Safety swim for babies

Infant Swimming Resource

What Your Child Will Learn In ISR Lessons

ISR’s unique results are achieved through fully customized, safe and effective, one-on-one lessons with only your child and the Instructor in the water. What your child will learn, and the way he or she will learn it, is what makes ISR so different from traditional swimming lessons. Always putting safety first, ISR emphasizes competence, which leads to confidence, and provides the foundation for a lifetime of enjoyment in and around the water.

Rollback to float

All students, even those as young as 6 months old, learn the fundamental ISR skill of rolling onto their backs to float, rest, and breathe. Infants and toddlers who are not yet walking well will learn to maintain this position until help can reach them, and it's just as important for our older students as they incorporate more swimming skills.

Swim Float Swim

As toddlers and young children gain more physical skills on land, they are ready to learn more skills in the water as well. ISR teaches children to swim a short distance, rotate onto their back to a floating position, and then turn over to continue the sequence of swimming and floating until they can reach safety at the steps, side of the pool, or shoreline.

Our son is calm and happy in the water and has shown so much improvement and growth. Our daughter loves going to lessons and has became such a strong swimmer! It's amazing that they both went from not putting their heads under water to swimming unassisted under water!
My three year old has learned more in two weeks of ISR than in two summers of conventional swimming lessons. All three of my kids have made remarkable progress in a short time.
The skills my child has learned are priceless, the confidence they carry is such a gift. When my 4th child is ready he will be in lessons too giving him the same opportunities we have given our other 3 sons
Our daughter is already floating after 3 weeks of classes. Simply amazing! We are so glad we made the decision to do ISR lessons for our daughter’s safety.
I am often asked how my kids learned to swim so well at such a young age and I recommend ISR all the time
This program is so amazing. We refer many families to it and we get so many compliments of how well our 3 year old can swim.
Our daughter is loving swim, and developing a healthy respect for water. She understands that she has to work hard and find the skills to get to air, not just a wall. It’s a wonderful program!

Toddlers & Infant Swimming Lessons

We are sometimes asked what ISR lessons are and if we teach infant self-rescue. While water safety skills are our first priority for all swimmers, our curriculum and teaching approach differs from the ISR philosophy. We believe swimmers need to develop swim skills that not only allow them to float, but also move themselves to safety as confident, efficient swimmers. Having a correct, efficient swim stroke enables swimmers to move themselves out of potentially dangerous situations.

The ISR philosophy promotes “self-rescue” swimming skills with various methods of instruction based on the child’s age. For example, survival swimming for babies might include learning how to roll onto their backs to rest through repeated exposure of being forced underwater. While we can all agree that learning to float is an important water safety skill, we differ in our approach to teaching, and experts have yet to prove that the ISR method is a more effective teaching approach.

Our philosophy in teaching water safety skills includes an environment where all swimmers learn to love and respect the water while learning fundamental swim skills. At Saf-T-Swim, we believe that you can’t effectively teach traumatized kiddos who fear water. That's why our swimming lesson program starts as early as 2 months of age with a focus on a positive in-water experience and starting foundational water safety skills. When thinking about ISR and other toddler survival swimming programs, we urge you to do extensive research to determine if they are the right fit for your family. While our approach to teaching lifesaving swim skills differs, we can all agree that learning to swim is the most impactful way to reduce the risk of childhood drowning.

Our Water Safety Curriculum

When it comes to choosing swimming lessons for your kiddos, we know you have plenty of options. We also know exactly what young swimmers and their families need to have the best experience possible. Our warm water pools and individualized attention make Saf-T-Swim stand out, but it’s our proven curriculum that ensures your child learns new skills while having a blast.

As a proud member of the United States Swim School Association, our baby swim lessons are based on a child centered learning environment. Our classes are taught at the child’s own pace, with emotional, physical, cognitive, and psychological development considered. Saf-T-Swim teachers will hold, nurture, and love the babies, all done while building a trusting relationship. Our lessons are designed to take advantage of a baby’s natural born water instincts. Keep in mind that an infant or baby’s first 9 months are spent in a liquid environment when in the womb.

We teach children the five essential swimming skills every child should know and learn. The essentials are buoyancy, arm/leg motion, breath control, body positioning, and one of the most important, flotation! All skills are taught alongside learning to love but respect the water. The first and most crucial thing we teach is our pop-in method. Which focuses immediately on an infant or toddler learning how to, if they fell in, to hold their breath. Then turn and kick face down back to and reach for the wall. Saf-T-Swim will work on introducing your baby to getting his/her ears wet, and to float on his/her back as soon as possible. Swimming teachers strive to teach children at their own pace, with the goal of them turning onto their backs and floating on their own. All of this is to either save them in an emergency. Also, to buy valuable seconds or minutes until help arrives, should an incident occur.

For more tips on water safety or reducing the risk of childhood drowning. Please visit our drowning prevention division End Drowning Now and follow us on Facebook.

Start with Saf-T-Swim during your child’s early years, and watch your little swimmer grow into a strong and confident lifelong lover of water.

Swimming safely: 15 important tips

The best and warmest season of the year is ahead. Surely you have already planned a great vacation with the whole family. Be sure to check out our tips before traveling to the sea.

Alya Badanina

Children

Take extra care when swimming with very young children. According to medical organizations in the United States, the risk of drowning among children from one to four is especially high, be careful!

What can be done:

1. Of course, do not let such a small child go swimming alone. Rescuers do not recommend solo swimming for children up to at least 14 years old, if the child does not swim well - longer.

2. Closely monitor the behavior of children and adults: "glassy" eyes, incorrect head position, floundering in the water are bad signs.

3. After swimming in the pool, fish out all the toys and other items that attract the baby. Ideally, the children's pool should be fenced with special retaining sides. When choosing a hotel by the sea, pay attention to this.

4. Start swimming with your child as early as possible and enroll in first aid courses yourself. The benefits are enormous!

Adolescents and adults

Almost 90% of accidents in water with adolescents over 15 years of age occur in water bodies unsuitable for swimming - in forest rivers, mountain lakes, etc. And more than half of the cases with adults are due to alcohol.

What can be done:

1. No to alcohol - not only when swimming, but also when engaging in active games on the shore and in the water.

2. Always consider local weather conditions, pay attention to flags and other symbols on lifeguard houses, do not break the rules.

3. Try to be in front of the lifeguards, close to other people or with a friend.

Beaches

Even open public beaches or beaches near large hotels are not always safe. Always check the documentation of the water sample, etc.

What can be done:

1. Do not swim for at least 24 hours after a heavy downpour. All the most harmful from the earth ends up in the water.

2. Find out in advance which marine animals are found in the places where you spend your holidays. Keep protective measures with you.

3. Do not swim near obvious sources of pollution: near drain pipes, near ports.

4. And of course, do not leave non-decomposable rubbish on the sand yourself, teach your children to keep order.

Swimming pools

Chemicals in swimming pools can affect a child's general condition, causing rashes, asthmatic coughs and other allergic reactions.

What can be done:

1. If you are staying at a hotel, you have the right to request information about how pools are cleaned, what is the composition of the products and how often they are used.

2. Never swim in the pool after the designated time (usually between 22.00 and 08.00) - during this period the concentration of chemicals is especially high.

Always wear life jackets for yourself and the children when going for a boat trip. According to statistics, 95% of the boats that drowned after the crash did not wear vests. Inflatable or foam mattresses and toys will not work.

What can be done:

1. Find out the capacity of the boat and calculate how many people can go for a ride. Do not load the ship with things.

2. Choose good weather for a water trip, even with a slight beginning of rain or wind, it is reasonable to postpone the event.

Safe navigation. Teaching a child with ASD skills in the pool or at sea

Swimming and water activities are a great way for children with ASD to spend their summer holidays, develop coordination and social skills, increase concentration, reduce anxiety and stress. However, before heading out for a pool class or seaside vacation, make sure you and your child are familiar with the safety rules.

According to the National Autism Association, drowning is the leading cause of death for children with autism spectrum disorders in accidents. Therefore, the direct responsibility of parents is to teach children to swim and behave correctly near the water from an early age. What safety rules should be observed in the pool, on the lake, near the fountains and in other places of summer entertainment?

Swimming and water safety are different types of skills, each of which needs to be learned separately. Children with ASD often suffer from sensory issues that can make learning difficult. They need to gradually get used to the pool and water. It is very important that the experience is enjoyable for the child from the very beginning. As soon as you have achieved the first successes, you can begin to teach the child to move and breathe correctly.

There are several strategies to use when learning to swim:

Eliminate distractions (strange people and objects in the pool; private lessons are preferred).
Use visual aids and video simulations (instruction videos) to visually show your child the different techniques and stages of learning to swim.
Be consistent. Whatever approach to learning to swim you choose on your own or with a coach, be consistent and stick to the chosen approach every time. Autistic children learn through repetition.
Divide each task into small steps and teach the child each step individually until they can do it on their own or with minimal prompting. Don't overload your child with information. Just submerging your face in water is already a great achievement!