Hoosier ISR
For Stephanie Clemson, becoming an Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) instructor grew naturally out of two parts of her life that were already deeply important to her: teaching and being a parent. Before opening Hoosier ISR, Stephanie spent 18 years teaching middle school and earned her undergraduate degree in English Language Arts and German Education, along with a master’s degree in teaching and learning. Long before she began teaching children in the water herself, she was also an ISR mom.
Stephanie first discovered ISR after seeing a friend share a video of her own children floating and swimming. At the time, Stephanie’s family lived beside a large lake, making water safety an especially practical concern with young children. Both of her children went through ISR, and watching her son’s earliest lessons made a lasting impression. She could see genuine teaching and learning happening in the pool. After her family moved back to Northwest Indiana, she committed to pursuing the idea and completed the extensive training required to become a certified ISR instructor.
Hoosier ISR provides one-on-one instruction for children from six months through age six. Lessons generally take place Monday through Friday for up to 10 minutes each day, typically over about six to eight weeks. Stephanie works with each child individually, paying attention to how they learn, what challenges them, and when they are ready to move forward. Babies learn to roll onto their backs to float, breathe, and wait for help, while children who are solid walkers can progress to a swim-float-swim sequence that allows them to move through the water, rest on their backs when they need air, and continue swimming.
Stephanie’s years in the classroom are easy to see in the way she approaches those lessons. She believes every child is different, and she works to find the point where a skill is challenging enough to encourage growth without becoming overwhelming. The process is structured, gentle, and gradual, with skills taught in small steps rather than simply placing a child into a situation and expecting them to figure it out.
Stephanie has also seen those skills carry over beyond lessons. One parent told her about an eight-month-old baby who ended up face-down in the bathtub and immediately rolled onto his back and floated, remaining calm through the experience. Another family shared that their young daughter had gotten into a backyard pool on her own and was found safely playing on the steps in the shallow end rather than venturing into the deep end. Moments like those give the lessons a very real meaning for the families she works with.
For parents, the experience is not only about the excitement of watching a young child learn to swim. It also brings reassurance from knowing that their child is developing practical skills around water. Stephanie especially values seeing families return as their children grow, refresh their abilities, and continue building on what they have learned. She enjoys becoming one of the familiar people in a child’s small world and watching that trust develop over time. For Stephanie, that combination of teaching, trust, and watching children grow is what makes the work so rewarding.