Swim school prepares children for water emergencies

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Summer vacation means a lot of families will be spending time out on the water or poolside.

Water actives can sometimes lead to accidents like drowning.

According to the CDC drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1-4 years old.

Local swim instructor, Haley Dust, is the owner of The Pool School and believes it is vital for kids as young as 6 months to know self-rescue skills.

Dust specializes in Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) lessons, which is a technique the instructor uses to move the child in the same repetitive motions to simulate what would happen if they were to fall into water.

The ISR program is for children 6 months to 6 years of age.

“The swimmers program starts at 12 months as long as children are 12 months old and walking. We start the swim, float, swim, float sequence. For children 6 months up to a year we teach them how to roll over to their back and just float,” said Dust.

Michelle Simcox is a mother of four and has enrolled all of her children into the program. She said the lessons were put into action when her 2-year-old son fell into the water.

“Elliot, last summer was reaching into the water for a toy and fell in. He turned around and floated just like he supposed to.”

Each ISR lesson for children under a year is 10 minutes, 5 days a week for 5 to 6 weeks.

“We do short lessons every day to help form more like a muscle memory type of response, “said Dust.

Kristina Richie said living on the water and having two sons under the age 5 was the motivation to enroll her boys.

“If one of the kids were to get out of our sight for just a second, being able to know they have those skills, is just priceless,” said Richie.

ISR has caused some debate. The American Academy of Pediatrics says, “Aquatic programs for infants and toddlers have not been shown to decrease the risk of drowning, and parents should not feel secure that their child is safe in water or safe from drowning after participating in such programs.”

Dust advises parents to always make sure they’re supervising children but said accidents can happen quick.

“There’s no way to express the devastation that can bring to a family. Anything I can do to help prevent another family from experiencing that is absolutely worth it.”

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