A woman sitting on the ground with her arms up.

History and Introduction

ISR is the global leader in the industry it pioneered in 1966: survival swimming lessons for infants and young children. Our team of highly-trained ISR Instructors provides the safest and most effective survival swimming lessons available. The ISR lessons our students receive today is a product of nearly 60 years of research and experience to achieve unparalleled results each day in pools around the world.

Infant Swimming Resource

The Mission

Today, our 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. We believe the successful prevention of the leading cause of accidental death for children under the age of 4 in the U.S. will require a large group of caring and capable professionals whose sole focus is to save lives.

The ISR Approach

To date, we have delivered more than 19,000,000 ISR Self-Rescue Lessons. ISR believes in multiple layers of defense against aquatic accidents which include pool fences, alarms, and active adult supervision. However, traditional lines of defense break down, and the over 4,000 drowning deaths per year bear a grim testament to the fact that traditional approaches are missing a key component: the child. ISR’s core conviction is that the child is the most important part of a drowning prevention strategy and our over 450,000 ISR graduates and hundreds of documented survival stories, are proof that children can, and do, save themselves. Children are curious, capable, and have an uncanny ability to overcome obstacles like pool fences; at ISR we take that ability and teach them skills to potentially save themselves if they find themselves in the water alone.

Program Highlights

Embark on a transformative aquatic journey with Infant Swimming Resource's (ISR) exclusive Self-Rescue survival swimming program and beginner swimming lessons. Over 6–8 weeks, engage in five lessons per week, each lasting 10 minutes, and unlock a world of water safety for children aged 6 months and beyond.

  • Safe, Customized, One-on-One Lessons: Certified instructors focus on personalized, safe, and individualized instruction, ensuring optimal learning experiences.
  • Emphasis on Health and Ongoing Evaluation: ISR prioritizes health considerations, continuous program assessments, and parental education, culminating in unparalleled effectiveness and safety standards.
  • Age-Appropriate Learning:
    • For 6-12 Month-Olds: Learn the foundational skill of rolling onto the back to float, rest, and breathe, maintaining this life-saving position until help arrives.
    • For 1-6-year-olds: Master the swim-float-swim survival sequence, encompassing swimming with the head down, rolling onto the back, resuming swimming until reaching the poolside, allowing for self-extraction or rescue.
  • Experience Swimming with Clothes On: Once fully skilled, children practice ISR's survival techniques fully clothed during lessons, ensuring adaptability in various scenarios.
  • Continuous Growth and Development: To maintain their skills with maintenance lessons, it is recommended that children undergo refresher lessons, fostering continual growth in their water safety and aquatic problem solving skills.
A woman in the pool with her arms out.

Maintenance Lessons

Empower your child with Maintenance Lessons, available as many times as you wish to maintain your swimmers skills.

  • Flexibility:
    • Frequency can be tailored to your specific needs and what you want your swimmer to achieve.
  • Indicators for Maintenance:
    • Necessary if your child has experienced an unexpected water incident, struggles with floating or rollback-to-float, or displays hesitation in applying recently acquired ISR skills.
A woman and child in the pool at a resort.
A woman holding a baby in the pool

Refresher Lessons

Ensure your child's continued growth in water safety with our Refresher Lessons. As your child rapidly evolves from infant to young child, their increased strength, coordination, and cognitive abilities demand periodic skill adjustments.

  • Targeted Growth Support:
    • Tailored for past ISR students who are ready to grow in skill and re-establish/fine tune aquatic problem skills.
    • The adjustment period allows children to refine their float and strengthen their swim, ensuring adaptive and robust skills.
  • Recommended Frequency:
    • ISR advises Refresher Lessons every 6 months to a year, providing consistent support for your child's ongoing aquatic development.
  • Program Duration:
    • For prior swim-float-swim students, Refresher Lessons typically span 2 to 6 week, enhancing proficiency in the known sequence.
    • Past rollback-to-float students transitioning to the swim-float-swim sequence can expect a 3 to 7- weeks duration, ensuring a seamless progression.