THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 2, 1996 TAG: 9607020069
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 249 lines
THREE-YEAR-OLD Sara Garth's red cheeks are scrunched up in pre-squall position. She's telling her mother in no uncertain terms just what she thinks of these swimming lessons.
``Mommy!'' she cries to Julie Garth, who is sitting on the pool's edge. ``No, no, no, no, no.''
But within minutes, Sara's chubby legs are churning, her arms digging through water, her head down, eyes wide open beneath the pool's surface, her hands reaching, reaching, reaching, for the destination.
``Get the wall, Sara,'' says instructor Cherry McDaniel, who's working one-on-one with the 3-year-old. ``Go, go, go. Get the wall, that's a girl. Beautiful!''
Within seconds Sara's tiny hands have reached out, grabbed the wall and clutched the ledge. Clinging on for dear life, she looks at her mom, and makes yet another heart-felt request.
``Mommy, I want to go home!'' the Norfolk girl says.
``You're fine, you're doing great,'' says McDaniel, pulling the girl back out in the water for another swim-float-swim-float trip to the wall. ``You can go home after you do your work.''
Sara is missing out on the usual ``Motor boat, motor boat, go so slow'' swimming lesson fare and, instead, is getting a lesson on what to do if she falls in the water by accident.
That's the stated goal, anyway, of the Infant Swimming Research lessons. While the specific technique is new to this area, it's been around about 30 years. That's when Harvey Barnett, a psychologist in Orlando, Fla., began developing a set of lessons to teach children as young as 6 months and as old as 6 years how to avoid drowning.
These lessons, partly based on research of drowning victims, differ dramatically from the usual parent-tot swim classes.
While the traditional infant classes emphasize having fun, the ISR classes avoid ring-around-the-rosy-games. Parents aren't allowed in the water because it causes the child to associate carefree fun with water, something the instructors discourage. Flotation devices like water wings and kick boards? Leave them at home, or better yet, throw them away.
``They create a head-up, vertical type of position,'' McDaniel said. ``That's a sinking position.''
Here, a child's tears are no excuse to skip a lesson.
The program is designed to teach children who can crawl how to float on their backs, and children who can walk how to swim, float, swim, float, swim until they reach safety or until someone finds them.
The one-on-one lessons last an average of 10 minutes each, five days a week, for six weeks, and cost $300 for the full course.
``No one is ever drown-proof,'' McDaniel is quick to point out. ``You have to watch children every second in the water. But this is one more barrier you are putting up to keep them from drowning.''
The parents of the 27 Hampton Roads children who began the lessons in early June support the program with an evangelical zeal, but Infant Swimming Research is not without its detractors.
A major one is the American Academy of Pediatrics, which has issued a statement saying there is ``little justification'' for infant swim classes.
Dr. Stephen Bolduc, a Newport News pediatrician who sits on the academy's sports medicine committee, said children under 3 are not cognitively able to even understand the concept of safety, much less figure out how to get themselves out of a dangerous situation.
He believes any class touting swimming survival for children that young is overstating what can be accomplished.
Bolduc sees no need for crying children to be in the pool, or for them to experience swim lessons without a parent in the water. ``If there's not an enjoyment factor, then I wouldn't advise it,'' he said.
He said classes with the American Red Cross seal of approval, like those of the YMCA and most recreation centers, are the best bet. ``You can't teach a 6-month-old survival in the water,'' Bolduc said. ``They don't understand the concept. It's OK to let a baby have a good time in the water. But trying to teach them, `This is what you have to do to survive' is beyond comprehension.''
Parents of the children in the program don't think the usual splash-and-bob tot classes go far enough.
The parents' reasons for enrolling their children in ISR classes vary. Some live near pools, canals or borrow pits. Others have day-care providers with pools. Others have children who seem fearless of the water.
With drowning the second highest cause of death among children 19 and younger, these parents want to do whatever they can to keep their kids from becoming statistics.
Laurie Sanderson, whose Virginia Beach neighborhood is full of pools, has tried traditional swimming lessons for her 5-year-old daughter, Bridget Montgomery. ``She still couldn't swim,'' she said.
Bridget glides into McDaniel's arms one day last week. Four weeks into the class, she knows the drill, and is raring to ``go to the wall.''
McDaniel takes her half-way across the pool, and gently puts Bridget head-over-heels in the water, simulating a fall. Bridget quickly rolls over on her back, breathes and sputters water while she floats, flips back over - strokes, strokes, strokes - flips over again to rest, then swims to the edge. Water streams down the red-headed girl's face as she beams up at her mother with pride.
``Terrific!'' says Mom.
McDaniel uses cues such as light touches on children's arms or creating an underwater current next to them with her hand to get students to move a certain way, or touching their foreheads to remind them to keep their chin up while floating. She slaps the water to encourage them to swim to the sound of breaking water, the best bet, she says, in a fall into the water.
Eye contact, words of praise and McDaniel's soothing phrases - ``Pretend your arms are like wet noodles, magic arms'' - guide the children through the lesson.
Eventually, though, McDaniel fades out the commands. ``I wean them off the cues, so by the time they are finished, the children are problem-solving on their own.''
Once the children have learned the swim-float-swim-float routine to the wall, clothes are added to resemble a real-life accident. With shoes, sweatshirt jacket and pants on, Bridget goes back out to the center of the pool.
Now her journey to the wall is slower. She takes only a few strokes between floats. Swim, flip, float; swim, flip, float; swim, flip, float and she is at the pool's edge.
``I will still be extremely cautious around water,'' said Bridget's mother as she waits for her daughter at the pool's edge. ``But I feel more confident knowing she has the basic skills to save herself.''
The lessons are not for everyone. First of all, the $300 price tag keeps a lot of parents from signing up. Second, it's unusual for the lessons to even be offered in Hampton Roads. McDaniel said about 80,000 children have had the lessons nationwide, with the biggest concentration in Florida.
Malinda Wells, a Norfolk mother of two, said she heard about the survival swimming after reading an article in Tidewater Parent, a Hampton Roads publication for families.
Her own children seemed fearless of water and she was concerned about the dangers of too-confident children growing up in an area known for large bodies of water. So she talked with other parents beginning in March, and started checking out how to get the lessons here.
Officials at the Infant Swimming Research headquarters in Orlando told her if she could get enough parents to sign up 20 children for lessons, and if she could find a pool to rent, an ISR instructor could be sent to Hampton Roads.
Wells put out the word and soon had 18 families with 27 children signed up. Next, the parents rented a pool from Aquawear Aquatics in Norfolk. McDaniel arrived in early June to begin the lessons.
The local children range in age from 18 months to 5 years, and the parents include a pediatric surgeon, a nurse practioner and a paramedic.
``Some people are hostile to the program because the American Academy of Pediatrics says it can't be done,'' Wells said. ``There's this mind-set that it doesn't work. But that's a crock.''
Wells said the local group of swimming survival supporters would, at the very least, like to bring an instructor back next year to give their children refresher courses, plus teach more children. They already have a waiting list of interested parents. The group's ultimate goal is to have someone locally trained to teach the classes.
The Safe Kids Coalition, a group of local health professionals concerned about children's safety, has not formally endorsed the technique because they don't know enough about it. However, the group plans to provide a grant to help pay for an instructor.
``We're very interested in learning more about it,'' said Pat Davidson, co-coordinator of the coalition. ``We're interested in anything that can prevent drownings of young children.''
Although little Sara has cried through much of her 10-minute lesson, she follows McDaniel's instructions to the end.
At one point, a look of panic crosses her face as she floats on her back. She struggles a bit, starts to sink, but McDaniel calms her down.
``Sara, look at me, look at Cherry's eyes,'' McDaniel croons. ``What color are my eyes?''
``Blue,'' the girl says, between tiny sobs.
``That's right, blue. Beautiful chin up now, Sara.''
Sara relaxes into a float. Slap, slap, slap; McDaniel hits the water with her hands, and Sara is off. Head down, arms paddling, feet kicking, hands reaching, reaching, reaching for the wall.
``Beautiful,'' McDaniel says as the little girl clutches the pool edge. ``Now you can go home.'' MEMO: WATER AWARENESS
Water safety tips:
Never leave small children unattended around any body of water.
Take small children with you if the phone should ring or if you need
to perform some brief task, like making a sandwich or loading the
washing machine.
Be aware of streams, creeks, ponds and ditches that may be located on
or near your property. Make certain that a responsible adult knows the
whereabouts of small children at all times if there is any water nearby.
If a child is missing, search the water areas first to save valuable
seconds.
Be aware that standing water left in buckets, wading pools, bathtubs
and toilets can be dangerous to toddlers. Do not leave water or other
solutions in buckets or other containers when toddlers are in the home.
A child can drown in as little as two inches of water.
Learn CPR, especially if you own a pool or live near water.
Encourage older children and adolescents to learn how to swim, but
remember that even good swimmers can drown. Swimming lessons are no
substitute for supervision of young children in and around water. No one
should swim alone.
Teach children and adolescents to avoid conditions or situations
which could create the potential for danger; for example, swimming in
restricted or isolated areas or swimming in areas with strong, unstable
or turbulent currents.
Encourage adolescents to avoid drinking alcoholic beverages,
especially if they're going to be involved in recreational water
activities like swimming, fishing or boating.
Approved personal flotation devices should be worn by all passengers
in watercraft or by anyone who is unable to swim or is unsure of their
swimming abilities. Water wings are not a dependable flotation device
and are no substitute for adult supervision of small children in and
around water.
Swimming pools should be enclosed by a four-sided fence that is at
least 5 feet high and separates the pool area from the house. The fence
gate should have a self-closing, self-latching mechanismon the side of
the gate closest to the pool and out of reach of small children. Rescue
aids, such as tools to reach children or safety devices to throw to
them, should be readily available.
Drowning facts:
163 children and adolescents drowned in Virginia from January 1989
through December 1994.
Highest risk groups included African-American children, males,
adolescents, teens aged 15 to 19 and children under 5 years of age.
Most drownings occurred in the spring and summer.
Most drownings occurred between noon and 10 p.m.
More drownings occurred on Saturday than any other day.
Over 40 percent of children under 5 drowned in man-made bodies of
water such as swimming pools or hot tubs, and all the swimming pools
were residential. Most of the children were in the care of a parent,
relative or other adult at the time of the incident.
Of the 11 children and adolescents who drowned in a bathtub, six were
2 years or younger. In each of these six cases, a parent, relative or
other adult was responsible for the child, but left the room momentarily
to perform a brief task.
Adolescents drowned almost exclusively in natural bodies of water
such as rivers and lakes, most often while engaged in a sport or
recreational activity, such as wading or fishing. Over 40 percent of
these adolescents had a detectable blood alcohol and/or drug level.
Source: Compiled by The Childhood Injury Prevention Program,
Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Virginia/Virginia
Commonwealth University.
Whom to call for lessons:
The American Red Cross can give Hampton Roads residents a list of
pools where Red Cross certified lessons are taught. Information on pool
and water safety is also available: 446-7797.
Infant Swimming Research Inc.: 407/855-7233.
World Wide Web site: http://www.infantswim.com ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]
BILL TIERNAN
The Virginian-Pilot
Laurie Sanderson
Cherry McDaniel
Claire Lawlor
Julie Garta
BILL TIERNAN
The Virginian-Pilot
Emily Leidy, 23 months, floats on her back as instructor Cherry
McDaniel keeps a close watch on her during her ``swimming'' lesson
at the Salvation Army Community Center in Norfolk. by CNB