About Lessons
Infant Swimming Resources Self-Rescue program provides the safest and most effective survival swimming lessons available. ISR lessons are always one-on-one and customized to the developmental level of each child. To learn these survival skills, students attend classes 5 days a week, 10 minutes per day, for an average of 6-7 consecutive weeks.
Infants 6 months old to around 1 year old learn to hold their breath underwater, roll onto their backs to float, rest and breathe.
Infants around 1 year of age and newly walking will learn the above-mentioned skills and be introduced to a swim with their head down and eyes open. They will be taught to access a nearby pool side or stairs via a swim, but if in the middle of the pool they will learn to roll onto their backs to float until safety arrives.
Toddlers comfortably walking and older children (up to six years) learn to hold their breath underwater, swim with their head down and eyes open, roll onto their backs to float, rest and breathe, and roll back over to resume swimming until they reach the side of the pool and can crawl out. In short, they learn the entire swim-float-swim sequence to safety.
Once a child is ISR skilled but before completion of the course, they will complete a summer clothes lesson wearing light clothing, shoes and a regular diaper (if applicable) and a winter clothes lesson wearing full snow gear and boots. The majority of drownings occur when a child is fully clothed, so ISR believes it is important to practice their newfound skills in these different scenarios under the supervision of their instructor.
On the last day of lessons, parents are welcome to join their child and instructor in the water for a lesson on how to continue practicing these skills safely at home.
Pricing:
Signing up for an ISR session is a commitment to attend lessons 5 days a week, for 10 min per day, for an average of 6 weeks (depending on each individual child's needs). The cost of the entire initial session is $1100 in the fall and winter, and $1250 in the spring and summer.
Due to the time commitment required by caregivers when beginning a session, it can be challenging to fill last-minute cancellations. Additionally, time spent on weekly accounting is time taken away from instruction and further education. Therefore, to reserve your place in an upcoming session we require full payment of the session be made in 2 installments. First payment of $400-500 at time of booking, and second payment of $700-750 due by the first day of lessons.
A 15% discount is always available for siblings who register together, as well as first responders, teachers and military members. Please inquire for discount codes to be used online when purchasing a spot.
As the session date nears, you will be emailed a link to register your child(ren) within the ISR national database. The fee to do this is $105, payable to ISR online upon registration. This fee includes a medical screening by our Registration Evaluation Team (RET) to assess the physical and developmental readiness of your child. The registration fee also covers the course materials, entitled the Parent Resource Book.
What Comes After ISR Course Completion?
Maintenance Lessons - After completing their ISR Self-Rescue skillset, maintenance lessons help students to maintain their skills and confidence throughout the year. Similar to regular ISR lessons, maintenance lessons are 10 minutes in length. Discuss with your instructor an appropriate maintenance schedule for your child, but generally speaking it's recommended to attend 1 maintenance lesson per month.
Refresher Lessons - Refresher lessons are suggested every six months. As children grow, their skills will need to be adjusted to their new height and weight. This is especially important in our region since children spend significantly less time in the water during New England's cold seasons. Refreshers are highly recommended to refine their skills as they’ve most likely hit developmental milestones since the last time they’ve seen us. Since these skills are not new, refresher lessons are scheduled for 1-2 weeks depending on what your child needs