About
Founded in 1966 by Dr. Harvey Barnett, Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) is now the global leader in the industry it pioneered: survival swimming lessons for infants and young children. Our team of more than 1,000 Certified ISR Instructors in more than 20 countries provides the safest and most effective survival swimming lessons available. The ISR Self-Rescue instruction our students receive today is the product of more than 50 years of research and development and has resulted in more than 15 million safe lessons worldwide.
ISR believes that pool fences, supervision, and pool alarms are important parts of a necessary multi-layered approach to drowning prevention. However, traditional lines of defense break down, and the over 4,000 drowning deaths per year bear a grim testament to the fact that traditional approaches are missing a key component: the child. ISR’s core conviction is that the child is the most important part of a drowning prevention strategy.
Children are curious, capable, and have an uncanny ability to overcome obstacles like pool fences; at ISR we take that ability and teach them skills to potentially save themselves if they find themselves in the water alone.
Meet Your Instructor
My husband, Tom, and I have been married for over 25 years and have four children. Our younger children initially became ISR Skilled before they could walk or talk. As a swim parent I was simply amazed how an infant could survive if they found themselves in the water….alone. And as my children grew older and continued taking ISR refresher courses, I became more and more amazed every year of not only their ISR swimming skills, but at their ability to independently problem solve in the water. It was well worth the time and commitment. Although I did not mind the 40+ minute drive to their ISR lessons, which I did for four summers, I had an eagerness to give more children access to the program and bring the ISR method to my own community. With a passion for ISR’s mission of “Not One More Child Drowns” and my love for children (I have an education background) I applied, interviewed, and was accepted into the ISR training program to become a Certified ISR Instructor in 2010. I have been teaching, and loving it, ever since!
-Araceli Merkle, Certified ISR Instructor