Caitlyn - the little mermaid

Waiting at Miss Angelee's to do her first ISR lesson

Watching the little one year old girl before us

Caitlyn Eva ready to swim

Caitlyn just finished the first week of her Infant Swim Resource (ISR) swim/survival lessons. Angelee, Caitlyn's instructor was going through training when Emma took the lessons and we really liked her. Emma took a refresher from Angelee. She is just a natural and confident ISR instructor with a kind heart so she is perfect for Caitlyn.

Emma completed ISR lessons when she was 2 years old, right after we moved here from Atlanta. She also had two refresher courses when she was 3 and 4 years old. The skills she learned during her instruction at ISR have made it very easy for her to transition to traditional swim instruction. She is doing well at Lifetime working on her strokes.

A little background on ISR- www.infantswim.com

For more than 40 years, Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) has been teaching children critical self-rescue™ skills -- giving children the competence and confidence to safely enjoy the water. ISR’s technique teaches babies from 6 months to 6 years of age how to save themselves if they were to end up in the water alone. Going beyond traditional swim instruction, ISR teaches children how to survive in the water. Depending on your child’s age, your child will learn different levels of self-rescue skills, including a roll-back-to-float and/or a swim-float-swim.

I thought it would be fun to take video every Friday of Miss Caitlyn so we can look back and see the learning process occur. She was very excited to start lessons. She will walk around and say "I swim" and "get bar". The first thing they learn is how to pull up on a bar to safety. The next thing they learn is to grab a hand target under water, so she has also been saying "get hand", and then she will grab onto your hand. There were two days last week that I had to stay home and work so Bryan took her. When we were talking that night before bed I was asking her how swimming was and she said "Daddy watch me, Daddy watch me." She was so proud that she got to show Daddy her skills. I just love that.

It is a slow process. The lessons are only 10 minutes each day (for 6-8 weeks), but they work on specific target behaviors each day. She ended the week practicing her float. Angelee is using a shaping procedure to slowly shape/teach her floating behavior. She uses hand prompts and will eventually fade those when Caitlyn is turning over and floating on her own.

Caitlyn is still fussing when she is working with Angelee which is totally normal. She is learning something totally new and it is challenging. I know by her comments that she is doing just fine. It will be amazing to see her learn and change with each week. (so don't be alarmed) :) You have to understand the entire process. Bryan and I both agree that a little fussing is a small price to pay for her to be able to save her own life and have some strong swim/survival skills to fall back on.

Week 1- Caitlyn ISR (roll over and float)