The rhythmic bobbing of the waves, the ocean’s white noise and the wetsuits’ compression help regulate a person’s nervous system June 9, 2026, 5:05 a.m. ET Nate and Jackie Barrington often rely on technology to communicate with their 21-year-old son, Ian. Ian, who is on the autism spectrum, can understand his parents. But he struggles with communicating back. “His receptive capacity is amazing. It is his expressive [capacity], that’s where the signal is lost,” Nate Barrington said.