The Local Autism Warriors Are Teaming Up With The Surfer's Healing Foundation For A Big Night To Help Families

Aired March 3, 2024: Autism affects about 1 in 36 kids in the US. It's a serious developmental disorder that impairs the ability to communicate and interact. Usually, it's diagnosed at a very young age. The range and severity of symptoms is different for each person. Katy Jackson is a Mom from Redondo Beach, who started the Local Autism Warriors Foundation in honor of her son Hendrix, and they are having a big benefit March 30th in Redondo that she wanted to tell us all about. In this podcast, Lisa Foxx talks to Katy about how her organization helps Moms and families like hers navigate the extra challenging waters of having a child with autism. Common symptoms include difficulty with communication, difficulty with social interactions, obsessive interests, and repetitive behaviors. But early recognition, as well as behavioral, educational, and family therapies can help reduce symptoms and support development and learning. They are having a big fundraiser with Surfer's Healing Foundation, who Katy has found to be a GREAT source of comfort for her autistic son 🙂

Benefit info: They are gathering at the Redondo Beach Elks Lodge #1378, located on Esplanade in beautiful Redondo Beach, CA. Living in the South Bay we understand the importance of the ocean and the benefits of getting in the water. Through this we event we plan to spread awareness about how Surfer's Healing Foundation has helped so many on the spectrum and continues to do so. They are so grateful IZZY PASKOWITZ, founder of Surfer's Healing Foundation, will be attending this event so be sure to say hi! Come enjoy a cocktail hour, dinner, live music, silent auction, and more March 30th in Redondo. All the info is here

Many children with autism struggle with sensory overload; in other words, simple sensations can overwhelm them. The weightlessness and rhythms of the

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Lisa Fox here, Thanks so muchfor listening to This is the iHeart So
Cal Show. Okay, so todaywe're talking about autism. Autism effects about
one in thirty six kids here inthe US. It's a serious developmental disorder
that impairs the ability to communicate andinteract. Usually it's diagnosed at a very
young age, and the range andseverity of the symptoms are different for everybody.

(00:21):
Katie Jackson is a mom from Medondoand she started the Local Autism Warriors
Foundation in honor of her son,Hendrix, who has autism, and they're
having a big benefit on March thirtiethat the beach of Medonda, and we
want to tell y'all all about it. Hi Katie, Katie, Hi there
Ai Lisa. We are new friendsvia the radio because I was just kind
of peruising through event Bright looking atsome upcoming local events, and I saw

(00:43):
that you are quite the warrior onbehalf of your son with autism, and
my gosh, when did you startthis organization? The organization itself is very
new. It's of January twenty twentyfour this year that I officially became an
profit. But I've been studying andresearching autism for the last two years since

(01:03):
my son was diagnosed. Yeah,I was going to say, when you
have a child and if you learnsomething is challenging about them health wise,
suddenly you kind of are forced tobecome an expert about it, right,
because this is going to be yourlife moving forward. It is. Yeah,
I mean when I initially found outthat he had on autism, I
felt, you know, unprepared,defensive, uneducated just about how to help.

(01:26):
I just felt like just scared.And then I just knew whatever I
thought I knew about autism, I'dprobably need to unlearn and really dive into
the research that would support him,you know, really just not change who
he is, but understand him andhis tears. How old is your son
now, Katie? He's three anda half. He'll be four on me.

(01:47):
First, Now, when did youstart realizing something was a little different,
a little extra special about Hendrix.I started to realize when he would
say a word and then not sayit again, or not like repeat things,
not wanting to point, not likea lot of these behaviors that come

(02:09):
so naturally to atypical children just weren'tcoming to Hendrix. And I've always been
around children so I think I'm justhyper aware just having had taught children dance
for so many years, so Iwas used to like a lot of movement
things like that, but I didn'tnotice anything different until, you know,
a couple months after he turned two. I just didn't see progressions that I

(02:30):
expected, or you know, milestones, which are you know, just what
normals like what we've learned to thinkis normal. Was it challenges with walking
and talking or saying the first words, like some basic stuff. So he
yeah, he I mean he waswalking, he was running by the time
he was one. So physically,I'm extremely blessed. He has zero health

(02:52):
complications. It's just more so neurodevelopment and communication, and you know what
results in when you can communicate wellis frustration and extreme temper tantrums and they're
frustrated because you can't understand what exactlythey want. So we've done a lot
of work and he's progressing now,but it's you know, it's an ongoing

(03:15):
thing, and he's into one thingone day, it's something different the next.
Some things are more triggering than others. Katie, what is a support
system like out there for parents witha child that has autism and what is
it like here in southern California?What is it like in general? So
there's a lot, a lot ofdifferent things, almost too many things,

(03:37):
which I think can be super overwhelming, especially like if somebody doesn't have like
a big family circle or friend circle. I am fortunate enough to have my
in laws here, but for themost part, it is me with Hendrick
I would say ninety six percent ofthe time, and my parents don't live

(04:00):
down here. So I did justhave to kind of just figure out what
he was into and then lean intothat because it's almost overwhelming. You can't
just like google something. So he'sa huge beach kid. He's gone surfing
with his dad since you know,barely after he could walk. He loves
animals, love nature. So Ijust started to look for things, and

(04:23):
that's when I came across Surfers HealingFoundation and realized like he could have a
really great opportunity to maybe further outin the water and we could just learn
more techniques. So I was justlooking for stuff to build on, and
you know, I just you reada lot of things and you realize that
parents, other parents going through thesame things as you are, seem to

(04:46):
be more helpful than like a typicallike going to the doctor type thing,
which their experiences can be quite traumaticand not always helpful. So you started
Local Autism Warriors, the foundation andjan right just of this year, but
an organization that you become very familiarwith who you're partnering with this event on
March thirtieth Surfers the Surfers Healing Foundation. Talk about them because I've seen a

(05:11):
little bit online and I love thisfirst line of what they see on their
website Surfershealing dot org. They say, after twenty five years of taking kids
with autism out on the water,we are still amazed by the transformative power
of the whole experience. So talkabout that because I know that the parents
who also started the Surfers Healing Foundationalso have a son with autism. Yes,

(05:32):
their son Isaiah does. They havethree children. For Izzy Pascowitz's a
former professional longboard surf champion and hisfamily is very well known in the surf
community. But him and his wifestarted this foundation because their son Isaiah was
you know, suffering, needed someadditional guidance and help and is he did

(05:54):
what he knew best and you know, took his son in the water and
he realized how transformative that could beand how much Isaiah thrived with it,
and it calmed him and soothed him. And you know, I think he
just at that time, you know, that's twenty five years ago, his
son is basically appear to me.I don't remember hearing even the word autism

(06:15):
really when I was younger. Soyou know, people had to really really
explore and hone into what could workjust for their child, and he wouldn't
just share that. And that's whathe's been able to do. And he's,
like I said, just listening toother parents is more helpful to me
than listening to a doctor that doesn'thave hands on experience with a child of
their own. Sure, at theend of the day, because what works

(06:38):
for someone's child with autism may notwork for another person's child with autism.
Right, very different, it canbe, Yeah, it can be,
you know, and that doesn't meannecessarily one end or another end, but
it just means all the things inbetween. And you know, it just
means you're uniquely human, you processthings different, that you could be in

(06:59):
this same space as somebody else canbe having a totally different experience, you
know, a lot of autistic peopleare visual thinkers. They don't think in
words or linear So just oftentimes neurodivergenceis just misunderstood and standard reactions. Society
has kind of taught us as normalor often unnatural to autistic person Like if

(07:20):
you say their name and it's notbecause they're ignoring you, but they might
be hearing their name like three orfour times nobly, it's just a whole
different form of processing and you justhave to be more sensitive and awares to
it for them to be successful andfor you to be successful and have these

(07:40):
relationships with them. M hm.What is the goal of now that you
have your own organization, Local AutismWarriors, what is the goal? Like,
what do you think you want todo with this? Just help help
more parents who have a child withautism. Yeah, so there's several layers
to that answer, like an answerapp for that. But I mean,
obviously my wa is my son,and just wanting to provide a sense of

(08:03):
community and support for him outside ofme, because I understand I can't provide
everything he needs, and I understandhow overwhelming it can be, how sometimes
nowhere to turn, and there's justa lot of processes with it, Like
I cannot work a normal job becauseI have to care for my son.

(08:24):
So I have helped people work workersfor their children. So basically what I
do is if somebody is in asituation like me where they cannot work a
normal job because they have to betaking their child to occupational therapy or speech
therapy or these other types of programsthat their children require that usually require a

(08:48):
ride to and some type of transportation, so you can't just like work forty
hours. I help them get onboard with LA County so that they can
get paid the county for their timeof doing what they're already going to do
as a parent anyways. Wow.Yeah, helps them with that. And
then I just you know, I'mlike, you have to kind of narrow

(09:09):
your focus, and there's like somuch so I focus on things that I
know, which is recreational things andwhat works well for my son. I
know we love nature, I knowwe have water, I know surf,
We're healing. Foundation has become justa huge part of my life, and
Izzy has become, like I said, like a mentor to me. So
if I really support something and believein it, I want to help it

(09:31):
continue because it takes a lot tohave the production of the surf camps that
they do. You know, they'redealing with very sensitive little souls that require
a little bit extra. Yeah,I was gonna say so for folks who
don't know what surfers Healing, theSurface Healing Foundation is all about. Essentially,
they do surf camps for kids withautism in every year. Do you

(09:52):
know how long? How long isit? The surf camp season is just
in the summer, spring through summer. How do they do it? Yeah,
So they do them locally, soas in like California, they do
them nationally, and they also haveinternational camps and they can be a couple
days or one day. It justreally depends on you know, some children
just like one hour of being there, that's enough. Some children can do

(10:16):
it longer, and they you know, they work with whatever works for you.
So they're very kind and open toit. And obviously there's a lot
of flexibility and it's just a niceenvironment to be in because everybody that's there
has a full understanding. Well,let's talk about the fundraiser then, So
what can we expect on March thirtieth? Tell us everything? Who where,

(10:37):
when, why, how and weknow it's going to be for your organization,
Local Autism Warriors and for the SurfaceHealing Foundation. I know it's going
to be at the Elks Lodge andRedondo, So let's set the scene from
March thirtieth. Yeah, so allproceeds of this upcoming fundraiser will be benefiting
Surfer Healing Foundation. Fifty bucks aticket that includes your dinner and everything.

(10:58):
It's going to be for epic.I mean, I'm soaked on it.
The whole vibe is like a LuauHawaiian theme. We're having like a full
on pig growth. King Hawaiian isdoing the dessert. We have a live
band that'll be performing. They area Grateful dead Cover. They're known as
a Legion of Legion of Minglewood.Yeah, I'm a big Deadheadstone. We

(11:18):
needed to incorporate that nice nice Yeah. So it's gonna be very colorful.
You know, there's a full bar. We'll be having a raffle with a
lot of different fun items from localbusinesses, ranging from like surf shops like
ep spighter On. We have thingsfrom a bunch of different local restaurants,

(11:39):
and then like clothing stores like AviatorNation, is one of them, just
to name a couple. There's alsolike great game tickets for like Lakers,
Dodgers, Disney Resort, a liveauction, a silent auction, and all
those items. Yeah, those arelike high end like art things that are
really cool, like some Rick Griffinart and other things along that line.

(12:00):
Some really neat surfboards and yeah,it's just going to be a lot of
fun. Izzy and his wife Danielle, they'll be there hanging out. We'll
have a few speakers obviously have gonnasay a couple of words, and really
the point of it is to justhave a ton of fun, have awareness,
and let people know we'll be continuingto do these events. We actually
just had a party bus that someof the ELSE members put together and they're

(12:24):
just putting that money into the fundraiser. So people are really excited about it.
And you know, it's autism supercommon, and I just want to
create like an open dialogue where it'snothing to be ashamed of or hied about,
or people parents having an ego aboutit for whatever their own standards of

(12:45):
milestones are. And I just wantpeople to get rid of that and just
understand it. It's normal to notbe normal well and look. As a
parent, you just want to loveon your kid and do everything in your
power to make sure that they havetheir best life possible. That you both
that you as a family are doingeverything you can to make sure you're having
your best life possible, even withthe extra challenges coming your way like having

(13:07):
a child with autism. So again, Katie, Mom, Katie Jackson,
thank you for all that you're doinghelping people like yourself and other families navigate
through these waters with your foundation,Local Autism Warriors Foundation, and the organization
that's helping your son so much,the Surfers Healing Foundation. Don't forget their
big combo event with both charities comingtogether March thirtieth in Redondo at the Elks

(13:30):
Lodge. If you google Local AutismWarriors Foundation Redondo Beach March thirtieth, the
event bright page will come up,so you can buy a fifty dollars ticket
and be a part of all thatlove and support. And you can find
Katie and her organization on Instagram atLocal Autism Warriors. Katie, thank you
so much and we'll see you atMarch thirtieth. Yes, it's my whole

(13:50):
heart and everything so I appreciate talkingto you, Lisa, thank you for
the time, and hopefully we getto meet a lot of new fun people
and do this together.