the Theory of Infant Swimming and Infant Swimming certification
program offered by USSSA. All instructors must be CPR and
First Aid Certified.
Children are taught survival techniques in the water by positive reinforcement. Incorrect swimming
behaviors are ignored in the lesson, and correct behaviors are rewarded with praise. The behaviors that the children will learn are to swim with their face in the water
and to kick to the wall. Secondly, they learn to rotate their bodies in order to float on their back to rest and to catch their breath. Thirdly, they are taught to roll over again onto their stomachs
and kick. They will learn to follow this sequence until they reach the wall. As a matter of safety,
children will always be taught to swim to the wall and not back to a person. This way they will feel security
with the wall and not with a person in the water, in the event that they might fall into a pool when no
one is present.
1. NEVER assume that just because your child has had swim lessons you do not need to give him or her your complete attention around the water. Accidents happen in a matter of seconds and the consequences can be deadly. Studies have shown that children who have had swim lessons are more likely to adventure into the water than children who are not familiar with it.
2. ALWAYS have your child swim to the steps or wall of the pool. Your child should feel security from the wall. If your child chooses to jump off the side of the pool, please have them jump off and then get to the wall. Please do not let your child get into the habit of jumping in the pool and depending on another person to pick them up and out of the water. You might not always be there if an accident should happen.
3. Never push your child to do something he is not capable of doing. The sense of failure is very detrimental. Children learn best by positive reinforcemnet.
4. If you have a pool at your home, please make sure that it is completely fenced off from the house and that you have adaquate locks on all exit doors.
5. Please have your children always walk rather than run around the pool. Many accidents that happen around the pool are the result of children running.
6. Please refrain from using floatation devices on your child when he/she is in the water (other than life jackets on a boat of course). These devices such as swimmies, floaties or baby chairs give children a false sense of security in the water. The use of floating devices does not let your child learn the true properties of floating in the water. Also, a child who uses swimmies regularly may not understand what might happen if he or she falls in a pool without them.
7. Last of all, please have fun with your children in the water, but teach your children to give water the respect it deserves!
TLC
The TLC approach was founded when several swim instructors met and discussed their individual swim school techniques. Here, we realized that even though our techniques were often different, the results were always the same. Our tender, loving, care played a very important roll in every lesson. The TLC we gave each student, regardless of how difficult some students were, would relax the child and we began to see progress in swimming skills. We began meeting with other schools in the area and discussing our schools’ format. As we began sharing more and more about schools, we began to realize how we could all benefit from sharing our ideas. From these meetings, the decision was made to band together and form a group of individual instructors and schools who held the same belief in the TLC approach. As the TLC approach seemed to be the most beneficial to our lessons, we felt that this would be an appropriate name for this group.As a school psychologist and teacher, I know that children learn and retain more
knowledge when positive reinforcement (praise, toys, stickers,stamps, cheers, etc.) is used.
This helps the learner trust the teacher, associate fun with something that may be difficult, and
insure self-esteem. Using positive reinforcement encourages the child to do more than the minimum
standard, gain self confidence while learning a new skill, and associate positive experiences into something that will
ultimately save their life around water.
(Educational Specialist in School Psychology,
National Certified School Psychologist)
Stay Alive
Fence the pool,
Lock the gate,
Teach your kids to swim-it's great!
Supervise,
Take a mate,
Learn how to resuscitate.
Laurie Lawrence,
Kids Alive, Austrailia