Empowering Children with Special Needs

Wow! We have 2 autistic boys, Aaron is 12 and Josh is 9. Both are non-verbal and both share such love for the water. Aaron is my more nervous one, but he had 2 wonderful guys helping to get him on the board. When he was on with Daniel, what a smile he had! When Josh went, what a sight to see! Brian and Rose were helping out on the beach, Brian was really great with Aaron and Rose was just so nice - we look forward to bringing the boys back again. I can’t say enough good things about this truly wonderful program for our special needs kids, so HIP HIP HURRAY for the outstanding staff. Many thanks!

Wendy Birnbaum

I just wanted to send a quick thank you to everyone who helped out with the event today. My kids, Carly and Adam had a fantastic day as did I. The volunteers went out of their way to make us all feel at ease and it was wonderful to see them also share in our excitement. I am grateful for events like these and will absolutely bring Carly and Adam back again.

Sue Spielvogel

My husband and I wanted to thank you and all the people who helped make today such an amazing experience for our 2 sons Brett and Ryan! We had such a blast watching them, everyone was absolutely amazing with the kids and we hope to do this again with you soon, it was incredible :)

Chris and Laura Gaskin

Thank you so very much for yesterday!! It was all I had hoped for and then 100 times more!! Zachary had the time of his life. And to see him out there on the surf board… I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. (So I did a little of both.)

In the evening, I said to Zachary, “Mommy and Zachary went to the beach today, yes?” And he said “yes”. (Not all that impressive, since he answers almost all questions with a ‘yes’.) And then I asked, “What did we do at the beach today? We went…” and Zachary smiled and said, “surfing.”

And let me tell you, that was HUGE!!! Zachary is verbal, but has problems vocalizing anything that’s not in the here-and-now. I often use pictures to prompt him to talk about things that happened in the past. This though, was the very first time that he ever answered a question about the past tense without a visual prompt!!!

He later said to me, “Go surfing tomorrow.” I think he’s hooked. :-) So thank you, thank you, thank you for giving us such an absolutely wonderful day!!

Francine Kleiss

First, I want to say thank you so much for the wonderful surfing experience you provided for our son Alec. We had the pleasure of meeting Elliott in addition to “Surfer Mike” and “Surfer Marvin” as Alec refers to them. ALL of the volunteers were so kind and compassionate. We can’t thank you enough!!!!!!

Francine Kleiss

Thank you so much for today. Kevin loved it surfing again - it is always a pleasure and thank you for thinking of us.

Janet and Bill Kregler

Dear Elliot, Thanks for a fantastic experience on Saturday. Tom and I really enjoyed it -- after getting over Tom's initial response :-) I met some amazing people who are just so keen to see the kids succeed -- it was a brilliant atmosphere! We are going to try again with Tom. Please thank all of your team -- it was absolutely amazing! WELL DONE! Thanks again.

Jane Graham (Tom's mum) UK

Hi Elliot, I can't thank you enough for the wonderful experience Jay had yesterday. I've seen therapists with years of formal training that did not command his trust, attention and focus the way you did--and certainly not as quickly. Beginning with the clerk at the bagel store on Lido Boulevard and continuing later in the day at our neighborhood pool with everyone he saw---"I went surfing with Elliot" was his mantra for the day--coupled with a giant smile from ear to ear. Speaking as a parent of a child with autism, and not as a representative of my company, I highly recommend you to any other parent seeking a surfing experience for their child. I'd love to book another appointment. Please let me know if this is possible. Thanks again very much.

All the best, Marc

Hi, I just wanted to thank everyone for an incredible day at Long Beach yesterday. We couldn't have ended our summer in a better way. It was my son's first time ever in the ocean and he loved it. He surfed several times with Marvin and he had a ball. Marvin was great with him, so patient. I am very grateful to everyone involved in making yesterday happen!!

Kerrie Ferrara (and Paul)

It was a unique pleasure for our family to take part in the surfing event held in Long Beach September 4th. The passion and confidence expressed by Elliot and other volunteer instructors drew our son without hesitation into the waves. Nothing short of sensational! Such a great time!

Larry Fitzpatrick, Williston Park

As the father of an autistic 5 year old boy, I will do just about anything to expand his view of the world and let him have some fun too. So when I found out about a program tying in surfing and autism, I was all over it. Due to a mix up in dates however, we showed up at Long Beach literally a day late. After asking around the beach, some surfers pointed to Elliot and said he might know something. Boy did he ever! Elliot confirmed that yes, it was the day before, yes, he did know about the program, in fact, he worked with them! He said just have seat, play in the surf, and as soon as he finished with his current class, he'd see what could be done. This being Josh's first time at the ocean, I was skeptical how he would perceive it. No problem there, he took right to it. Well, Elliot came back and said "hey, I've got some time between classes, how about I take him out?" You couldn't stop Josh from taking Elliot's hand and heading into the surf. Elliot didn't have to do this, but he did. He then spent the next 45 minutes with Josh on the board. The pictures we have of him are, as the commercial says, priceless. And when all was said and done, Elliot didn't charge us. He wouldn't take anything. He said the smile on Josh's face was enough. Well, here it is January, and Josh still talks about Long Beach and surfing. Not bad for a boy whose memory usually fades after 2 weeks. I am definitely heading back to Long Beach, and this time, I will call Elliot and only Elliot, because I know he will take the time and effort to make sure Josh has a good time. Keep up the good work, Elliot!

Chris, father of Joshua