Meet your ISR Instructor

Ilona Matulaitis

I am so excited to be part of the ISR community of instructors in Southeast Michigan to serve and teach the children in our area!

I worked as a nanny for over a decade and have loved getting to teach and care for incredible children over the years. I have marveled at the ways in which kids learn about the world around them, through exploration and with such joy.

I first heard about ISR in 2018 when Morgan Miller and Nicole Hughes shared so openly and vulnerably about the deaths of their children from drowning. I had no idea that drowning was the number one cause of death for children ages 1 to 4 and that common pool toys and "safety" devices were often the cause of so many of these deaths.

I look forward to teaching your children to become aquatic problem-solvers and gain the skills needed to be safer in and around the water!

FAQs

What other benefits do the ISR lesson experience provide students?

Every child is unique. However, many parents report that once their young children have mastered learning to swim, the resulting confidence in their abilities engenders a positive self-concept that is often demonstrated in other aspects of their personalities. There are also obvious health and other psychological gains.

Why are lessons 5 days per week and for only 10 minutes?

The reason for this is multifaceted. First, repetition and consistency are crucial elements of learning for young children. Research shows that short, more frequent lessons result in higher retention. Second, most children have fairly short attention spans and will not be able to focus on the task for longer and we want to take advantage of the best time for learning. A third reason is that, though the pool temperature is maintained at 78-88 degrees, the temperature is still lower than your child's body temperature. Lessons are work and therefore will also be loosing body heat. Instructors check students regularly for temperature fatigue since this is an indicator of physical fatigue.

What is ISR and how is it different from other swimming programs?

ISR is the product over 45 years of ongoing development in the area of aquatic survival instruction for infants and children. ISR's primary focus is to teach your child to become a productive swimmer, or floater in any depth of water. The goal of ISR is that your child becomes an "aquatic problem solver." ISR will greatly increase your child's chance of surviving an aquatic accident, even when fully clothed!

How do kids react during the first few lessons?

Children often fuss during the first few lessons because they are in a new environment and around new people. As your child becomes more confident in his/her ability in the water, the fussing will decrease. It is not unlike the first time you tried a new exercise class, or were asked to perform a task at work that you'd never done before: the first time you try a new task it is always challenging, until you get the hang of it. It is the same for your young child. Your child is learning to perform a skill that he/she's never done before.

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