The Story Behind ISR
The inspiration behind Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) was born in 1966 when founder, Dr. Harvey Barnett - now with a PhD and 41 years experience - was only 18 years old. As an active lifeguard with a passion for water safety, Barnett witnessed the tragic aftermath when a neighbor child drowned. At that moment, he vowed to do everything in his power to prevent another child from drowning.
Barnett began teaching young children in his neighborhood to swim. As he instructed children, Barnett observed how they responded well to specific types of instruction, techniques, and communication. He took reels of movies and began to develop a successful technique that could even be used with non-verbal infants. This was the nucleus of Infant Swimming Resource's proprietary methodology for teaching children 6 months to 6 years old to swim and save themselves in an accidental water encounter.
Since 1966, ISR has safely delivered over 6 million lessons, teaching self-rescue water skills to more than 160,000 babies as well as educating parents and medical experts nationwide on proven water safety instruction methods. To date, there are over 800 documented cases of children who used ISR techniques to save themselves from drowning.
What's more, ISR is the first and only drowning prevention strategy that has earned a 100% safety record. ISR is a truly comprehensive infant swimming and self-rescue skill instruction method that incorporates the fields of health care, psychology, behavioral sciences, anatomy, and physiology.