A radical approach to preventing childhood drownings
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Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Frankie, 22 months, cries when her Infant Swim Rescue teacher Andie Groff lets go of her in the water and she submerges. It is day five of the toddler's lessons, and although she clearly isn't happy about it, Frankie quickly flips onto her back and floats. Within a few minutes, she stops crying and not only floats but swims underwater a foot or so.
Infant Swim Rescue teaches kids as young as six months to flip on their back and wait for help.
Her dad, Frank Tajak of Glen Ellyn, was determined to have his daughter learn to swim, something he'd never mastered and which left him with a lingering apprehension about the water. So he and his wife Christy enrolled Frankie in an Infant Swim Rescue program.
ISR isn't a traditional swim program; instead it teaches children to "self-rescue" during an aquatic accident. Children as young as six months are taught to flip onto their backs to float and relax until help arrives, while toddlers are taught to flip back and forth from an underwater swim to a back float while they swim to safety.
The program isn't easy, requiring parents to bring their child for an individual, 10-minute lesson every day for six weeks. This allows children to learn through repetition, while accommodating their short attention spans, Groff says. Plus there's lots of paperwork to fill out and the program is pricey.
Jackie Huisman drives every day from Orland Park to Oak Brook for her daughter Gabriela, 4, to attend the lessons. By the fifth day of Gabriela's lesson, she eagerly swims a few feet to the side of the pool with her eyes open and is learning to flip back and forth from a float to an underwater swim.
"To know your child will know what to do if there's an accident, I'll feel so much more comfortable," Huisman says.
ISR is available at numerous locations throughout Chicago and the suburbs and costs $95-$105 per week, depending on location. There is also a $105 non-refundable registration fee, which covers the child's medical evaluation. For more information and for a location, visit infantswim.com.
Liz DeCarlo is the senior editor at Chicago Parent.
See more of Liz's stories here.
Contact Liz at ldecarlo@chicagoparent.com
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Pricey-how much would you pay to save your child's life?By Patricia- Clinical psychologist on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 A child fell in to the Chicago River last week- five feet of water and drowned. Yesterday at the pool, a little girl lost her floaties, plunged in less than 5 feet of water, and panicked - ending the swim party for all 6 kids in her group because she was so distraught. I am grateful my 2 year old can float, roll over and swim back to float in order to get to stairs or to the side of a wall. I just completed the six weeks of training with Andie. We are encouraged not to use floaties!! It was a beautiful experience to see my son learn a skill, to watch that "ah-ha-light bulb" moment and to now hear him talking about swimming like a shark. Priceless. |
Well worth itBy Amy Campbell on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 My son took ISR lessons from Andie when he was a year and half. Initially I thought the price was a little high but when you break it down week to week its no more than a trip to Target or the grocery store. Knowing that he will be okay is worth every penny. As for going 5x a week for 6 weeks, its only a 10 minute session and your in and out, the repititon makes a big difference. You may have to adjust your schedule a little bit but I would rather do that than see somsething tragic happen. By 2 years of age, my son was swimming like a fish. I know of no other program that works this great. I have observed other swim programs at this age, and they are only getting the toddlers used to the water by sitting them on the steps and playing with them, they do not teach survival skills. Last summer we went to Wisconsin Dells and my son, age 2 at the time, was going down the kiddie water slides and swimming to the side all by himself. I am not exaggerating, he quickly became the entertainment at the park. People would gasp when they saw him going down the slide without a flotation device (even the lifeguard) and then when they saw swim to the side without assistance, they would come and ask us how in the world he learned to do that. We would proudly say ISR and explain the program. He was a true walking advertisment for ISR that weekend. I highly recommend the program, it was worth every penny and every minute. |
pricelessBy Zupo on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 My daughter will be 3 in July and can swim, and swim into a float across the pool. The financial and time sacrifices were well worth the investment we made for our daughter's safety. Plus I cannot wait for our clubhouse to open and have everyone see my baby swim!! A better investment than any other swim lesson I've had my older kids in. Thanks Andie. |
Pricing (and more) is InaccurateBy Andie Groff on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 The pricing quoted in this article for ISR lessons in the Chicago area is inaccurate. Prices range between $75-$125 per week depending on who is teaching the lessons, how long they have been teaching, the location of the pool and how far the instructor has to travel, and how much the facility charges for children to participate in lessons and use their pool as a non-member. These are all things to take into consideration. The paperwork is a daily BUDS sheet, which monitors your child's health, safety and well-being during lessons. We need to know about your child's elimination habits, sleep times, food intake and medicine intake to be sure that they are receiving a customized lesson plan that provides them with the safest lesson possible. If you would prefer a high school lifeguard to teach your child in a setting where they are easily distracted by 4 screaming kids, by all means, there are many facilities who can accommodate that lesson plan. But if you want someone who has been trained to specifically work with your child in a one-on-one setting, and someone who has been trained in the areas of child psychology, behavioral science, physiology and anatomy courses to be sure that they are providing your child with a safe and successful lesson each and every time, then you will want to obtain lessons from an ISR instructor who has the knowledge and expertise to work specifically with your child. |
Priceless!!!!!!!By Deborah Mohapp on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 I can not tell you how priceless the IRS skills are. I have 3 boys that were the among the first students that recieved the training by Andy. The twins were 3 and my baby was about 16 months. Today the twins are almost 4 and the baby is 3. They love to go swimming and swim back and forth from the step to me and from me to the wall. When they first took the lessons I drove an hour and a half everyday one way for 6 or 7 weeks. Was it worth it? All I can say is a big YES!!! About a month ago we were at a indoor water park and I was in the water with all three of them alone, we were in the wave pool and there was a small current and one of the 4yrs olds was having trouble standing up in the water, I went to help him and moved away from the 3yr old for just a min., he was sitting in waist deep water and by the time I turned around the 3yr old was in neck deep water and the current got him. Myself and the lifeguard ran toward him and all of the sudden he fliped over and took a breath. By the time I got to him he was laughing and did not even think anything of it. I am sure that I would have gotten to him before anything bad happened but I now know that if he were to ever get into trouble, he has the skills to take that ever precious breath. Priceless!!!!!!! |
Worth the money and time to save my childBy Wes on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 Thanks for the piece on ISR, however I am surprised by the reference of it involving"lots of paperwork to fill out and the program is pricey." My child has just completed the second level of ISR and can now swim to the edge of the pool in a sequence of swimming and floating. Not bad for a 2 year old. At 9 months, my child could float, thus saving their own life. The ISR program is disciplined, and is based on decades of development and research. Where it's new here in Chicagoland, it is well-established in the south, namely Florida. I consulted with friends and colleagues who live there and they vouched for ISR, which their own children went through as everyone has a pool in the Sunshine State, but not everyone has a pool fence. The comment about paperwork and price seems to have been slapped in there after the fact. The paperwork is surely less than what we have to complete for our daycare program, and nothing in comparison to any paper work required by the Chicago or Cook County for anything! As for the price - there is surely more useless money spent on unneeded accessories that are marketed to unsuspecting parents. |
"pricey"? "a lot of paperwork"?By Stephanie Mazzuca on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 I simply do not know what to say... My daughter Briana, now 29 months old, thanks to Andie has pool skills the neighborhood 5 year olds don't!! Pricey..??? Avg $500 for 25 lessons is pricey? No offense, but the life saving skills are priceless. I would have spent triple. Her life is priceless. As for "a lot of paperwork... yes there is a daily sheet to fill out recording food intake, waste, and sleep schedules, but it takes a total of 3 minutes a day. And the information is vital to the individual lesson. If someone doesn't enroll their child in this program because they can't spare 3 minutes a day... that's just odd to me. |
Program pricey?By littleswimmer on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 I just wanted to comment that the ISR program is absolutely amazing. While "there's lots of paperwork to fill out", the paperwork is designed to make sure that each and every lesson is safe for the kids and that they are healthy each day in order to take their lesson. The instructor spent more time learning about my daughter's health and well-being than her own pediatrician does when we go to his office! As far as the program being "pricey", Spending $500 or $600 for 30 swim lessons is a pretty good price considering some of the programs charge $60 per week for only 1 or 2 lessons per week. I was more than happy to spend $600 for my now 3 year old (who took the class when she was 18 mo old) to be able to save herself if she falls into someone's pool. No other program out there can match that, and you can't put a price tag on my kid's life. What a wonderful insurance policy we have been given! Of course I would never take her to a pool and not watch her, but you never know what could happen. She could slip on a wet pool patio and fall in, or she could reach for a toy and lean over too far. Even though I'm right there, I know I have time to get to her and that she won't swallow water or lose her breath because she's been taught how to relax and not panic in those situations. |
Thank You!
By LYNX THERAPEUTICS, Pediatric Therapy North Shore Chicago on Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Triple thanks for this information! We were just talking about the importance of swimming safety with our parents. Accidents happen in a blink of an eye and only a fraction of them are reported in the news. Way to go Infant Swim Rescue team!