Welcome to West Valley ISR

What to Expect

Discover our personalized approach to swim lessons and how we prioritize your child's safety and skill development in every lesson

Welcome to West Valley ISR!

ISR swim lessons are for children 6 months to 6 years old. Lessons are 4 days a week Monday-Thursday. Each lesson is one on one for a maximum of 10 minutes a day. ISR lessons are customized to each child based on their age, their developmental milestones they have reached, and their aquatic experience. On average, about 6-8 weeks of lessons are needed to teach the ISR skills.

Infants and toddlers who are not yet walking learn the ISR skills needed to "rollback to float" in the water. Rollback to Float lessons teach your baby to independently turn themselves onto their back, if ever face down in the water, to safely breathe, rest, and float on their back.

Toddlers who are walking well and children up to about 6 years old will learn to "swim-float-swim." With swim-float-swim instruction your child can swim underwater until they need to breathe, roll to their back for a few breaths until rested, and then start swimming again.

FAQs

Why don’t parents participate in the water during the lessons?

We do not want the baby to initially associate the water with the love, attention, and affection of the parent while in the water. Also, it takes incredible concentration and objectivity to teach the baby how to respond to an aquatic emergency and our experience shows that parents often find it too difficult to be objective to be effective teachers with their own children in the water. We gladly invite parents to join us in the pool once their child has independent skills to practice at home.

Will my child fear the water because of lessons?

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. Fun can be defined as when skill meets challenge. Once competent in their skills, many children cannot be dragged away from the pool. They are having entirely too much FUN.

Why are lessons 5 days per week and for only 10 minutes?

The reason for this is multifaceted. First, repetition and consistency are crucial elements of learning for young children. Research shows that short, more frequent lessons result in higher retention. Second, most children have fairly short attention spans and will not be able to focus on the task for longer and we want to take advantage of the best time for learning. A third reason is that, though the pool temperature is maintained at 78-88 degrees, the temperature is still lower than your child's body temperature. Lessons are work and therefore will also be losing body heat. Instructors check students regularly for temperature fatigue since this is an indicator of physical fatigue.

Why do you have the children swim in clothes?

Because 86% of children who fall in the water do so fully clothed, we want our students to have experience with such a situation. If a child has experienced the sensations of being in the water in clothing prior to an emergency situation, he/she is less likely to experience panic and be able to focus on the task at hand. If you have ever jumped in the water with clothes on, then you know that there is a significant difference in weight and feel with clothes as opposed to a bathing suit.

Download ISR's Family Aquatic Safety List to help protect your family from the hazards of an aquatic environment

Download Safety List

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