What ISR Parents are Saying
Keily's Story
After 8 classes, with Ginger Blackman, my 20 month old daughter fell fully clothed into a pool 
as I was watching from a distance. I turned my head for a second and when I looked back all I saw was her shoes in the water. (her sister pulled a cup out of her hand causing her to fall in head first) She did not even make a splash. I ran over to grab her and noticed she was floating on her back like she had learned in her class. She did not take in any water. I was amazed. She was very calm. Thank God that I was watching her but if I was not, it is good to know that these lessons are working.
Jake's Story
Jake is 21 months old and almost finished with his ISR lessons. I hesitated in signing him up for lessons because of the cost and time commitment. I finally decided that it would be 
worth the peace of mind knowing that he could save himself if the situation occurred. I am so glad I made the decision to start lessons! I have a safety fence around my pool. I had taken it down to have the pool deck resurfaced and hadn't had the chance to put it back up. I was outside on the pool deck playing with Jake. I walked around the corner to move a chair back into the house when I heard a splash. I had only turned around for a second when Jake reached for a ball that was in the pool and fell in. I came around the corner to find him floating on his back and breathing. I immediately pulled him out and he was a little upset but otherwise perfectly fine. I am confident that the ISR lessons helped save his life. Thank you.
Thank You,
Emily Barlow
Jack's Story
Dear Dr. Barnett, I would like to inform you of a situation that I witnessed with one of your ISR students, Jack: A couple weeks ago I was at the Sebastian Inlet Tide pool, (this is a place where the ocean meets the river and the tide changes are very drastic). I was there with four children, one of them being a three year old named Jack. We arrived at low tide and we went down to the rocks and played in the foot deep water. We found a variety of sea creatures and put them in a bucket up along the shore area where our chairs were sitting. The kids played in the water for a couple of hours and the tide was slowly rising and the tide pool also became crowded with adults and children. The kids came up to my bucket and I asked them to return the sea urchin to the rocks. Jack quickly volunteered. He was walking away from me headed towards the rocks and I called out for him to head to the right were I knew it would be much more shallow. He did not hear me because he was so far away. I had a baby on my hip so I yelled to the nine year old that was with me to go walk with Jack, and he started heading towards him but was not getting to him fast enough. Jack was about 30-40 yards away from me when I saw the bottom of the ocean drop out from underneath him to about 5 feet (high tide had brought in about 3 feet of water). Jack immediately started floating. Not one of the 30 adults or children who where swimming around him saw that he was in danger. Jack floated long enough for me to run with a baby and get to him safely (about 2 minutes). When I finally got to him the water was up to my chin and Jack immediately grabbed onto me and did not even cry. He was completely calm and did not panic through the entire ordeal! I am 100% positive that Jack's ISR lessons with Lisa Persse saved his life that day. It made me realize that if that would have been my little three year old instead of Jack he would have been in BIG trouble…needless to say…my son is now enrolled in ISR and learning his float! Thank you for ISR swimming! Sincerely, Trina Bloom
Chase's Story
My friend from work sent me the video of little Miles. It impacted me deeply and I didn't hesitate. I was so fortunate to find Krista the local ISR instructor and had my barely 2 year old son, Chase signed up for the following Monday morning.
Chase screamed and tried to hit Krista throughout the entire week. She, however, remained calm and unrattled. She continued to gently guide Chase through the lessons. Because he was so upset, she utilized the float technique, as this seemed to help calm him.
After one week, I considered taking him out of the class. The next day (Saturday) we went to my Mom's house for a day in the pool. After we finished, I took Chase and his sister (age 6) and her little friend, to a room at the back end of the house to dry them off and get them all dressed.
I left them all there watching cartoons and eating snacks, while I went back to the pool to gather all of our belongings. As I picked up the toys I spoke for a moment with my husband. Then I had a bad feeling and said to my husband, "Ya know, I don't know where Chase is right now, I can't talk." Then proceeded back towards the room I had left him in with the older girls.
If I had taken any other path but the one I took, it would not have lead me past the jacuzzi. As I walked by I saw what looked like a doll floating in the water. It was my son! I jumped in and grabbed him. My husband was on us in an instant and we prepared to give him CPR. As we laId him down we realized that he was fine. No coughing, no crying!
After the accident I was able to reflect on what my two eyes had seen. Chase was floating on his back, face up! He was fully clothed, shoes and all.
This little boy saved himself! And after only 5 days of 10 minute sessions. I know that Krista, ISR, and my co-worker, save my sons life. If Chase had not had this training, which was minimal at best, he would have died.
My story is like so many I heard before. It happens in an instant. There wasn't a splash, a gulp, or a sound! We were standing right there! I never really thought it would happen to me. I am a good mother. But, it did happen to me.I am urging anyone who will listen to me to take every sacrifice and put your small children through this program. I am honest when I say that I was initially skeptical, but willing to try it out. I am here now to say that my beautiful little blued-eyed sunshine would not be here if it weren't for the program and the beautiful instructor Krista! Chase has now finished his lessons, he can swim and float and he loves the water! Gratefully, Chelsea Bryan Laguna Niguel, CA
Justice's Story
Our 14 month old son finished his ISR classes in February. This Saturday, our whole family was outside playing. I went into the house to cook dinner and my husband stayed out with the children. At one point, our oldest daughter walked away from my husband and told him she was going inside. My 14 month old followed her. My husband thought she knew he followed her, she didn't. In the beginning of my sons ISR classes, he had a certain cry when he was being trained in the water. It wasn't his normal cry. It sounded like he was saying "I don't like being in this water!" As I stood there in my kitchen, I recognized that specific cry. I ran out the back door and found my son floating in our very cold pool, with perfect ISR form, fully clothed in two layers of clothing, a very wet diaper, and tennis shoes. I reached in the water and picked him up (he was close to the edge) and he didn't even cough. He accidentally fell in that cold pool and automatically remembered what he was taught....so much so that he didn't swallow one bit of water! We dried him off, warmed him up...and he was perfectly fine.
Since yesterday, I have been just staring at my baby in amazement. In the full knowledge that had we not made the sacrifices we did to get him water trained, he would be dead right now. None of us heard him fall in that pool, we only heard him cry. We would not have heard that cry had he not been taught the self rescue technique. My heart aches for other parents who have lost babies to water accidents. ISR's goal to ensure "that not one more child drowns" was fulfilled today. I strongly encourage everyone who has children to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to make your baby water safe. This program works, our son is L-I-V-I-N-G proof! And a huge thank you to his instructors, Bonnie and Becky!
Elizabeth's Story
We have a 5 year old daughter who started taking swim classes at our club in California when she was 6 months old. She immediately took to the water and was swimming 8 feet under water by the time she was 8 months old. This of course gave her a false confidence because if there was not a wall to grab on to, or a person, she would drown. When she was 1 1/2 years old, the ISR program was brought to our club. We enrolled her and in less than three weeks, she was totally water safe.
She continued swim lessons with her ISR teacher and then began to learn strokes, and by the time she was 3, she was swimming 10 laps of an OLYMPIC pool.
Last month we were on a vacation in the Caribbean, (she just turned 5 in January) and we swam out to a floating raft a fair distance from the shore. We met some older children on the raft, and our daughter being an extremely friendly and outgoing child, made friends with them. Suddenly the boys dove into the water to swim back. They were probably about 10 years old. Our daughter dove in after them... we were watching her..and we immediately jumped in after her... but she was ahead of us, (she is fast...) and we just couldn't catch up..I could see that she was getting tired and I was starting to panic as we swam towards her...when suddenly she just rolled onto her back and "rested" which is the technique she learned when she was 1 1/2 years old from ISR, and HASN'T USED IT SINCE!!!...and then she continued to swim into shore, totally relaxed, no panic, no stress. It was incredible to see, she just intuitively rolled to her back, just as she did many years before.
I see so many children in the water, much older than she is, who still can't swim, and they are using water wings, or other forms of flotation, which are really not adequate in preventing drowning. We are so thankful to ISR for making our children a confident, safe and incredible swimmer.
Brenden's Story
In September of 2007, I was introduced to ISR via that amazing video of the 9 month old baby (Miles). That video touched me in such a way that the very next day I was on the phone looking for an instructor. We found Emma Grynbal and signed up for lessons. My son was 14 months old when we started. After four weeks, Ms. Emma and I decided that he had the adequate training as he had learned the float technique so well. In February of 2008, just 5 months after the lessons, my son was kicking his feet in the water of our family pool and slid in the deep end. My husband and I immediately ran to the edge of the pool in fear and to our amazement he was turning him self over into the float position. I was shocked. He had not been in a pool since he had the lessons due to the weather turning cold but yet he instinctively knew what to do. Even though this incident happened when my husband and I were watching our son, it could have easily happened at a time that we were not. I feel that if it wasn't for ISR and the lessons he had the outcome may have been much different. I am confident now that if the incident happens again, my son will be able to help himself in saving his life. Thanks ISR!!!
Helen's Story
Last year our babysitters found our 3 year floating face down in the deep end of our pool. She was airlifted to the hospital where she was in the PICU hooked up to a ventilator for a week before being moved to another floor for 9 more days. Miraculously, she survived. When my neighbor sent me the video of Miles, I knew there was no way I would not sign my daughter up for this. She has just started her second week and she can already swim several feet in the water and is making unbelievable progress in such a short time. I have begun spreading the word about ISR to everyone and so many are ready to sign up. Nobody should have to go through what we went through last year and ISR is the best way I can see to prevent it. Thanks so much.
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