Is ISR Right for Your Baby?

By Jennifer Funkhouser

When my husband and I first encountered ISR swimming, we were immediately intrigued. Was it really possible to teach our daughter, Ryn, to swim? The idea of having a toddler who could swim and knew what to do if she accidentally fell in the water was very appealing to us.

Ryn was 17 months old when we enrolled her. It was not until the day before Ryn was to begin classes that I began developing concerns about the lessons. I had already seen the ISR promotional video of a toddling baby falling into the pool, and then immediately flipping onto his back while screaming for help. However, the night before Ryn’s first class I came across several home movies on You Tube of children in ISR lessons. In these videos, most of the children were crying during their lesson even though the children had been attending lessons for at least a month.
Most of the videos showed loving ISR instructors working with toddlers near my daughter’s own age. These instructors were very gentle and caring with the children; teaching the needed skills as well as making the child feel secure in the water. Even though the child was crying, he or she would often pause to splash or give the instructor a high-five. It should be noted that ISR does not allow the parent in the water with the child until the last lesson. While the crying concerned me some, it was a video of a two year old screaming for ten minutes as she was roughly tossed upside down into the water repeatedly by her instructor that made me decide ISR was not right for us.

My husband and I decided that we would need to speak to Ryn’s instructor in the morning. I was so apprehensive that I didn’t even bring Ryn’s swimsuit to the first lesson. As far as I was concerned, she was not going into the pool. I shared my concerns with the ISR instructor, Carolyn Espy. She was also concerned about the video I had seen on You Tube. She said that most children do cry in the water but calm down before the end of their lessons. None that she knew had developed a fear of water. I was reassured enough after talking to her that I went to a nearby store to buy towels and a bathing suit for Ryn’s lesson.

Ryn went in the water for her first lesson without incident; she laughed & played with Caroline and did not cry for Mom and Dad at all. Then it was time to go under water for the first time. Caroline was very loving and reassuring with Ryn. Nevertheless, for the rest of the lesson Ryn was screaming for Mommy, and I was trying not to pull her out of the water. After the lesson she was fine, having suffered no ill effects from her ordeal. I noted in my diary that night that Ryn enjoyed the water at bath time for the first time in three months and wondered if the change was due to swim lessons.

We decided to try lessons for a week and to pull the plug if she had not calmed down by Friday. Tuesday’s swim lesson was much like Monday’s, only without the initial splashing & laughing, just lots of screaming. Ryn also suddenly developed an attachment to a soggy swim towel. She began sleeping with the towel. I didn’t take this as a good sign. Wednesday’s lesson was the same: screaming. I really was starting to doubt my decision to keep her in a whole week. On Thursday, the screaming magically stopped. Something suddenly clicked with my daughter, and she turned into a fish. She never cried in lessons again except when she had to wait for her turn to get in the pool.

Thanks to Caroline & the ISR method my 19 month old can stay in the water, swimming and floating on her back for extended periods of time. I have no doubt that if Ryn fell into the water, she would not sink and drown but would immediately flip on her back and begin floating. After Ryn’s experience I will definitely be putting each of my future children in ISR. With that said, I will also point out that ISR might not be right for everyone. Most of the other kids I met in Ryn’s swim class took more than three days to stop crying. Each parent must make the decision about whether ISR is right for a given child. As the pictures show, it was definitely the right choice for Ryn.