At Baby Otter Andre Dawson Aquatic Center we offer group water intro classes in Broward County. It’s never too early to introduce your child to the water. A committed professional team of certified instructors will lovingly teach your child how to love the water and prepare them for the life saving private class.

There are five group classes over a two week period. Parent or legal guardian must be present for these classes.

Be sure to visit our other pages for information about our additional programs. These programs include: summer swim teams, Turn, Kick Reach (private), infant swimming classes (parent and child) and advanced group classes.

Summer Swim Team begins the second week of June until the middle of August. Call for more details and to register.

Otter Babies – Tuesday mornings from 9-9:45 beginning June 12th.

Ottercise –morning and afternoon classes available beginning June 11th 2012  twice a week.

All-Time baseball great Andre Dawson “The Hawk” is the national spokesperson for The Baby Otter Scholarship and Education Fund helping to build awareness for the safety of children. Andre is a recent graduate of the Baby Otter Swim School.

“Throughout my career, I have tried to use my position to help as many people as possible. The Baby Otter Scholarship and Education Fund has given me a greater opportunity to help people, children in particular, more than any other charitable effort of which I have been involved.”

Our friends and family watch flabbergasted as they watch this little two year old swimming like a little fish. The best part is, I know that if she ever fell into a pool, she would know exactly how to save her life. How can you ever thank someone for teaching your child that skill? It is impossible. But we are so very grateful to you and Marlene. Thank you a million times over.
We hope that in the autumn we can bring you over to teach phase two.

Thank you again and lots of love to you and Marlene”….Gwyneth

Our son Zachary, who is now nearly 3 years old, has shown remarkable improvement in his swim skills and comfort level while in the water after attending the Baby Otter Swim School.  He literally has turned into a little water bug, and this was after previously attending two other infant swim programs.

With this new found interest in swimming and being in our pool has come a heightened awareness for proper safety and behavior around the water.  Your DVD, <strong><em>‘You OTTER be Safe Around the Pool’</em></strong> has been an excellent compliment to your in class instruction of safety rules.  Zachary absolutely loves to watch it….the use of the animated BABY OTTER really creates an interest in young children to watch and learn from the video.  The first day we had the video, he watched it at least seven times before going to bed and then again several times the next morning.  He continues to enjoy watching BABY OTTER!

Sincerely,

Jeffrey and Gina Hardgrave

My husband and I both wanted to send you all a note to let you know how highly we regard all of you and what you are doing for the children in South Florida. As you know, we moved from South Florida to Northern Virginia early last year. You taught our son, Matthew, life saving skills in the swimming pool back in the summer of 2003. Matthew, who is now 5, has become such a great swimmer. He loves the pool and has now found a new love in the diving board. We were so pleased with how quickly, lovingly and professionally you taught Matthew how to protect himself if he should fall into the water. So, we decided it would be worth it to fly to South Florida to give our second son, Aidan, who turned 2 in May, the same lessons.

When a friend of mine in Virginia asked me how Matthew learned to swim, I told her about you and your staff. She decided that when she traveled to South Florida to visit her family that it would be worth the investment to sign her daughter up as well. Two other friends (one from Tampa) also decided to sign their children up for these life-saving skills.

We all began our lessons on Monday, July 11. At that time if my son, Aidan, as well as the other 3 children had no idea what to do if he fell into the water. By Friday, July 15, all four of them not only knew how to “turn, kick, reach” to the wall, but they had a new love of swimming. All three of my friends have said it is the best money they have ever spent.

What I cannot put a value on is the peace of mind that you have given us. We never let Aidan go unsupervised by the water, but it is easier for me to let others watch him without always thinking about what would happen if he got out the glass doors or through a gate.

We are back in Virginia and have been going to the pool a few times a week. Aidan asks almost everyday to “swim, swim, swim”. We framed and hung his Baby Otter Swim School award in his room and he points to it and tells everyone “I swim”. He is only two-years-old and I can see that he has so much self-esteem. It is also nice that I have an activity that both Matthew and Aidan enjoy doing together.

We continually remind Aidan if you fall into the water what do you do? He has mastered the “kick, reach”, but is still learning to say “turn”. I find it amazing that you can teach children how to save their own lives before they even know how to speak.

We are adopting a little girl from China next year and we will be back to teach her these invaluable lessons.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Jennifer and Kevin Luebke

Not only as a parent, but as a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with specialized training and experience in the treatment of Anxiety Disorders, I have always been so impressed with the approaches utilized in your instruction. So many children are fearful of the water (or, at least, of having their head under the water) but the life-saving importance of swimming skills is an absolute necessity — particularly in South Florida. So many children and parents tell “horror stories” about the negative experiences they’ve had with previous swimming lessons which ultimately resulted in extreme levels of anxiety (and, of course, the inability to be safe around water). Your abilities to be warm and loving while remaining firm and steadfast are outstanding and your astute application of general behavior-modification techniques is to be commended.

Not only has my family had the opportunity to proudly watch our daughters overcome their fears and blossom into the wonderful swimmers that they are today, but I have also always enjoyed the opportunity to observe the lessons of other children (of all ages) across the week of “Level One” instruction and to watch the metamorphosis from a nervous, scared, resistant child into an eager, enthusiastic swimmer who can’t wait to do it all “three more times.” I am confident that many families have also enjoyed the added benefits of learning to address other difficult parenting situations with warmth, strong guidance and boundaries, consistency, and positive reinforcement by generalizing the techniques modeled in your program.

I look forward to enrolling our girls in the more advanced levels of instruction in the near future and to watching their continued skill development. For now, I wish you all continued success in your honorable endeavors to keep children (and others) safe around water and look forward to continued opportunities to refer friends, acquaintances, and patients to the Baby Otter Swim School and Turn, Kick and Reach Academy!

Most sincerely,
Sherri B. Abraham, Psy.D.
Licensed Psychologist (and Meital &amp; Ilanit’s “Mommy”)
Feiner & Associates

We wanted to say how thankful we are for the lessons you gave Jordan last week. He still talks about the fact that he has “finished his swimming classes”! He loves watching the video, in fact it is his latest obsession!

Jordan is back at his preschool for the summer now and we are grateful that there was this opportunity for him to learn such valuable lessons in a loving environment.

Thanks again for being so considerate and we will be sure to spread the word about Baby Otter. Hope you like the “before” photo of Jordan and Theresa.

Kindest regards,

Fiona Applebaum
Executive Assistant to Chairman & CEO
Oceania Cruises, Inc.

Sincerely,

Isora Arriaga