Not One More
Child Drowns
ISR’s mission, “Not One More Child Drowns,” is the foundation of everything we do and is the driving force behind ISR’s employees, our independent ISR Instructors, and our major corporate partnerships.
Empower your child by enrolling him or her in ISR’s Self-Rescue™ program.
The Sooner, The Safer!
An Extra Layer of Protection for Your Child
Watching your child is not enough, nor are pool safety gates able to protect them from every hazardous water situation. Arm your child with an extra layer of protection in the unfortunate event that supervision lapses – even momentarily — and he or she ends up in the water alone. ISR is the safest provider of infant and toddler survival swimming lessons worldwide. With more than 45 years of research and development behind ISR’s SelfRescue™ program, ISR teaches each child survival skills in conjunction with basic swimming lessons that give them the competence required to safely enjoy the water. To date, ISR Instructors have delivered more than 7,750,000 ISR SelfRescue™ lessons and saved more than 800 lives.
Why ISR?
Founded in 1966, Infant Swimming Resource (ISR), with its Self-Rescue™ program, is nationally recognized as the safest provider of survival swimming lessons for infants and young children. We recognize that parents need their children to feel comfortable in and around water. At ISR, your child’s safety is our top priority. Each survival lesson is uniquely tailored to your child’s needs based on a comprehensive assessment and continual monitoring of your child’s health and skill attainment. We understand that every child learns at his or her own pace, and accordingly your child will be gently guided through each skill level based on his or her level of development and readiness.
Infant Swimming Resource, LLC (“ISR”) complies with all federal and state laws and regulations and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, age, religion, or disability. It is the policy of ISR to provide reasonable accommodations to its disabled applicants and students, with the provision of appropriate documentation of the need for the accommodation.
ISR is committed to ensuring that every student receives the most effective lesson experience. Pursuant to that commitment, throughout your child’s lessons, the ISR Quality Assurance Staff will maintain points of contact with you and your Instructor regarding your child’s performance and skill attainment.
Safety
Parent Education
Results
Qualified Instructors
Meet Your Instructor
Hi, I’m Cristen!
I received my ISR certification in October of 2022 after witnessing my own children thrive in the program. I am an advocate for water safety and drowning prevention and want ISR Self-Rescue™ skills to be more accessible to children in and around Maryland.
I’m a mom of 3 and wife to Ryan. We are both former teachers and met while working together in Maryland’s public schools. I’ve lived in Carroll County my entire life, with the exception of a short stint in Costa Rica (¡Pura vida!), and while I often dream about settling down in a more “exciting” place, my heart will always lie in the rolling hills of Central Maryland.
I can’t wait to meet you and your little ones!
Roll-To-Back-Float
Ages 6-12 months
*Infants who are able to sit up independently are developmentally ready to begin lessons.
Your child is gently introduced to the water by your Instructor. As each child reacts differently, your Instructor will work with your child to guide him through the lesson process and to build a level of trust and comfort in the water. Once this is established, your child will begin to learn how to roll-back-to-float.
This includes how to:
Swim-Float-Swim
Ages 1-6 years
*Once your child is confidently walking, they are developmentally ready to learn the SFS sequence
You’ve seen it before; your toddler walks right to the edge of the pool, ready to jump in, whether or not you are there to catch him. His confidence is beyond his skills. ISR training for children between 1-6 years of age uses their confidence to help them build competence and the skills for survival.
Swim-Float-Swim students will be taught how to:
Investment
Survival swimming lessons like those offered by ISR are an invaluable investment in your child’s safety and well-being, not to mention your own peace of mind. All students must register through ISR’s National Online Registration before starting lessons. Payment is due at the time you submit your child’s medical registration. This is a series of questions about your child’s development and medical history and is done so we can provide your child the safest lessons possible.
Time Investment
Lesson duration | 6-8 weeks
Sessions run for 6-8 weeks. Sessions are typically 6 weeks long, but often require an additional week or two to solidify skills or to make up missed lessons due to illness, weather cancellations, or other unforeseen circumstances. Your child’s end date will be determined when he or she is consistently and independently able to perform ISR Self-Rescue™ skills. Lessons are DAILY Monday through Friday, and a maximum of 10 minutes a day.
Consistent attendance
You will need a lesson time where your child can attend each day at the same time, is well-rested, and has not consumed any food/drink at least two hours prior to lessons.
Financial Investment
ROLL-BACK-TO-FLOAT: Session cost $700
SWIM-FLOAT-SWIM: Session cost $1,050
In order to secure your preferred lesson time for the session, a non-refundable deposit of $350.00 is required that will go towards the total session cost. Half of the remainder of the balance will be due at the time of registration with the remainder of the balance due on the first day of lessons. Additionally, a one time fee of $105 is required to register your child with ISR National.
Refresher Lessons
Refresher Lessons: $320 (two week refresher course)
Below Lessons are ONLY once Initial Lessons have been completed:
Refresher lessons are extremely important in continuing and maintaining your child’s ISR Self-Rescue™ skill development. Children grow and develop rapidly from infants to toddlers and young children. This development process represents improved strength, coordination, and a more finely turned cognitive ability. In accordance with this growth, children enrolled in ISR return periodically to participate in Refresher Lessons.
If a student needs more than 2 weeks, lessons will then be $160 per week paid the Friday prior. Lessons are to be paid in full at sign-up. Lesson fees will not be pro-rated as you are paying for the time slot and not the lesson.
Ready to Start?
Join the safest and most effective swim lessons in Carroll County. If you have specific questions, please view the FAQ section below or contact Cristen at cristen.melhorn@infantswim.com.
FAQ
ISR is the product of over 45 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 becomes an “aquatic problem solver.” ISR will greatly increase your child’s chance of surviving an aquatic accident, even when fully clothed!
Yes. At ISR, we believe that part of survival for a child who can walk is swimming. Children learn the swim-float-swim sequence so that they can get themselves to safety. The difference in our program is that they will learn swimming AND survival skills and how to be an aquatic problem solver.
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.
Yes. Consider that children learn to sit, crawl and walk before they learn to speak. Because we teach through sensorimotor learning, verbal skills are not required for a child to acquire Self-Rescue skills. We are able to communicate with our students through touch and positive reinforcement while striving to set our students up for success every step of the way.
The reason for this is multifaceted. First, repetition and consistency are crucial elements of learning for young children. Research shows that short, more frequent lessons result in higher retention. Second, most children have fairly short attention spans and will not be able to focus on the task for longer and we want to take advantage of the best time for learning. A third reason is that, though the pool temperature is maintained at 78-88 degrees, the temperature is still lower than your child’s body temperature. Lessons are hard work and your child will be losing body heat. Instructors check students regularly for temperature fatigue since this is an indicator of physical fatigue.
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’s never done before.
Because 86% of children who fall in the water do so fully clothed, we want our students to have experience with such a situation. If a child has experienced the sensation of being in the water in clothing prior to an emergency situation, he/she is less likely to experience panic and be able to focus on the task at hand. If you have ever jumped in the water with clothes on, then you know that there is a significant difference in weight and feel with clothes as opposed to a bathing suit.
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 choices for your child’s 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 because they are having entirely too much FUN.
Based on our research, we know that refresher lessons are important because children change so much both cognitively and physically during the first 4-5 years of life. It is important that their water survival skills grow with their bodies. Frequency depends on the child’s age, growth rate, skill level, and confidence level. The goal of refresher lessons is to help your child adjust his/her new body size and weight to his/her existing skill level. Your instructor will work with your child to help fine-tune his or her aquatic experience to assist with building efficiency, which will result in self-confidence. This is especially important if your child has not been able to practice any appropriate aquatic skill between seasons.
YES! ISR is dedicated to safety and maintaining numerous safety protocols to promote safe lessons. Your child’s health and well-being are our highest priority and are closely monitored on a daily basis. In addition, your child’s medical and developmental history is a mandatory part of the ISR national registration process, all of which is held strictly confidential. All ISR instructors undergo an intensive and rigorous training that far exceeds any other training program of this kind. Each ISR instructor is also required to attend a yearly recertification symposium that includes quality control as well as continuing education. Your education in the area of aquatic safety for your entire family is an integral part of your child’s lessons. You will receive access to the “Parent Resource Guide”, written by Dr. Harvey Barnett and JoAnn Barnett, which will inform you of every aspect of swimming for infants and children. With research, you will find that ISR is the safest survival swimming program but also the most effective for teaching infants and young children.
