A boy with shaggy dark hair and bright blue boardshorts waits excitedly on the beach. It’s a Monday morning in Wrightsville Beach, N.C., and every inch of Access 29 is packed with children and surfboards. The atmosphere is noisy, but the boy stays relaxed as he watches the waves breaking slowly towards shore.

Liam Galbraith was 22 months old when he was diagnosed with level 3 autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the most severe level on the spectrum. Liam is among the 30% of children with autism who are nonverbal.

“Liam is probably the funniest person I know, but he doesn’t even talk,” says his mother, Tanya Masci-Galbraith. “He definitely communicates with his eyes, and he’s super funny.”

Liam is a 14-year-old with an infectious laugh that spreads to everyone he meets. Along with being an avid listener of The Avett Brothers, Liam’s hobbies include surfing. His favorite activity takes place every summer at Wrightsville Beach.

Masci-Galbraith first heard about the organization Surfer’s Healing in 2017. She had joined an online Facebook group for mothers of children with autism and saw a fellow mom posting photos of her child surfing. She was instantly intrigued.

That spring, she registered Liam for the North Carolina event, and that summer the family made the three-hour drive from Charlotte down to Wrightsville Beach.

Surfer’s Healing is an organization whose goal is to give children with autism a day to experience surfing. Founders Izzy and Danielle Paskowitz started the organization in 1996 in hopes of spreading their love of surfing to children and families affected by autism.

Professional surfer and longboard champion Izzy Paskowitz had a connection with the ocean from an early age. Raised on a surfboard, he wanted to bring this same experience to his children. When his son was diagnosed with autism at age 3, he was still determined to get him out in the water.

“It was a therapeutic experience for him,” Paskowitz writes in his personal story. “There’s something powerful about the weightlessness or floating, the lightness of riding a wave.”

Izzy and Danielle witnessed the way surfing helped their son, Isaiah, regulate his emotions. They wanted every child with autism to experience this feeling, too.

“Surfing isn’t a cure for autism, but you’d be surprised at the difference a day at the beach can make,” Paskowitz writes. “It’s amazing to see what our kids can do, and how they light up as they learn.”

Three decades later, Surfer’s Healing is changing Liam’s life.

In the beginning, Masci-Galbraith was nervous for their first surfing experience. “I was super panicked, because Liam, at that time, was very aggressive and had lots of behavioral issues,” she says. She remembers thinking to herself, “There’s no way he can do this.”

Her biggest concern was that Liam would try to harm one of the surf instructors. She was reminded by the fellow moms that the surfers were trained professionals and knew how to handle these situations. With that in mind, she decided to trust the process.

“We’re just going to put one foot in front of the other, and we’re going to go, and whatever happens, happens,” she remembers telling herself.

When Liam first hit the water, he screamed in fear and confusion. Masci-Galbraith watched anxiously from the beach as the surfer paddled out with Liam positioned safely in front of him. Suddenly, out past the waves, Liam went silent.

“I can see when he’s out there, he’s quiet. He’s not screaming,” she says.

The Galbraith family watched as Liam caught his first wave and his face lit up with a huge smile. As the wave came to an end, Liam jumped off and resumed screaming.

But the surfer did not give up. He pulled Liam back up and paddled back out. Liam’s mother watched as the movement of the waves once again seemed to calm his emotions. The pair caught another wave and Liam continued to shriek, but still, the surfer helped him get back up and paddled back out.

This went on for about twenty minutes, until his turn was up.

After the event, Masci-Galbraith said she was convinced he was traumatized. She had seen the joy when he was up on the board, but his initial reaction worried her.

“It’s very emotional,” she says. “He’s taking off with this guy on a surfboard, and he’s screaming like somebody is killing him.”

The Galbraiths had no idea the impact the surfing experience had made until later that year. That Christmas, the family had an ornament made with the photo of Liam surfing at Surfer’s Healing. Masci-Galbraith noticed that Liam started to grow an attachment to the ornament with the photo.

“He took it off and held it that whole Christmas season,” she says. “I would take it and put it back on the tree, he would take it and hold it.”

Since then, the Galbraith family has been attending Surfer’s Healing annually. One year, when Liam was waitlisted for registration, they even managed to sneak him in.

Surfer’s Healing has been a healing experience for not only Liam, but his family as well.

“Honestly, it’s my favorite day of the year,” Masci-Galbraith says. “It’s the one day of the year where I can walk on the beach, and I’m surrounded by other family members that understand.”

The Galbraiths have found a welcoming and supportive community through Surfer’s Healing. More than that, they have found hope and strength. Every year, Liam grows more comfortable and confident out in the water. He smiles the whole three-hour drive because he knows exactly where they’re going.

“You just got to keep pushing them,” says  Masci-Galbraith. “He can do so many things that I never thought imaginable.”

To learn more information about surf camps and registration, visit www.surfershealing.org.