Re: Good Morning America segment

[Guest guest]

_http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnlyinAmerica/story?id=1870390_

(http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnlyinAmerica/story?id=1870390) click to view the

video

April 21, 2006 — Isaiah Paskowitz seemed just like every other baby when he

was born and to his parents, le and Israel, he was perfect. But at 18

months, something changed.

" He stopped talking, " le 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 le.

" 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._

(http://www.surfershealing.org/index.html)

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