This page contains a video displaying the skills of an 11-month-old trained in the ways of ISR (Infant Swimming Resource). It was passed along to me by my dad with the tag line “Now this is worth watching!!!”.
It’s mildly disturbing to watch, but you know everything’s okay. It opens with the little boy waddling unsupervised towards the family pool (pesky dog left the door open!). Switch to an underwater shot looking up and *splash*, the inevitable head first dive. And then the expected but nonetheless amazing part: he does this very controlled looking series of movements to rotate and rise up to the surface, where he floats on his back waiting for help. Here’s some background regarding the video:
The baby had 3 weeks of ISR lessons prior to having his simulated self rescue while fully clothed skills videotaped. It is a re-enacted drowning scenario that happened to a family whose baby was not skilled and therefore drowned.
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The video was scripted and shot to be part of the Pediatric Grand Rounds presentations Dr. Barnett uses at major children’s hospitals throughout the United States to educate the health care professionals as part of their continuing medical education…….Since the number one question that physicians attending Grand Rounds ask is, “how long can a skilled baby maintain himself independently in the water?”, we answered the question in the video with a 5 minute float. In the segment they see, they can view all 5 minutes of the sustained back float. 5 minutes is of special significance for the physicians since they know that the chances of fully recovering a child who has been without air for that long is very remote.
With a newborn in our house, this really does interest me. Unfortunately the “search for an instructor in your area” turned up nothing for me. Might be something there for you though.