Swim Lessons available seasonally in the Greater Portland and Vancouver area

Your child will be swimming in 6 weeks or less!

Certified ISR lessons to teach your child how to be an aquatic problem solver and how to save their own life!

One-on-One Survival Swim Instruction

Every child is unique. Our individualized, private ISR lessons are tailored to your child's unique needs, pace, and personality. We provide focused attention on your child, helping them learn self-rescue skills step-by-step while building confidence as they go!

Refreshers for Returning Swimmers

Children grow and develop rapidly during early childhood, and their swim skills need to adjust as they grow. Refresher lessons are shorter sessions, designed for students who have already completed ISR lessons and need to keep their skills fresh. These classes reinforce their survival skills, adjust for growth and changes in their proportions, and keep your little one confident and capable in the water year after year.

Maintenance Lessons for Practice

Maintenance lessons provide continued practice for children following their initial ISR lessons. Regularly scheduled weekly or even monthly lessons help keep your child's skills fresh while supporting long-term confidence and safety. Contact us to see what maintenance schedule makes sense for your little one!

Individualized Private Lessons

I will provide instruction to your child that emphasizes developmentally appropriate skill training and ongoing program evaluations including but not limited to health issues along with parent education.

Typically children aged 6 month to 1 year old will learn to hold their breath, find the surface of the water, roll onto their back and float unassisted, they will learn to hold that position until someone can save them.

Children over one year will learn to hold their breath, find the surface of the water, swim with their head down and eyes open, roll onto their back and float, rest and breathe and roll back over to resume swimming until they reach safety (pool wall, land, stairs, etc.) or can be rescued by an adult.

Refresher Lessons

Refresher lessons will be needed at least once per year and are approximately 2-3 weeks in duration. This will reinforce the skills learned as their bodies grow and change, building on prior skills and developing stronger self rescue abilities.

Maintenance Lessons

Maintenance lessons are held periodically to refresh and maintain skills, sometimes for a refresher before a vacation or just for fun to keep skills sharp.

FAQs

Do parents have to leave during the lessons?

No. You are truly the best cheerleader your child could have. Your positive support and encouragement are invaluable to creating an effective learning environment for your child.

Can’t babies swim naturally?

Unfortunately, babies cannot naturally swim. If this were the case, there wouldn’t be so many drownings every year. According to the Center for Disease Control and Accident Prevention, drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for children ages 1-4 in the United States.

How do you teach them to hold their breath?

Breath holding skills are taught beginning with the first lesson. We shape breath control using highly effective positive reinforcement techniques. We continue to reinforce these breath-holding techniques throughout every lesson.

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.

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