Surfers Healing Autistic children and their familiesSep 14 '05 Write an essay on this topic.
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Surfers Healing seeks to enrich the lives of children with autism and the lives of their families by exposing them to the unique experience of surfing. Autistic Children... surfing? Yes, absolutely! I had never heard of such a thing until just recently I received a notice that the Autism Family Services of NJ was sponsoring an event with the Surfers Healing organization called a Surf Camp and that it would be FREE to children with autism and their families with a pre-registration. After talking to the coordinator with some questions that I had about it and perusing the organizations website I signed my 4 (almost 5) year old son right up! About Surfers Healing Surfers Healing is a non profit organization founded by Israel (Izzy) and Danielle Paskowitz. Izzy is a former competitive surfer and he started Surfers Healing by taking his autistic son Isaiah out into the water on a surfboard and the impact that it made on him. Deciding to share this experience with other autistic children and their families they started Surfers Healing. They have been running FREE of charge surf camps for the past seven years. Surfers Healing is completely run by volunteers and donations. In addition to taking the children out into the waves they also provide lunch, snacks and refreshments to the children and their families. You may be familiar with them from the 30 and 60 second spots that occasionally run on the ESPN channel. Surfers Healing surf camps are for children with autism of all ages and ability. Our experience My 4 year old son is a little fish who loves the water and living near the ocean is a real treat for him. So, when I heard about the opportunity for him to go out into the waves with a professional surfer I wanted to give it a try. Now, though he loves the water - like many children with autism his behavior and level of compliance is often unpredictable. Very prone to sensory overload, a day at a crowded beach in the hot sun with the danger of deep water and rough waves is also a bit a nightmarish thought. My son is verbal but speech impaired and has difficulties with expressive language. After viewing a short online video about Surfers Healing and how the experience could be such a positive one for children such as mine I really wanted to give it a try. And best of all there was no hefty cost to participate in the surf day- it was FREE. When I shared that I was signing him up for the surfing with some friends and family members the reception to it was mixed. In fact, the majority of people were pretty skeptical about it- but a few agreed with me that it was worth a shot and that if we could get the lifevest on him and get him out into the water that he'd probably love it. So, off to Sandy Hook beach we went this past Sunday, September 11th. The day September 11th brings about so much emotion and sadness, and as we drove to the beach seeing all the flags at half mast was a grim reminder that almost made me feel guilty we were headed out to have a fun family day together at the beach. You can actually see the NYC skyline in the not so far distance from the Sandy Hook beaches and I saw some people were sending flowers out into the water as a memorial, and then - there were our Surfers. Afer setting up the obligatory beach umbrella, chairs and blanket - we checked in our son shortly before his designated surf time and signed both a waiver and photo release. We were instructed to take our son down to the beach to a specific volunteer who helped put a special lifejacket onto him. So far so good, he was very cooperative and he played in the waves with his father until it was his turn to surf. When it was his turn a volunteer came over to him and said Hi and asked us a little bit about him. He asked my son to "gimme 5" and he did. Next he asked my son to give him a hug, which surprisingly he did! He could see that my son was enjoying the waves and the water and capitalized on his good mood by pairing him up with his surfer right away. A surfer in a lime green wet suit came over with his board, plopped Alex onto the front of it headed out into the ocean - just like that. As they were out in the deep water free of distractions from the crowd at the beach I watched as the surfer interacted with him. Alex would go from being on his stomach to sitting, and then a few times he was off of the board and floating next to it, climbing back up on it. At one point the surfer took him from a seated position and lifted him up to a stand, I think he was probably talking to him about what was going to happen - but I'm really not sure. It seemed like an eternity that they were out in the deep water but it was probably something like 15 minutes or so. And then, the board was turned around and the surfer was paddling away - he stood up and as he stood he lifted my son to a stand by the back of his lifejacket (it was strapped between his legs so it couldn't come off). This was a sight to see as my son rode in his very first wave, a perfect surf with his new friend - the Surfer Healer. As he rode in the other parents and volunteers were cheering and smiling and clapping and my son had a smile on his face from ear to ear. They were having a great time and the best part was it wasn't over yet - they headed out for more. He rode in not one, not two - but three waves that day. On the third wave they had a little bit of a wipeout at the very end but ended with a splash and a lot of laughs! He did it! My autistic child went surfing, and so did many others that day. I'm so proud of my son and all the children who surfed that day. But most of all thankful to Surfers Healing for an incredibly memorable, positive, and maybe even life-changing experience. If you are a parent of an autistic child, I wholeheartedly recommend you check out Surfers Healing to see if they are running a surf camp near you or near a place you might be vacationing! I am definitely planning on signing my child up again next year and years to come! Also, I want to note that your child need not be verbal, nor know how to swim in order to participate. Many of the children I observed were apprehensive on the beach, some crying or in tears but it when they went out into the water it was very therapeutic and they came in calm, happy and ready to do it again! Kudos and thanks to these very special surfers and very special kids for their accomplishments :) For more info: http://www.surfershealing.org/ Watch the video ... http://www.surfershealing.org/video.html  |
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