refresher session.

WHY 10 MINUTES?

Lessons are 10 minutes for safety and efficiency reasons. Although the pool temperature is maintained at 78-88 degrees, this temperature is still lower than your child's body temperature. Lessons are physical exertion and therefore your child will be exercising and losing body heat. Instructors check students regularly for temperature fatigue since this is an indicator of physical fatigue and will signal the end of a lesson. Also, repetition and consistency are crucial elements of learning for young children. Research shows that short, more frequent lessons result in higher retention throughout early childhood. There’s a lot of science behind this 10 minute mark, and it’s all in the best interest of your child!

THE FACTS…

ISR SWIM INSTRUCTION SAVES LIVES

Drowning is the number one cause of accidental death for children between the age of 1 and 4 in the United States. To date, ISR has OVER 800 documented cases of children using ISR Self-Rescue techniques to save themselves from drowning.

ISR IS THE FIRST AND ONLY NATIONAL PROGRAM TEACHING COMPREHENSIVE SURVIVAL SWIMMING

It’s important to remember that there are a lot of lessons out there that are marketed as "survival lessons" this does not mean the instructors are ISR certified. All ISR certified instructors will be listed on locator.infantswim.com and can provide a copy of their certification. ISR safely teaches full independence in the water from the age of 6 months old. ISR takes a science-based approach to water safety and each instructor is put through an intensive training.

Instructors dive deep into understanding the way children’s brains and bodies process and retain information. Beyond learning the prompts and the ways in which to introduce them to each student, ISR Instructors spend countless hours on theory. Quite literally hundreds of hours between being in-water with a master instructor, video review of those lessons, studying anatomy, physiology, sensory-motor learning and child psychology. Bookwork. Tests. Written papers. We also have yearly recertification where we send in full-length videos of ourselves teaching. We are held to a very high standard in order to be given the honor of delivering these lessons! Because these are not just swim lessons, this is self-rescue (and ISR Instructors are leading the way).

YOUR YOUNG CHILD BENEFITS LONG-TERM

Competence begets confidence in the water; success breeds higher self-esteem. ISR instruction builds the foundation for lifelong enjoyment of the water! And because the little ones are competent, happy swimmers, families enjoy being in the water together.

THE SOONER, THE SAFER

Infant Swimming Resource teaches infants and toddlers aged 6 months to 6 years to float and/or swim independently, without the assistance of parents or flotation devices. With ISR Self-Rescue® as an option, why choose anything else? Your child could swim…just watch them!