 |
|
Therapeutic Animatronic Dolphin
[ Conclusions ][ About Dolphin Human Therapy ][ Testimonials ] |
Animal Makers, Inc is proud to work with Dr. David Nathanson
(President & Founder of Dolphin Human Therapy) in helping develop a new and better way
to reinforce rehabilitation for children and adults with disabilities.
| Dolphin Human Therapy uses Atlantic Bottlenosed dolphins as reinforcement for children with disabilities. However, dolphins are expensive to use and subject to many environmental, administrative/legal and practical limitations. An alternative reinforcer, an animatronic dolphin named TAD (therapeutic animatronic dolphin) was designed, built and compared with real dolphins as a reinforcer for 35 children with disabilities, representing ten diagnoses, seven countries and five languages. An ABA design and data analysis examined three critical issues.
First, no significant difference was found between dolphins and TAD was found in eliciting orienting responses of touching and/or saying words for all study participants.
Second, no significant difference between dolphins and TAD was found in eliciting orienting response of touching and/or saying words for children with ability groupings of moderate or severe levels of disability. For children with profound disabilities, TAD was significantly more effective in eliciting and orienting response of looking.
Third, response times to either dolphins or TAD were the same whether the reinforcement was given from a platform or in the water. Interaction with TAD provided the same or more therapeutic benefits as interaction with dolphins, without the environmental, administrative/legal and practical limitations, including high cost, associated with dolphins.
Since the late 1980s, animal-assisted therapy programs have increased in number, as have scientific studies evaluating the
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
Click on the picture
to see a larger version. |
|
| potential of animals to assist in therapeutic environments. According to the Delta Society, animal-assisted therapy program work with clinics, hospitals, schools, nursing homes and correctional facilities. Those programs most often use domestic animals, such as dogs or horses. When exotic animals are used, they are, unlike dolphins, usually small in size and easily transportable. Why, then, use dolphins as part of therapeutic intervention?
Research on dolphin intelligence and learning style, and water as a useful environment for stress reduction, pain relief, and improvement in ambulation, balance and flexibility, suggest water reinforcement with dolphins may be consistent with optimum conditions needed for cognitive and motor improvement in human populations with disabilities has been used as an effective reinforcement for populations with disabilities for short and long-term gains physically, cognitively, and behaviorally.
But dolphins are associated with environmental, legal/administrative and practical limitations which make their use costly and inflexible in program design compared with domestic animals or other possibilities, such as robotic or animatronic animals.
The specific purpose of this study was to compare the reinforcement effectiveness of two independent variables, real dolphins and TAD (therapeutic animatronic dolphin), for children with disabilities. Reinforcement effectiveness was determined by comparing three outcome measures in baseline (a lagoon with real dolphins), and treatment (in a pool with TAD). The three outcome measures were orienting responses of looking at, touching, or saying to the stimulus board; and the time necessary for the reinforcement to occur.
|
|
|
Note: This is only a small part of the full article on this topic.
For the full article (Written by Dr. David Nathanson), which contains all the information on this study, click here. |
|
[ top ]
Conclusions:
In addition to current limitations associated with dolphins, future legal and administrative restrictions could include reductions in time spent in water with dolphins, or eliminating in-water interaction completely. No such potential limitations are associated with TAD.
Further research is needed to compare the effectiveness of TAD with companion animals, with more diverse populations, using therapeutic techniques other than behavioral therapy, and with larger populations samples. The therapeutic use of virtual dolphins also needs investigation, especially with populations who are not dependant, as are most children with disabilities, on multisensory input, including tactile stimulation.
Use of dolphins, compared with traditional reinforcers, is clinally and cost effective in both the short and long-term for populations with severe disabilities. The intelligence, spontaneity and physical attributes of dolphins, such as soft skin and a pleasing smile, probably contribute to their effectiveness as a reinforcer. There is speculation that use of dolphin sonar may contribute to reducing stress and helping in the therapeutic process. No such effect has been observed with children with disabilities receiving therapy from Dolphin Human Therapy. Sonar may have therapeutic applications with other populations.
Cost effective treatment is an important consideration in rehabilitation for people with disabilities. Results of the current study indicate a significant preference for TAD by some individuals. Greater reliability of reinforcement by TAD, and a slightly faster response time when TAD was a reinforcer, suggests TAD is at least as clinically effective as dolphins, and much less costly. Given high cost and limitations associated with dolphins, such equal effectiveness as a reinforcer provides a powerful argument for the use of TAD in clinical situations.
It is not clear if animal-assisted therapy will become a standard procedure used in rehabilitation, but the number of animal-assisted therapy programs will surely increase. Even though the evidence, from both research and clinical experience, is that dolphins are highly successful as motivators and reinforcers for people with disabilities, the cost and other limitations associated with dolphins make their therapeutic use impractical on a global scale.
TAD, and future models, could help people where they live, instead of requiring people to travel to the dolphins. TAD is a complex machine that looks, feels, sounds, and moves like a real dolphin.
In photos of baseline and treatment, the dolphins and TAD are virtually indistinguishable. TAD may become a model rehabilitation technology that can be used to help all people, not just children with disabilities.
|
If your are interested in seeing all of Animal Maker's dolphins, click here.
If you are interested in starting your own project with Animal Makers, click here.
|
[ top ]
Dr. David Nathanson
President & Founder
Website
|
About Dolphin Human Therapy:
Dolphin Human Therapy is a 5-day per week, 41-week per year professional rehabilitation program utilizing dolphins as part of the therapy. From 1995 through 2005, Dolphin Human Therapy treated approximately 4,000 children and adults with disabilities, representing more than 70 primary diagnoses, 60 countries, 39 states, and more than 40,000 therapy sessions. Since 1999, Dolphin Human Therapy has been located at Dolphin Cove, Key largo, Florida.
The two theoretical bases for the therapy program are the attention deficit hypothesis and operant conditioning. The interdisciplinary team model is used to deliver services. The attention deficit hypothesis suggests that the relative inability of people with mental retardation to learn primarily a function of a deficit in physiological attention to the relevant dimensions of stimuli, rather than an inability to process information. Therefore, learning may be induced in human beings with mental retardation by increasing time of exposure to the relevant cues of stimuli and providing pleasurable multisensory integration experience. Operant conditioning research suggests that applied behavior analysis and behavior modification techniques, especially positive reinforcement, are most effective, compared with other treatment models, in helping with serious disabilities.
Dolphin Human Therapy employs experienced, appropriately licensed or certified professionals from rehabilitation disciplines such as physical, occupational and speech therapies, nursing, special education, and psychology. All therapists provide therapy within and across disciplines. About 40 rehabilitation interns each year participate in the Dolphin Human Therapy program.
|
|
[ top ]
Testimonials: |
|
This is just a quick note to thank you and your entire team at Animal Makers, Inc for making this research and development project so successful.
Your puppeteers, engineers, production people, and entire team were super to work with. Your team really made TAD come to life in the pool for the children. You and your team's creativity are only exceeded by your professionalism, sensitivity, and talent!
The potential of TAD as observed over the last five days could revolutionize therapeutic tools used in rehabilitation and therapy for special needs children and perhaps adults.
On behalf of the children and families that participated in this test, and on behalf of the special needs children of the world that may experience TAD in the future, thank you.
|
|
Just a quick note to the entire team at Animal Makers, Inc for making the TAD experience so special! Thanks. You made TAD come to life for the children. You are the best puppeteers in the world and TAD is a very special puppet with a lot of potential.
I enjoyed meeting all of you. We learned a lot and are amazed at how creative you all are. You were all so accommodating and helpful. Not many people can pick up on all the subtle intricacies of therapy as quickly as you all did.
It was a pleasure to work with such professional and fun people. On behalf of the families, the children, and us, thanks. We hope that some of you will come see Dolphin Human Therapy (DHT) in action in Key Largo, Florida someday. But if you don't get a chance soon, at least visit our website, and stay in contact by e-mail.
|
|
|
|
Sincerely,
Christina Collins
Director, Media & Public Relations
Dolphin Human Therapy |
|
Sincerely,
Jennifer Reuschlein
Speech Language Pathologist
Dolphin Human Therapy |
|
|
|
|
 |
