When I started All Knox Swim in 2022, I had never heard of ISR (Infant Swimming Resource). I started hearing stories of babies rolling over to their backs to help them survive if they fell in. I was fascinated by the idea. So, I looked into ISR extensively. I watched videos, read articles, and ransacked their website.
I also heard stories from parents that we served about their experience with ISR swim lessons. As you can imagine, I heard the whole spectrum of experiences. Some parents thought it was awesome, and other parents hated it.
I have been hesitant to write about the subject, but I believe I have gathered enough information over 2 years to give my opinion publicly.
However, you have to take my opinion with a grain of salt (or chlorine). They are our competition in the business realm, so take this opinion as you will. It is up to parents to decide how to help their children be safer around water.
What Is ISR?
For those who don’t know about ISR, the program has two basic levels. A child can start as young as 6 months old. The younger students perform one skill only, and that is the “survival float”. This gets most of the attention from the media. Infants go under water, roll over to their back, and rise to the top so they can breathe.
The second level is the roll over breathing technique. The student goes under water, rolls to their back, floats to the surface, then rolls back to their stomach to swim. Whenever they need to breath, they simply roll over to their back. Once they have taken a break, they roll back to their stomach to swim. The child repeats the process until they can get to a wall or stairs to exit the pool.
My first exposure to ISR was video content. I would imagine almost everyone has a similar shocking experience at first. An instructor essentially drops an infant (probably under 1 year old) into the pool, and the infant seems to magically rise to the surface and float on their back. Then, the infant just floats their for quite a long time. It was amazing. I had never seen anything like this before.
My First Reaction to ISR Swim Lessons
I was initially drawn to the program. I had never been able to teach children this young to perform this skill or anything similar. If this was real, I was in. The ability for an infant to roll to their back seemed like the best way to get them to be safer in the water.
I researched what it took to become an instructor. I also looked up instructors in my area. I read many articles, watched more videos, and spoke with many parents who did the program. The more I looked into the program, the more red flags started popping up.
Positive Aspects of ISR Swim Lessons
Before we get into some of the not-so-great things I learned, I want to start with positive information.
This program can teach kids an amazing skill. The ability to roll over to your back can be life-saving. Most kids under 3 have a hard time with the pop-up breathing technique. This skill is performed by doing a doggy paddle motion and lifting the head. Most younger kids just can’t pull that off.
That means kids under 3 most likely will perform the roll over breathing technique, which ISR teaches. The skill is a great skill that wasn’t near as widespread as it is now, which is a good thing. I believe it is more widespread because of ISR.
The ISR program also shows how capable even young children are of performing difficult skills. Many people think children, especially infants, are just needy little beings that can’t do much. ISR shows one way infants can do more than many give them credit for.
From all my research, the structure of ISR swim lessons is also really beneficial. Lessons are only 10 minutes long, and you take lessons 5 days a week for 6 to 8 weeks. It is a huge commitment. However, at All Knox Swim, we have found that the higher the frequency of lessons, the faster children improve. We do a similar 15-minute private lesson length, and during the summers, we offer lessons by the week (5 days). Most young children just can’t handle any longer. I believe this is a positive aspect of the program.
Older students (children over 3) also seem to do much better with the program. Their ability to reason is higher, and they understand verbal instructions. Many children come to us from an ISR program who love the water, but they are typically older when they started the program.
I will not pretend every parent hates ISR. We have many parents who come from the ISR program that love it. I believe their voice should be heard too.
Some Red Flags About ISR Swim Lessons
Now for the parts of the ISR program that I disagree with.
Vomiting
One of the more shocking videos I found was of an instructor silently working with a student. Then, the instructor feels the child’s belly, sticks her finger in the child’s mouth, and the child vomits in the pool. The instructor was feeling how much water was in their belly and deemed there was too much to keep going. The child isn’t in distress, at least. But that didn’t seem right. I have not been able to find it again, so maybe it was taken down.
I doubted (and still doubt) that this was an essential or pervasive part of their program. I talked to one parent we served who previously did ISR swim lessons, and she said her instructor did the same thing to her child. I was shocked. I can’t confirm if the instructors are trained to do this, but no one should force a child to throw up in this manner for swim lessons. That is a big red flag.
Limits on Pictures and Videos
One thing that you don’t see much online is how much children cry. One reason for that is many instructors don’t allow you to take videos of pictures except on allowed days. At All Knox Swim, we allow parents to take pictures and videos whenever they like. We don’t hide anything.
Almost everyone I have ever talked to said their children cried for several weeks and sometimes through the entire 6 to 8 week program. It took me awhile to understand why this was happening. I taught one child who previously did ISR that helped me understand why many kids hate it so much.
Drinking Water Through The Nose
In order to perform the roll over skill, most infants and young students end up under water on their back and then rise to the surface. I watched one young boy perform this skill. He was the first child I had seen in person actually do it successfully. He was about 6 inches under water while on his back. He slowly rose to the surface, then I saw him do a big swallow. Once he surfaced, he blinked the water out of his eyes, and he did not look happy. He looked afraid.
What I realized is that children are drinking chlorinated pool water through their nasal cavity. Yes, it is as awful as it sounds. Infants don’t have the ability to blow water out of their nose, so the only way to get rid of the water is down their throat. Some older children can handle this without crying, but infants will scream due to how uncomfortable this is.
Getting water up the nose certainly happens at All Knox Swim. It is a normal part of learning to swim. However, we spend time teaching kids to blow their nose. We also do our best to avoid letting children be under water on their back. A little water in the nose isn’t so bad, but doing it over and over again like in ISR is awful.
Progress Too Quickly
Another reason children cry a lot during the program is how quickly they progress. The younger a student is, the slower you have to go. That doesn’t seem to be the case with ISR swim lessons.
From what I have heard from parents, children go under water a lot, even on their first day. And if the child cries, it is largely ignored. I have heard from some parents that ISR instructors did adjust their lessons based on the student, but their child still cried.
Some children will eventually stop crying as they get comfortable with the skill. Rolling over is difficult. The prior skill of holding their breath is difficult as well. At All Knox Swim, we start much slower and ensure that a child can hold their breath consistently for 5 seconds before we move on. We usually don’t even put infants under water for their first lesson, and sometimes not even for their second lesson. We work closely with parents to get them comfortable getting their face wet first during swim lessons and at home in the bath.
In fact, some students come to us unable to tolerate getting only a few drops of water on their face. Imagine you are that child who screams with just a little splash, and you get put under water over and over again. No wonder some kids hate ISR swim lessons.
If the child is actively crying, we do not put them under water. If you do, their is a high probability they will suck in the water. We do our best to avoid children sucking in water.
Sucking in the water seems to be just a normal part of the ISR program.
Little Parent Interaction
For the most part, parents do not get in the water. That is pervasive in the program. Most videos that you see online will not have a parent in the water. At All Knox Swim, we require that parents of children under 3 be in the water with the child until the child can hold their breath for 5 seconds, which would be considered a Level 2 in our program (check out our curriculum here).
I have heard from some parents that the parent can eventually get in the water after some progress has been made, but typically not for a while.
Parents are the biggest source of comfort for children. Why take that away when they are doing the hardest skill they have ever done in their short life?
Full Medical History Required
ISR requires that you give them the child’s medical history to review. The child can then be deemed unfit for the program after their medical history is reviewed.
I have not personally heard of someone being denied from the program, but the fact that this is possible is a red flag.
Yes, their is some information that is helpful to know, such as seizure disorders, learning disabilities, limited range of motion, and the like. However, we have never turned a student away at All Knox Swim for any reason. We ask that parents tell us what we need to know to be successful during lessons. We don’t need their full medical history. No swim lesson program should be so intense that a child can be denied based on medical problems.
Tracking Pee and Poop
Some programs ask that you keep track of their pee and poop. Why?
Because they are drinking so much water!
The amount of chlorinated water that some students drink during ISR swim lessons is not right. Some students do drink the water during our program. If they do it on purpose, we jokingly call them water drinkers. However, we do our best to watch for signs that they are drinking the water and try to prevent them from doing so.
Some Parents’ Opinions of ISR Swim Lessons
I have had parents tell me some awful things about their ISR experience.
One parent told me that their child screamed the entire program and was scared to swim. Although they completed the program, their child had to work through a lot of fear with us to swim happily. This is a common occurrence from students who eventually come to us after ISR.
Another parent told me they quit after their first few lessons because their child screamed so much.
Yet another parent told me they almost took their child to counseling after the ISR program.
I am not making this up.
Do children cry during our program? Absolutely! However, we don’t just push through it. We don’t want them to scream the whole lesson. We have a framework for this called the Continuum of Growth, which you can read about here. We never want to push kids so hard that they are scared to death of swimming. Some kids are crying, but they aren’t actually scared. They are crying for some other reason. Even then, you should never put a child under water who is actively crying.
Concluding Thoughts on ISR
In all my years in the swimming world, ISR and Puddle Jumpers have been the most controversial, though ISR beats Puddle Jumpers in the controversy category by a long shot. A limited search online will yield many positive and negative reviews of the ISR program.
I believe there is some variety between ISR instructors. Some instructors will be more gentle than others, but the curriculum and philosophy of the program is concerning. There is a “whatever-it-takes” approach in the ISR program that I believe is unhealthy. They seem to believe that crying during swim lessons is like crying during a shot: “it is okay if they scream and cry as long as the reason is good enough” or “better they cry now than you cry at their funeral”. Neither of these are said explicitly, but heavily implied.
A child can learn to swim without being afraid and screaming the whole time. It may not be in their 6 to 8 week timeline, and it may not be at their current age, but that is okay! There is no reason to rush learning to swim. Children can overcome their fears and enjoy swimming. We see it all the time.
With complete transparency, I don’t think swim lessons is the most important step in water safety. There, I said it. Drowning is still serious, but there are so many steps that can be taken before your child is in a drowning situation. You can check out our pool safety, natural water safety, bath time and water watcher articles to learn about keeping kids safe around water.
My ultimate recommendation is to avoid ISR. However, if you choose to do ISR, proceed with caution. Ask the instructor to watch some lessons. Ask them how they handle children crying. And if you start and it doesn’t feel right, STOP! I have talked to many parents who said it felt wrong, but they completed the program anyway and regretted it. Trust your parental instincts!
Your child may do just fine with the program. We have found that many older students and more adventurous students have no problems with the ISR program. However, I have heard enough negative to formally recommend avoiding their program.
