Be prepared to be in the water....ALOT!! A shovel and pail.

We live in San Diego so we go to the beach a lot. The first time we went, we had to reassure our son that when the waves recede, they won't take him with them. The pulling he felt as a wave approached made him feel like he was being pulled out with the water. He loves the beach and would go everyday if we could : )

last time we went, i forgot a couple changes of clothes!!

It's very stimulating. If your son has a hard time being overstimulated, then you want to bring along any strategies that you uses to calm him. But for my son, we were able to manage that by just switching the activities from running in the surf to playing in the sand. Playing in the sand was calming for him. Then we would go back to the surf for a while. And so on. For tactile defensive kids, the sand can be a problem. It wasn't for us.

I think all the suggestions are great. My son loved it and I didn't have to use much of anything except "giant marshmallows" as a reward for taking a break from the water. oh and baby powder for brushing the sand off, can't believe how awesome it works!....there were other kids with ASD at the surfer's healing event that would have appreciated watershoes. At the event itself all the kids had lifejackets on, and in the back they had a loop...I though if my kiddo couldn't swim or was a bad runer, then having a life jacket with a "handle" would be a great idea.