FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

ISR (Infant Swimming Resource®) teaches children what to do if they find themselves in the water unexpectedly. The goal isn’t swim strokes or games — it’s survival skills. Children learn how to control their breathing, float, orient themselves, and move toward safety in a way that is developmentally appropriate for their age.

Traditional swim lessons teach children how to swim eventually.
ISR teaches children what to do if they fall into water when no one is watching.

This is not about one program being safer than another — it is about different goals, timelines, and expectations.

Tuition for indoor pool lessons is:

• New Student: ~$1,200 per session (about 6–8 weeks)

• Refresher Lessons: ~$200 per week

• Maintenance Lessons: ~$40 per lesson
  

• There are sibling discounts, and scholarships/payment plans may be available through the ISR “Pay It Forward” program to help with cost.

The tuition rate is designed to ensure your child becomes fully skilled in self-rescue, no matter how long it takes. Whether your child masters the skills in 4 weeks or 20 weeks, our focus is on their individual progress and safety. We are committed to providing thorough instruction at their pace to ensure they confidently achieve these life-saving skills.

ISR isn’t priced per lesson — it’s structured as a finite safety program with a defined outcome.

Many families spend several thousand dollars over years of weekly swim lessons with variable results. ISR is a short-term, intensive program designed to establish foundational survival skills efficiently. The difference isn’t just cost — it’s clarity of goal and timeline.

We understand that safety is a priority, but budgets are real. We are happy to discuss payment structures that might help make this manageable for your family. Please reach out to us directly to discuss options.

I understand—you're juggling a lot. This is a 6-week commitment during morning hours at Five Star Swim School in Galloway. It requires planning and support from your village. But it's a short, focused window that delivers lasting skills. Families consistently tell me the time investment was worth it. This isn't about convenience. It's about protection.

Currently:

• Winter & Spring: Indoor lessons at a private, heated facility in Galloway, NJ (morning sessions)

• Summer: Afternoon lessons at a heated host pool in Ocean View, NJ, conveniently located near the Garden State Parkway

Summer afternoon lessons are offered in addition to the morning Galloway sessions.

Yes. Safety is the foundation of ISR. Each child’s medical history is reviewed, lessons are taught by a certified ISR instructor, and your child is monitored closely every day for readiness, fatigue, and comfort.

Lessons are structured, controlled, and always focused on your child’s wellbeing.

Crying is very common, especially during the first few weeks of lessons. We understand this can be hard for parents to watch, and we completely validate those feelings.

For young children who can't speak or are learning how to speak, crying is a primary form of communication. It's often their way of saying, "This is new, and I'm working hard!" rather than an expression of fear. As children master new skills and gain confidence in the water, the crying typically stops and is replaced by a sense of pride.

We encourage you to celebrate your child's progress and focus on the long-term benefits of these life-saving skills. While the first few lessons might be challenging, it’s amazing to see children quickly adapt and grow. What starts with tears often ends with your child floating independently and feeling proud of their new abilities. Knowing they have the skills to save themselves offers priceless peace of mind.

No. There’s a difference between temporary discomfort while learning and fear. In fact, many children become more confident and relaxed around water once they understand how to control their body and breathing.

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.

Once competent in their skills, many children cannot be dragged away from the pool. They are having entirely too much FUN.

The fact that drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for children under the age of four is a grim testament to the fact that traditional approaches can, and do, fail. ISR’s Self-Rescue® program exists so that, when other protective measures break down, your child can save himself.

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 could 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.

We work with many children who are hesitant or fearful. Because ISR is a sensorimotor program, we teach them how to handle the water before we expect them to enjoy it. By giving them the tools to float and breathe, we replace their fear with competence. Once they know they can save themselves, the fear usually disappears.

Because children don’t fall into pools wearing goggles or floaties.

ISR teaches children to control their breathing, body position, and movement without equipment they wouldn’t have in a real accident. This builds true independence and confidence, not reliance on external aids.

Many traditional swim programs:

• Allow or encourage goggles, which can reduce true face-in-water comfort

• Use flotation devices, which can delay independent body awareness

• Teach skills assuming supervision and equipment

ISR intentionally teaches children:

• Without goggles

• Without flotation devices

• To control breathing and body position independently

• In conditions that reflect real-world water accidents

This is not a criticism — it reflects different goals.

We know 10 minutes sounds short, but it is intentional. Infants and young children have short attention spans and tire easily in the water. By keeping lessons brief, we ensure your child stays fresh, focused, and retains what they learn without physical fatigue. ISR lessons are intentionally brief so children can stay regulated, engaged, and successful while learning a physically demanding skill. Longer lessons don’t lead to better survival skills — consistency and repetition do. Daily 10-minute lessons build muscle memory without overwhelming your child.

Because survival skills rely on muscle memory — not occasional exposure.

Weekly lessons can take months or years to produce functional skills. ISR’s daily model allows children to build and retain critical self-rescue skills efficiently, in a short, defined period of time. This is about time to outcome, not just time in the water.

The average initial series lasts about 6 weeks. However, every child is different. Some may finish in 4 weeks, while others might need 7 or 8. We never rush a child; we teach to their individual pace and needs.

Parents typically observe from the pool deck. Some children focus better when parents step back slightly, while others benefit from their parent's calm presence nearby. I'll guide you on what works best for your child. After lessons, I'll update you on progress and answer any questions you have.

Beyond certification, consistency and availability matter.

Families benefit from a local instructor who is present year-round, understands the seasonal realities of shore life, and can provide continuity, follow-up, and refreshers — not just a short window of availability.

In addition to educating infants and young children, ISR also teaches parents that there is “no substitute for adult supervision” and “No child is drown proof.” If a child needs his/her ISR Self-Rescue® skills, it means what should be several layers of defense have failed. The first goal is that the child is never able to access the water alone. ISR lessons are the last line of protection such that, should all else fail, your child has a chance at helping him/herself by using the survival skills they were taught.

Constant, undivided, 100% effective supervision would be the only sure way to eliminate drowning. Unfortunately, as parents we know this simply is not realistic. Infants and toddlers love to explore, and with everything else that goes on in our lives, as parents, we can get distracted. A moment’s inattention can allow a child to move out of our line of sight. This is not a failure, it is just part of our busy lives.

This brings us to the next layer of protection, pool fences. Pool fences exist so that should a child escape a parent’s supervision, there is a barrier between the child and the pool. We know that children are drawn to water, but we don’t want them to be able to get to the water alone. Unfortunately, pool fences are only as effective if they are used correctly EVERY time. Because many are not set up to be self-closing and self-latching, they allow for a high likelihood of human error. Even if they are self-closing and self-latching, if there is not regular maintenance, then they can fail. Another aspect that is often highly underestimated is the intelligence of children. A child needs only a chair or a small table to climb on to emulate opening the gate and/or climbing over pool fencing rendering even the best pool fence, useless.

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 sensori-motor 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.

This is often a tough one for parents because many children are introduced to apples early and most juices contain some apple juice as an ingredient. The reason we ask that you don’t feed your child apples for the duration of lessons is because apples cause gas. Apples metabolize at a temperature of 104 degrees. This is the same temperature that they ferment at. This gas causes the child to be uncomfortable and feel full and no one works well on a full stomach.

First off, no one works well on a full stomach. Your child is going to be working hard in lessons. We want them to be comfortable. In addition, when children are first learning to hold their breath, they often swallow air. If you get a lot of air in your stomach it will often come out as a burp. If there is food in there as well the air can get under that food and bring them up together. That isn’t fun for any of us, especially the baby. Once again, we want to set the child up for success. In this case, we want them to be comfortable so they can focus on the task at hand.

SAFETY. At ISR, safety will always come before convenience. While it is a fair amount of paperwork, any program that involves the safety and well being of infants and young children needs to be conscientious and very thorough. The ISR medical team, consisting of an on-staff team of registered nurses, review the information from the registration form and provide feedback to your child’s Instructor so that he/she can provide the safest possible lessons for your child.

Our goal is that no child ever vomits. However, it does occasionally happen. Most often this is due to feeding issues. We ask parents to avoid feeding children for 1.5-2 hours prior to lessons because having food in the stomach while learning breath holding can cause discomfort. When a child is first learning to hold his/her breath, he/she will often swallow some air which can cause big burps. If a burp gets under food remaining in the tummy, it can cause vomiting. For this reason, we ask parents to maintain B.U.D.S. sheets accurately and follow the eating guidelines outlined for your children.

If the child were to get water in his mouth and swallow some, the epiglottis, a flap of cartilage which lies behind the tongue in front of the entrance to the larynx, closes by a reflexive action over the tube leading to the lungs and prevents aspiration just as it does if they were drinking water from a cup or a bottle. The typical child’s anatomy is set up so that if the volume and/or speed of air/water entering the throat is more dense than air, then the epiglottis, by default, will send it to the stomach and not to the lungs. The exception to this rule is if a person is unconscious, at which point the involuntary reflex of breathing will take over. Every child is regularly monitored throughout lessons to ensure that he/she is not taking in water. To ensure your child’s safety and work towards preventing aspiration, please follow the eating guidelines outlined for your children.

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 skills between seasons.

Many families come to ISR after months or years of traditional swim lessons.

Even confident swimmers may still:

• Rely on goggles or flotation devices

• Struggle to float independently

• Panic if they fall in unexpectedly

• Be unable to orient themselves and reach safety

ISR fills the gap between being comfortable during lessons and being capable in an emergency.

Because most accidental water entries happen fully clothed.

Practicing in lightweight and heavyweight clothing helps children understand how their body feels in real-world conditions and teaches them to stay calm and effective if the unexpected happens.

If you are ready to give your child the skills to survive, or if you just want to chat to see if we are the right fit, please contact us. We are happy to walk you through the registration process and find a time slot that works for your busy schedule.