What is ISR Swim Lessons? A Complete Guide From Pro Swim Instructor

Infant Swimming Resources (ISR) aims to teach young children fundamental water survival skills (primarily floating). After completing the lessons, children can perform float without assistance until help arrives at the accident scene. Research proves that children ages 1 to 2 years are UNABLE to learn swimming skills required for self-rescue due to the lack of developmental readiness. Thus, parents should be aware of the limitations of survival swim lessons.

ISR are typically 10 minutes long, one-on-one lessons with an instructor.

Because it's only 10 minutes, the frequency of the lessons is pretty high. The standard schedule is Monday-Friday to reinforce the skills learned. After a few months to a year, it's recommended to go through refresher lessons to revive the knowledge of water survival.

Children enrolled in ISR would typically go through the lesson fully clothed to train the skill level required in a day-to-day setting.

It's advised for parents to stay out of the water because a child learns better with one authority role in the pool. However, parents can remain close to the pool to supervise and ensure the safety of their kiddo.

While lesson instruction is tailored to drown-proof infants, ISR age range is broader: classes can be taught to infants, toddlers, and older kids.

ISR stands for Infant Swimming Resources. The concept for establishing this program emerged in Central Florida in 1966 by Dr. Harvey Barnett.

At the age of 18, as a pool lifeguard, Dr. Barnett taught young children how to swim. He carefully observed what learning style young children responded to and what skills they mastered best.

Later, after 43 years of practice, Dr. Harvey Barnett patents his child's education program, which is now known as ISR. Since then, their motto has been: not one more child.

Many instructors around the US went through ISR training and now successfully teach floating techniques to kids of all ages.

ISR's main focus is aquatic safety and self-rescue. Keeping the lessons short makes kids less likely to get tired and cold.

During those 10 minutes, your child will work one-on-one with an ISR-certified, professional instructor. Because every lesson focuses primarily on floating, 10 minutes is usually all young students need to learn.

ISR's approach is designed to be effective in emergency situations, so toddlers and infants can learn to float until help arrives.

While there's a lot of controversy surrounding Self Rescue and ISR instructors, these lessons significantly impacted child drowning prevention.

The organization has numerous safety protocols, and thousands of parents and their children have completed the program and remained satisfied. But things are not so black and white.

Some parents left the program just to find out later that their infant was terrified in the water. Why and how does it happen?

The answer is simple. Little kids, just like adults, have fight-or-flight instincts. An unfamiliar swimming pool setting with a stranger instructor can trigger those instincts to kick in. After all, an instructor is not their safety base, and most babies would not be comfortable in this scenario.

If your kid doesn't calm down after a few lessons and the instructor still deals with tantrums, it's time to call it a day. Switching instructors and seeing if your kid does better with another person is best. A negative association with water is proven to affect your kid's future progress in learning to swim.

If you still wish to continue lessons with your kid being terrified every time, proceed at your own risk. Your kid can eventually learn to float through the tears and discomfort. But don't be surprised if they freak out next time you're in the pool together.

The price is too high for a basic skill like floating that you can teach your baby on your own. When you ultimately choose to teach your children swimming skills beyond floating after completing ISR, breaking the fight or flight response will take a while.

Other than that, ISR CAN save your baby's life one day, but adult supervision is still REQUIRED after completion of the program.

ISR has a limited but proven track of success. You can find positive thousands of positive reviews on the web, with some dissatisfaction here and there. So, where's the truth?

Parents should be aware that before children reach the 3-year-old mark, they are physically and cognitively not ready to learn the swimming skills associated with self-rescue. Read more about it here.

Per Infant Swimming Resource, they conducted over 7 million lessons across the United States. To combat the ISR swimming controversy (2020), 800 cases have been researched and demonstrated to prevent drowning in children.

But if you make some calculations, things are not so black and white. Per their research: out of 7 million lessons, 800 were effective. Thus, the effectiveness of the lessons ends up being 0.0114%. More in-depth research is needed to verify the ways in which ISR methods have proven to drown-proof kids.

The cost of ISR swim lessons varies from region to region. On average, a week of classes costs anywhere between $80 to $110. That includes five 10-minute lessons a week.

See the table breakdown by the swimming schools.

Mainly because it costs a lot for instructors to get certified in ISR. Basically, you are paying for the education and time your instructor put into being an expert in the field.

Hiring a certified ISR swimming instructor gives you a layer of protection from being scammed. But unfortunately, there are a lot of instructors who pretend to have satisfactory credentials with ISR.

So, the cost of quality instruction guarantees the safety of your little one, and satisfactory level of instructor's education.

While the American Academy of Pediatrics doesn't directly recommend ISR lessons, medical research recommends swim lessons for kids as a layer of protection from drowning starting from 12 months. However, AAP confirms that before age 4,5, kids are not developmentally ready to learn the swimming skills associated with self-rescue. Ultimately, ISR lessons can be an excellent step in the right direction towards water safety.

During traditional swim lessons, kids learn swimming skills like pulling, kicking, and breath control. Instead, the ISR instructor focuses solely on the child's water survival skills, like flipping on the back and floating.

What is the best fit for your kid is up to you. If the ISR instruction and methods are too harsh for them, try traditional swimming lessons.

Traditional swimming lessons are typically less traumatizing. Certified instructors incorporate different teaching techniques, like playing games and diving to get toys, while constantly assisting the kids in the water to learn effortlessly. Additionally, parents are welcome to join the process during traditional swimming lessons.

However, if you want to teach your kid to solely float on their back in the shortest possible time, ISR lessons should be your go-to choice.

If ISR lessons are worth it or not for your family depends on multiple factors.

Here are a few things you should know to make the right decision:

1. Evaluate the level of comfort your baby has during ISR lessons. No matter what others say, constant tantrums, worrying, and screaming is NOT good. A negative experience in the water is BAD and will affect your baby's ability to learn to swim moving forward.
2. Make your goals clear. Do you want your children to be able to swim or just float? Floating doesn't equal survival swimming. It can increase the chances of survival, but it won't 100% prevent drowning.
3. Explore different options. Go to the different swimming schools, meet swimming instructors, and see who would make your child most comfortable in the water.
4. Talk to other parents. Talk to other parents whose children are/were enrolled in ISR. See what they say. They might have a good instructor to refer you to.