Infant Swimming Resource Of East Tucson AZ

"Not one more child drowns"

The safest provider of life-protecting lessons for children from 6-months to 6-years. Giving children survival skills and water confidence since 1966.

Tracie Paulsen

Meet Your Instructor

“Passion from your pain – you can’t buy that anywhere. It is a gift from God. If I trust God with my anguish, He will birth something precious in me.” ~ Beth Moore

My name is Tracie Paulsen, and the above quote resonates with me because my journey toward becoming an ISR Instructor began with tragedy. Prior to becoming an ISR Instructor, I worked for the Air Force for 15 years, in industrial engineering. One day, a colleague’s life was forever changed when he lost his youngest child to drowning. My compassion for he and his family, and my desire to protect my own children from such a tragedy, ignited in me a search to find some way to prevent the unspeakable grief associated with childhood drowning. That search brought me to the national ISR website, and I immediately enrolled my children in lessons. After watching my 2-year old master self-rescue skills in a matter of a few weeks, I knew that teaching ISR lessons was something I could do to help further the ISR mission that “Not One More Child Drowns”.

I’ve been teaching lessons on the east side of Tucson since 2001. Over the years I have held various positions within the ISR organization such as Business Building Coach, Peer Mentor and Master Instructor. I love every minute of every lesson, even those challenging minutes that build my instructor skills! It brings me great joy to experience each child’s confidence grow in swimming and in every other aspect of life (as reported to me by mom or dad) as they work hard to master their swimming skills.

I married my husband, Allen, in 1986, and we have two beautiful adult children. Our daughter is the director of operations and Tucson Optometry Clinic. Our son is a Special Mission Aviator in the United States Air Force Reserve Combat Rescue squadron at Davis Monthan AFB. Outside the water, I enjoy mentoring moms with young children, my role in a healing ministry, and spending time with family and friends. As a family, we love to travel, particularly road tripping! My hobbies include reading, cooking/baking, and relaxing on any beach. My goals for retirement include completing each of my children’s scrapbooks and boating America’s Great Loop with my husband.

What Your Child Will Learn In ISR Lessons

ISR’s unique results are achieved through fully customized, safe and effective, one-on-one lessons with only your child and the Instructor in the water. What your child will learn, and the way he or she will learn it, is what makes ISR so different from traditional swimming lessons. Always putting safety first, ISR emphasizes competence, which leads to confidence, and provides the foundation for a lifetime of enjoyment in and around the water.

Rollback To Float

All students, even those as young as 6 months old, learn the fundamental ISR skill of rolling onto their backs to float, rest, and breathe. Infants and toddlers who are not yet walking well will learn to maintain this position until help can reach them, and it’s just as important for our older students as they incorporate more swimming skills.

Swim Float Swim

As toddlers and young children gain more physical skills on land, they are ready to learn more skills in the water as well. ISR teaches children to swim a short distance, rotate onto their back to a floating position, and then turn over to continue the sequence of swimming and floating until they can reach safety at the steps, side of the pool, or shoreline.

What parents are saying

Tracie Paulsen…was marvelous with the boys. She had that mix of warmth and tenderness, yet she was un-yieldingly firm with them in her demand for their performance and safety. Coach Tracie was not only their savior; she was their friend. I am a huge advocate of the program and I preach it to everyone I know with young children and grandchildren. ...ISR actually saved the life of one of my sons. My bottom line: ISR training is the cheapest life insurance one can buy and it is a ticket to avoid the unimaginable heartbreak of losing a child.

KENNETH C., PARENT

More about ISR

How is ISR different?

Before you take your baby to the local pool for swim lessons, make sure you’ve given equal consideration to the critical importance of swimming and water safety techniques. ISR is the safest swim instruction method nationwide, providing clinically researched instruction techniques to ensure that your child is learning Self-Rescue™ skills and the competence required to enjoy the water. No other swim class offers a proven system for safely teaching your child to enjoy the fun of swimming, while at the same time teaching life saving skills that are proven to save lives.

The intellectual property behind ISR’s method of training centers on the self-rescue methodology developed by Dr. Harvey Barnett. ISR’s foundation of continuous research and evaluation ensures the safety of the program for your child.

ISR has trained more than 200,000 babies and delivered more than 7 million lessons across the United States.
ISR is a medically sound program proven to save lives
To date, ISR has over 800 documented cases of children using ISR techniques to save themselves from drowning.

Floatation Devices Aren’t Enough

Flotation devices such as vests, arm bands, flotation swim suits, etc, give children a false sense of security and hold them in postures that are not compatible with swimming skills. If a child learns that he can jump in the water and go into a vertical posture and he will be able to breathe, he is getting the wrong idea about that environment. Flotation devices are for children who cannot swim. Children who cannot swim should not be allowed to learn that it is safe to play in the water while relying on a crutch. Life jackets must be worn in a boat or around the water when there is the potential for an accidental submersion; they are not a substitute for the ability to swim or for adult supervision.

Technique & Lessons

For the last 40 years, ISR’s hands-on instruction technique has been researched and developed to offer a proven system for safely teaching your child to enjoy the fun of swimming, while at the same time teaching life saving survival swimming skills. Unlike other programs, lessons are:

Customized and taught one-on-one by a certified ISR instructor
Last for 10 minutes, Monday through Friday for 4 to 8 weeks
Emphasize health, ongoing program evaluations and parent education
Provide your child with the competence and confidence to safely enjoy the water

ISR History

Founded by Harvey Barnett, Ph.D., in 1966, ISR endeavored to put an end to a preventable tragedy…childhood drowning.

Barnett witnessed the aftermath of this tragedy after a neighbor’s 9 month old son reached the water alone. From that point on, Barnett vowed to do everything possible to ensure that “Not One More Child Drowns”. A behavioral scientist by trade, Barnett adapted his theoretical knowledge of learning to pioneer the Self-Rescue method used by ISR today to teach infants and young children to save themselves should they reach the water alone.

Fortunately, what began as one man’s mission has transformed into a worldwide organization that is continually making large strides toward the day that Not One More Child Drowns. To date, ISR has over 800 documented cases of children using ISR’s Self-Rescue™ techniques to save themselves from drowning.

What Your Child Will Learn:

Babies from 6-12 months and children 1-6 years of age learn how to use Infant Swimming Resource’s Self-Rescue™ skills in tandem with basic swimming skills.

6-12 Months Old: “Roll-Back-To-Float”

Your child is gently introduced to the water by your instructor. As each child reacts differently, your instructor will work with your child to guide him through the lesson process and to build a level of trust and comfort in the water. Once this is established, your child will begin to learn how to Self-Rescue.

Think of how your child learned to roll from stomach to back as a young baby. A child 6-12 months will learn:

To hold their breath underwater
To roll onto their back
To float unassisted, rest and breathe until help arrives
To perform these Self-Rescue skills first in a swim diaper, then while fully clothed

During ISR lessons, your instructor will place your child face down in the water and help him or her learn to roll to the back and float. Your child never remains face down for more than a few seconds, and your instructor is always right beside your child.

1-6 Years Old: “Swim-Float-Swim”

You’ve seen it before: your toddler walks right to the edge of the pool, ready to jump in, whether or not you are there to catch him. His confidence is beyond his skills. ISR training for children between 1 and 6 years of age uses their confidence to help them build competence and the skills to Self-Rescue.

Children over 1 year learn the following sequence during ISR’s Self-Rescue swimming lessons:

To hold their breath underwater
Swim with their head down
Roll onto their back to float, rest, and breathe
Roll back over to resume swimming until they reach the side of the pool, crawl out or be rescued by an adult
To perform these Self-Rescue skills first in a swim diaper, then while fully clothed

With these skills your child will be able to swim independently and learn to move at his or her own pace toward the safety of the side of the pool or the shores of a pond or lake.

How Long Does it Take?

Typically it takes an average of 6-8 weeks for a 1-6 year old child to become skilled, however, ISR lessons are always tailored to each child’s individual emotional and physical pace. Babies 6 to 12 months typically take an average of 4-6 weeks to become skilled.

After the 4-8 weeks commonly required to learn and internalize the ISR Self-Rescue™ technique, your child is prepared for water safety. It’s tempting to say they have “graduated” the ISR program, but that de-emphasizes the fact that safety and survival are continuing, life-long endeavors.

Maintenance Lessons

Once your child had completed the ISR Self-Rescue™ Course, you may schedule weekly Maintenance Lessons in order to continue practicing his or her skills on a weekly basis. Persistent practice keeps the technique fresh, maximizing your child’s ability to rescue themselves and survive.

Typically 2-3 lessons, on consecutive days, per month will keep children finely honed. However, a sudden growth spurt may require a few extra lessons.

Time slots are very limited-speak to your instructor if you think your child could benefit from maintenance lessons.

Refresher Lessons

Upon completion of initial training, every child should take a short 1-3 week refresher course at the beginning of each swim season until age 6.

The ISR Parent Resource Book fully explains both maintenance lessons and refresher lessons. Both are extremely effective. Your instructor can talk with you and help you decide which is the best fit for your child.

Financial Assistance

Financial Assistance is available to those who qualify. ISR’s goal is to prevent drowning and Live Like Jake has come alongside ISR to further the mission that not one more child drowns. The Live Like Jake Foundation offers national registration fee and lesson fee scholarships to families in need, to ensure that no child is prevented from enrolling in ISR Lessons due to financial need. To find out more about this scholarship, please contact your local ISR Instructor.

You can help too!

Please visit the Live Like Jake Foundation to find out various ways that you can support the foundation which assists under resources families in providing their children potentially life saving skills learned in ISR lessons.

There are several conditions that may preclude a lesson on any given day. The most common among those are vomiting and/or diarrhea during the last 24 hours, a fever of 100 degrees or higher during the last 24 hours or eye discharge during the last 48 hours.

Please leave a message on my cell phone at (520) 248-8154 if your child will not be attending lessons. This number can be used if you have any questions about your child’s health and/or lesson progress in general. For scheduling or rescheduling lessons due to illness, please contact the ISR office at (520) 612-4706.

If the weather appears questionable on any given day, please check my cell phone at (520) 248-8154 for the current day. This message will be updated each day that the weather looks or feels questionable. If there is not a specific message about lesson cancellation, assume there will be lessons.

Please use this number only for weather updates. For scheduling/rescheduling lessons due to weather, please contact the ISR office at (520) 612-4706.