Autistic Children Take to the Waves

April 21, 2006 — -- Isaiah Paskowitz seemed just like every other baby when he was born and to his parents, Danielle and Israel, he was perfect. But at 18 months, something changed.

"He stopped talking," Danielle said. "He had about 25 words in his vocabulary and he stopped completely talking."

At the age of 3, Isaiah was diagnosed with autism, a disorder characterized by severe social isolation and lack of communication. His parents were devastated by the news, especially dad Izzy, a carefree pro surfing champion who couldn't face such a bleak outlook.

But Izzy found there was one place that soothed his son -- the ocean.

"He took to the water right away," Izzy said. "I was always very comfortable taking him out on my surfboards and riding pretty big waves."

Watching Isaiah surf with his father was eye-opening for Danielle.

"I didn't think he'd be able to do any type of sports," she said. "But when he first came in I thought, 'Oh my gosh. There are other people with children with autism who -- their kids can do this too.'"

Izzy started taking other children with autism into the water and by 2000, the Paskowitzes had created Surfers Healing, a nonprofit that runs one-day surf camps free of charge for children with autism and their families.

"Some of the kids they get down to the water and you can just see that look in their eye that is just so hopeless, like are you going to be OK with me? Are you going to take care of me?" Izzy said. "You put them on a surfboard for the first time and then get through all these waves and then turn around and ride waves in standing up and ripping. It just works with these kids."

While surfing is not a cure for autism, families have seen their children transformed by the camps.

"You just can't help but cry because he's just so thrilled with himself," said Suzanne Neauhas, whose son, Connelly, attended the camp.

Surfers Healing has more than a dozen events planned on both the East and West coasts for the rest of 2006. To learn more, Click Here.

Chris Connelly reported this story for ESPN.