About

About ISR

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.

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Meet Your Instructor

My name is Ofelia Vithoulkas. I have two children that went through the ISR program starting at the young age of 10 months. My nephew, alongside them, completed ISR and learned how to swim and roll back into a float with only a few lessons. One day he decided to go swimming alone. By the time I reached the pool's edge, I had thought the worst. However, he was happily floating on his back, resting and breathing! It hit me that ISR is more than just traditional swim lessons; it teaches kids life-saving skills in the water! With that in mind, I decided to make the official move from New York (a certified Elementary school teacher) to Florida to complete my training this past July 2021 to give back more to the community and their children. As a fully certified ISR Instructor, I want to ensure that each child has the necessary survival skills to self-rescue if they find themselves in any water alone. Help me save a child's life and become part of ISR's mission of 'Not One More Child Drowns.'

-Ofelia Vithoulkas, Certified ISR Instructor, Owner of Swim with Ofelia ISR

Is your swim instructor a Certified ISR Instructor?

There are many instructors who say they teach ISR techniques, however, unless they are listed on the ISR Instructor locator on the official ISR website and meet the criteria below, they are NOT Certified ISR Instructors.

All Certified ISR Instructors:

  • Have an email address ending in @infantswim.com

  • Can provide parents with a copy of their current ISR Certificate for review

  • Offer lessons five consecutive days per week, for a maximum of 10 minutes each day

  • Will require your child to be registered through ISR’s Online Registration Process and approved to begin lessons by our Registration Evaluation Team (approval email will come from an email address ending in @infantswim.com)

  • Complete the Daily BUDS Discussion form with you prior to each lesson

  • Can be found on the instructor locator at locator.infantswim.com