It takes a village to raise a child, and in a water-centric place like South Florida, an essential member of that village is a swim instructor. Since 1993, Joan Arpe (fondly known as “Ms. Joany”) has helped thousands of families keep their children safe in the water, teaching the Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) method.
“It’s a behavioral science in the water,” Arpe says of the method developed in 1966 by Harvey Barnett, Ph.D., a professor in the psychology department at the University of Florida, which uses touch to develop muscle memory. The program teaches infants aged 6 to 12 months how to stay afloat in the water and remain calm through breath control, head orientation, and rolling onto their backs. When they are between 1 and 6 years old, kids learn to repeat a three-step sequence of swimming, floating, and swimming until reaching the edge or stairs. During some lessons, students wear clothing and shoes, since young children are often dressed when they accidentally fall into bodies of water like swimming pools. Through simulated fall-ins, tots build confidence to self-rescue until help arrives.
Arpe offers ISR lessons at various locations in Palm Beach County, including Jupiter and Tequesta. The program runs five days a week for a minimum of four weeks (some children may require additional weeks), and the cost is $50 per 10-minute lesson. All individual lessons are given one-on-one, as parents stand poolside and watch.
Many of Arpe’s ISR lessons are held at the Live Like Jake Foundation indoor heated pool in Palm Beach Gardens. The local foundation established by Keri and Roarke Morrison, who tragically lost their 2-year-old son Jake to a drowning accident in 2013, generously makes the program accessible to all income levels through need-based scholarships.
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