Graduating from Portage

The National Portage Association is “named after the town of Portage in Wisconsin, USA. It was developed there as a way of supporting parents in helping their children in their own homes” http://www.portage.org.uk/.

t is a charity that works closely with the county council community services and provide educational play therapy for children with additional needs.

They work with profiles and developmental checklists which feed into the journals used by early support services and educational settings, helping to identify additional needs, strengths and targets for future learning.

Our Home Visitor has been fantastic!

Of all the people we have met through early support services she is the one who has got to know Twinkle the best, partly because she has had such regular contact, but mostly because play therapy is fun!

She gets to see more of Twinkle’s developing personality than anyone else and bring out the giggles in her.

Another dimension has been that she is a parent of a child with additional needs herself and therefore has been in our shoes.

Of course this isn’t a pre-requisite for providing caring therapy to a child, but it really does make such a difference emotionally for me as a parent knowing that I am speaking to someone who really does understand a lot of the journey our family is taking.

Our Home Visitor has been a regular visitor and friendly face to the whole family.

Someone to answer questions about the often confusing early support, health and education system and the person who sorted out the gaps in support for Twinkle for us – the involvement of Visual Impairment team (much needed as Twinkle has cortical VI) and a referral for Music Therapy (which Twinkle loves and really brings her to life!).

The portage service in our area help to run weekly groups for children with additional needs at various children’s centres around the city. They have also been running an annual portage party!

We went to the party last year and it was great to meet lots of other families similar to ours and to be in an environment where we were all ‘normal’!

We met some lovely people who we have since kept in touch with (in real life and also found we were in the same online support forums – small ‘additional needs’ world!).

However, now that Twinkle has gone up to 15 hours at nursery we have come to the end of our entitlement to portage visits and we had to have a very emotional (for all of us!) sign off visit a few weeks ago.

My little baby is growing up and growing out of early support services ready to start school!

And we will really miss our regular visits from our lovely friend……I really hope we will manage to keep in touch!

I Run 4

Tim explains; “I run because I can. When I get tired, I remember those who can’t run, what they would give to have this simple gift I take for granted, and I run harder for them.” (source: http://www.whoirun4.com/about-ir4/)

I registered Hugh, my 4 year old son who has severe developmental delay, and he was quickly paired with a runner from America.

Runners and their ‘buddies’ are encouraged to post regularly ion the Facebook group with photos, details of their run or workout, news and messages of support.

The page is a hive of daily activity with buddies and runners from all over the world sharing stores, building relationships and making connections.

Some runners compete in races wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the name of their buddy then send the medals on to them.

Some runners and buddies have met, others run in virtual races and clock up the miles to cover the distance between them.

Some runners post photos of their workouts all with the message – ‘I’m doing this for you’; the person they’re running for spurring them on to train harder or run faster.

The buddies send regular updates – what they’re doing at school for example – and some post cards and letters or pictures to their runners.

They also have two secondary organisations, building on the foundations of the original idea:

Kerri on: I run for remembrance: where athletes are paired with families who’ve lost members due to special needs conditions, sudden death or other tragedies

I run 4 siblings: the unsung heroes: which pairs athletes with the brothers and sisters of children with special needs.

Hugh being matched with a runner was fabulous, but he is profoundly disabled and has no awareness of it.

I have enjoyed making connections with his runner though and sharing stories about Hugh with her and she has offered encouragement and support, particularly when Hugh has been in hospital or unwell.

For our family it is The I Run 4 Siblings group which has had the most positive impact.

Siblings of children with special needs are often the forgotten heroes in the drama.

Sean, at just 6 years old, has witnessed and experienced things no child ever should.

He has watched me resuscitate Hugh countless times, he’s witnessed his baby brother being whisked away in an ambulance with blue lights and sirens, and he’s seen him hooked up to all kinds of monitors and machines in hospital.

From a very young age he knew how to ring for an ambulance and he’s already adept at tube feeding.

Even with the best of intentions our lives revolve a little (and sometimes a lot) around Hugh. If Hugh’s ill we can’t leave the house – friends and family take Sean to school for me.

If Hugh’s in hospital (which is often), Sean is palmed off on whoever can help, since I need to stay in the hospital and their dad needs to work – unfortunately those bills still need paying!

We do our very best to make Sean feel important and special but he knows, and accepts with his adult-like empathy, that often Hugh’s needs are our priority.

And that makes me very sad.

So when Sean got paired with a runner I was delighted to share it with him. This was something just for him.

He has been really involved with messaging Sarah, his runner, and is excited to hear from her.

The teacher in me couldn’t resist using it to teach him about the world – so we looked at where Sarah is from in America and where she has been deployed to with the army and found them on the globe.

We found out the time zones in both those places and at various times of the day we’d check to see if Sarah or her family at home would be awake or asleep.

Sean’s really impressed she’s in the army and has asked lots of questions about war in the Middle East.

He eagerly scours the photos she posts for any tanks or guns and even asked if she might be able to send him a real one!

In return, Sean likes to tell Sarah about football (or rather soccer as she calls it).

He’s shared his love of Aston Villa with her and about the matches he’s played with his local team.

And when he received an engraved medal at his football-themed birthday party earlier this year – he asked me to post one out to Sarah. Last week Sean was off school with a bug.

He sat curled up on the sofa watching films.

Then up popped this: All the way from an army base in Kuwait came a get well message. #And what followed were messages to ‘feel better soon’ and ‘get well’ from runners and buddies alike all over the world! Sean was absolutely delighted.

If you would like to find out more about I Run 4, their website is here: http://www.whoirun4.com/

Hello! Everyone meet AJ

After a perfect pregnancy and an eventful labour, he was born blue, floppy and lifeless with apgar scores of 2, 2 and 7.

As part of Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month, today’s post is from Emmy Heaton.

Mum to AJ who has Cerebral Palsy.

He needed a lot of help and resuscitation, and with that he took his first gasp at 6 and a half minutes old, and then another one at 9 minutes.

He was then intubated and whisked off to NICU to be cooled as part of the TOBY trial. Cooling is where the babies core temperature is lowered to 33 degrees (induced hypothermia) for 72 hours after birth.

This was to help slow down and hopefully stop any further swelling/damage to his brain.

When AJ was born he were diagnosed with severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy HIE, grade 3 and he had bleeds on his brain.

Whilst in NICU me and my partner were told to expect the worst, and at the very best we should expect our precious boy to be severely disabled.

We were given ‘the talk’, the talk which no parent should have to sit through.

Did we want them to stop helping him with his breathing?

Of course we didn’t want them to stop, why were they even asking us this?

He was our baby, we didn’t care about how much care he would need, we just wanted him to survive.

It was like a huge kick in the gut, and if it wasn’t for the help and support I got from the NICU nurses, my partner and family, I don’t think I would’ve got through it like I did.

Aj has had a lot of struggles in his life, countless tests, Physio appointments, OT assessments, EEG’s, MRI’s, blood tests, sensory assessments, hearing tests and Botox.

Sometimes I think we should live in the hospital!

But he has undergone all of these tests and appointments with grace and he still manages to come out with a big beautiful smile at the end of it all.

While he was a baby, I feel I was quite ignorant to the fact he had extra needs, it was our normal (I had no other children). He missed a lot of milestones, yet I was still in denial.

“He will catch up, he has to”.

I think I also put aside my own feelings more than I should’ve. I pushed people away and lost quite a few friends. I just didn’t have the time for people anymore!

Aj was 11 months old when he was ‘officially’ diagnosed. They said he has significant delays and that he has cerebral palsy. Spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy.

I wasn’t shocked, I knew it was coming, but I didn’t expect it to hurt like it did. I felt like we were back in NICU, because that’s where we’d last heard that term.

Eventually I felt comfortable enough to tell people his diagnosis, I tried to avoid telling people face to face, as I hated to sympathetic head tilt, and the “Aww but he’s so cute though”.

I didn’t want people to pity us.

It’s getting easier to tell people, and easier to discuss his difficulties with others. But I still struggle when I think about his future.

I worry whether he’ll be happy, whether we can do enough for him and sometimes I worry I do too much for him.

I worry he won’t have friends and one of my biggest fears is bullying or what will happen when I’m not around to protect him?

In September Aj should hopefully be starting at a special needs school. I am SO excited for him to go, I’m really hoping he’ll blossom whilst he’s there, they have a huge sensory room which I know he will love!

The thing I would most like to tell people, is to find joy in each day.

Whether it’s something huge or just a little something to smile about.

I’ll admit, I struggle to find things to smile about some days but it does help when everything’s not all doom and gloom.

Our lives are still pretty busy, we have around 4-8 appointments every week, sometimes even more!

The list of diagnosis seems to be growing again, he is currently under investigation for epilepsy and autism.

They should include on that list that he has an infectious smile and his awesomely, cheeky personality. The difference now is I make sure I talk about it, whether it’s to the doctor, my partner or my mum.

I make sure someone knows how I feel about it all. And that helps a LOT! My sunshine keeps shining bright throughout all this, he keeps me going.

Conductive Education Therapy

CE consolidates forms of education and rehab in a client centred approach, and helps people with lifelong disabilities improve/maintain their maximum level of independence by improving their physical, cognitive and problem solving abilities by working collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team (Tuersley-Dixon et al, 2010).

The role of the ‘teacher’, known as a Conductor; Analyses, provides feedback, keeps tempo, guides, practices, coordinates, encourages and motivates individuals as they gain mastery of their minds and bodies.

The “conductor’s music” is the particular functions and everyday tasks that a person needs to perform in order to reach their maximum level of independence and control.

This method aims to avoid learned helplessness that may come from doing too much for a child, rather than teaching the child to do things for itself.

Who can be treated?

Conductive education is suitable for children and adults with neurologically based disorders of movement, balance, voluntary and involuntary muscle control, perception, speech and language.

Suitable conditions include; Cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Stroke and Acquired Head Injury

Conductive Education in Northern Ireland

Background

In Northern Ireland, Conductive Education is administered a Buddy Bear Trust School.

This school was set up by the Buddy Bear Trust charity for children who suffer from cerebral palsy and motor disorders. Conductive education at the School has had life changing consequences for some of the children who have been lucky enough to attend.

The School can only help 12 children, each on a part-time basis. This is due to lack of funds and consequently, lack of teachers.

The school is, however recognised by the Educational Authorities in Northern Ireland as a Private Independent School.

Cost

The Buddy Bear Trust School is an independent school recognised and inspected by the department of Education.

The Education and Library Boards have paid the fees to enable children to be educated at the school since it opened in 1993.

The Education and Library Boards also pays a travel allowance to parents/guardians if necessary.

Parents pay nothing for the provision of the services of the school.

Whilst all political parties in Northern Ireland have been very supportive over many years, public funding has been very limited.

Referral process

Any parent who wishes to have a child attend the school should first of all contact the school and arrange an appointment to meet the principal Ildiko Veres who will then assess whether the child can be admitted to the school.

Any child of school age will be considered for admission.

Children of pre-school age will have the opportunity of attending the Mother and Child Group.

Parents may indicate a preference for the Buddy Bear School and if the statement names the Buddy Bear School the Education and Library Board must place the child in the school and pay fees and may also pay a contribution towards travelling expenses.

Arranging for a Board to place a child in the school can be quiet a long and complicated procedure so it is recommended that the parents start the process as soon as possible.

Contact

Buddy Bear Trust Killyman Road Dungannon BT71 6DE

Tel & Fax: 028 87752025

Email: [email protected]

Research

Strong evidence based research on Conductive education is limited and it has been assessed in only a few controlled studies which have focused mainly on progress in motor skills, and the method has been compared to traditional physiotherapy.

These studies are known to have been unsuccessful to reveal the dominance of conductive education.

There has been no scientific examination of long-term success or cost effectiveness of the therapy as a whole.

A review by Darah et al in 2004 found that the research literature did not provide conclusive evidence either in support of or against conductive education, and that the limited number of studies and their poor quality made failed to provide purely evidence-based decision-making about conductive education.

References

Darrah, J., Watkins, B., CHEN, L., BONIN, C., 2004. Conductive education intervention for children with cerebral palsy: an AACPDM evidence report. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 46, pp.87–203.

Fossberg, H., Rosbald, B, 2000. Conductive education -an educational program for children with cerebral palsy, Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care.

Sutton., A, 1999. Towards Conductive Education. In ISBN 978-963-85499-2-1

TUERSLEY- DIXON, L., FREDERICKSON, N., 2010. Conductive education: appraising the evidence. Educ Psychol Pract, 26, pp. 353–73.

Our DIY Assistance Dog

From very early on, I knew that I wanted to get a dog to support Lil Z, our daughter with multiple disabilities.

I firmly believed (and still do) it would improve her life.

It became my obsession.

Our journey started with a whole lot of research. I read anything I could find and spoke to organizations that provided assistance dogs, dog breeders, dog trainers, and a very helpful woman who uses an assistance dog herself. Nearly every one I spoke with was convinced that their approach, their breed of dog, their programme was best for us.

In Australia, a fully trained, registered assistance dog costs around $25,000 – so it’s not something to go into lightly.

Add to that the responsibility for caring for the dog, and it wasn’t something we wanted to rush into.

I realized that Lil Z isn’t a typical candidate for an assistance dog.

In fact, what we really wanted was to pick-and-choose amongst the skills of several different types of assistance dogs: one that can provide companionship, alert us when she is having a seizure, and help control some of her behaviours, such as calming her when she is upset and stopping some of her repetitive movements.

We also wanted to choose our own breed of dog. Our daughter spends a lot of time rolling on the floor and requires medical equipment, so we didn’t want dog hair everywhere.

The dog would also need to be big enough for her to be able to reach it from a wheelchair – a dog sitting on her lap was not an option.

And we needed a dog that was both intelligent and extremely good with children.

We decided that a good choice for us would be a golden retriever – standard poodle cross (called a Groodle or Goldendoodle).

After more research and lots of emails and phone calls, I had found us a Goldendoodle breeder and a dog trainer who not only had experience, but also understood what we were trying to achieve.

When the litter of puppies arrived, we spent considerable time choosing the right one. There is no way to know for certain which puppy would be the best assistance dog, so we looked for a puppy that responded well to Lil Z.

After two visits, we chose our puppy, and a few weeks later, Ben came to join our family. Unfortunately, Lil Z had a major seizure the morning after Ben arrived and instead of bonding with her new puppy, she spent the week in hospital.

However, Ben stepped easily into the role of supporting Vegemite, our older daughter – and they have since formed a special bond of their own. Starting immediately after Ben arrived, we’ve been working hard to make him what our trainer calls ‘bomb proof’.

He has to be able to go everywhere without getting scared or anxious.

So from a very early age he has been out and about with us – going for walks, the school run, out for coffee (I’ve personally ensured he has no fear of cafes or cappuccino machines), and anywhere else we go.

He has also been attending training classes to learn his obedience basics. At 9 months, he is a friendly, social and (mostly) well-behaved dog. So, we’re now preparing to increase the intensity of the training and begin to focus on his role as an assistance dog.

Its too early to tell if we will be successful in training Ben to a level where he can become a registered assistance dog, able to go everywhere with Lil Z. It is not easy – it is a learning process for us, as well as Ben, and is incredibly time-consuming.

At the end of the day, we will get out of it what we put into it – which sounds great but when managing jobs, two children (one with special needs) and all the rest, practicing dog commands can sometimes slip.

Despite the uncertainty, we don’t regret getting Ben.

He has become (in the words of our trainer) a ‘family therapy dog’. He is already helping with therapy activities and learning to calm Lil Z with his presence.

And he enthusiastically cleans her up when she’s been sick (we call him the vomit response dog). His love and devotion to Vegemite gives her emotional support, which she needs as the sibling of a child with special needs.

And the rest of the time, the two of them just have lots of fun.

He fills the gap of playmate that has been left by Lil Z’s disabilities. Ben’s happy – and often just plain silly – nature cheers up everyone and he’s always good at lightening the mood after a hard day.

Taking him for walks or playing with him in the garden blows away the cobwebs and makes you feel better.

And we all love to have a cuddle with him. It has been hard work and will take a lot of dedication and time over the next year or two.

But choosing Ben to be our DIY assistance dog has been the right choice for us.

The Internet – A Special Needs Parent’s Best Friend

I remember when I was pregnant I joined one of those pregnancy forums.

I remember being surprised by how much people worried about every little flinch or every remote lack of movement.

What I remember most was being able to log on and ask questions that your doctor or midwife may not be available to answer at the time you want to know.

I spoke to a lady on there who was a few months behind me in her pregnancy – then the birth trauma occurred and I disappeared from the forum all together.

She found me on Facebook and had been following my daughter’s page for a while.

It turns out she had an almost exact birth trauma as myself and as a thank you for being so supportive she sent me her second hand I-pad.

I was absolutely overwhelmed by the kindness shown to me by this wonderful family in Scotland of whom I have never met in real life.

There have been numerous occasions where a rash has appeared I didn’t like the look of, or Amy has tolerated a feed unexpectedly, or the feeding pump has decided to make an unexpected error at me… or even just a silly question that I would feel daft asking a doctor has popped into my head… all situations where I have been able to log onto the relevant forum and get instant answers from not doctors, not nurses… but actual people living this day in and day out.

I don’t know how I would have got through this year had it not been for the various forums on Facebook.

Nor would I know about the extensive range of equipment and therapies out there.

There have been times when I approached professionals about a medication we wanted to trial but had only been listened to once providing a case study to prove my reasons for wanting the trial. When we started Amy on the blended diet through her gastrostomy it was initially met with a hint of disapproval from our team of specialists. It was only when I did thorough research and discussed the issue with other parents in the same position that I decided to collate all of the information and put it to paper. Once this was all printed out they were delighted with what we were doing and very impressed with what we set out to achieve.

Being a special needs parent can be incredibly isolating.

For me personally my mood can change almost by the minute.

You can feel stress, happiness, anxiety, fatigue, adrenaline, joy, grief and a whole multitude of emotions and when there are times you feel friends and family may not understand you always know you have this extra extended family out there that will totally get what you are going through.

They will share tears with you, they will laugh with you, they are always there as part of your journey.

On the same level I find that Facebook is a fantastic platform to show your loved ones and peers what you are going through and to gain support from them.

I have been amazed by the generosity and kindness of people I rarely even see much in real life. The amount of gifts, fundraising and just well wishes that we get is truly heart warming.

Ironically I must conclude this piece by returning to the feeding pump to figure out why it is beeping at me…either that or it is going out of the window.

Lesson from a Stranger

I wanted to go back to the amusement park we liked to visit during our younger years. Before we knew anything about chromosomes, FISH tests or heard the phrase Smith-Magnis Syndrome.

We had just purchased large mugs of German beer along with bratwurst, sauerkraut and hot potato salad.

We picked up gingerbread men for desert.

We stood in line. A very long line.

And there were no meltdowns over the wait. No screaming or head slapping.

We stood in line the way normal people do. It felt odd, but we went from the checkout counter straight to a table.

Any table we wanted. Not the quiet spot. Not far, far away from the sound system. As soon as we removed our food from the tray, I heard him.

A man was half yelling; half moaning…definitely someone was experiencing sensory overload.

I knew that sound down to my bones. And I had traveled to this amusement park to get away from it.

We had a clear view of the man and his mother. It had to be his mother. She was trying to get him to eat his food, but he was swaying back and forth and clapping his hands.

A group of college-aged kids sat across from them, elbowing each other and laughing.

I didn’t want to, but I looked around.

The entire room was staring at them.

People coming away from the checkout counter made longer trips to avoid walking near their table.

I had imagined this scene so many times: My son, Garrett and I were out in public. Strangers turned away from us.

They were disgusted by his extreme behaviors and odd ways. And then it happened.

All twelve young men stood up, grabbed their trays and left their table in one coordinated motion.

I just had a front row seat to my worst nightmare.

Charlie stood up. I didn’t have to ask if he saw what those bastards had done.

And I didn’t have to ask him where he was going. “Please. Sit down.” I pleaded with my husband, but he continued to gather up his food.

“I just want to pretend that we’re still normal.” He leaned down and whispered in my ear. “We aren’t and we can’t keep pretending.”

He stood back up and waited for me.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and followed him. “Is this seat taken?”

Charlie’s cheerful voice was a stark contrast to the tears I was fighting back.

The man turned towards us and I realized that he was blind. Thank goodness he didn’t know what just happened, I thought. “My name is Charlie.”

Charlie held out his hand but was pulled down into a giant bear hug.

“Nice to meet you, too,” Charlie laughed and sat down next to his new friend.

“This is my wife, Tina.” “Hello.” I did not hold my hand out. The man stood up and grabbed me into a huge hug anyhow.

Maybe he wasn’t completely blind. I had no idea. This new world was entirely foreign to me.

I sat down on the other side of his mother. “Nice to meet you,” she smiled at me.

I had to get my speech out of the way, before I chickened out.

I put my hand on her arm. “We saw what happened and I am so sorry.” She looked confused.

“What happened?” she asked. Oh, God. Was I going to have to explain to her the humongous insult she and her son just suffered?

“Those kids who were sitting here…” “Oh, we weren’t with them,” she interrupted me before I could finish telling her how how sad she should be.

“We have a little boy that reminds me of you,” Charlie chatted with the man.“He’s two years old and at home with his aunt today.” “Oh,” the mom looked at me, “you’ll soon learn what is worth worrying over.”

It was my turn to look confused.

She waved her hand in front of her. “Kids. Even adults. Who cares what they think?”

She motioned towards her son, “He doesn’t care what they think so why should I?”

Ummm….Because that was rude. Because they were mean. Because someday people will stare at Garrett, too.

“Look,” she began, “you can’t change everybody. Maybe those kids will have children like ours someday.

Or, maybe they will never know what they are missing.” She picked up the Dutch Apple Pie from her tray and started eating it.

She looked at me and shrugged her shoulders.

“We just came in here to eat and watch the show.” I didn’t get a chance to give her my reasons for caring about the opinions of strangers.

The lights went down and the performers walked onto the stage. They sang traditional Christmas carols, songs from The Carpenter’s and current Holiday tunes.

During every song, Charlie’s new friend sang along…loud and off key.

He held up his fork like a lighter at a rock concert. His mother just kept on dining and let her son enjoy himself.

He gave the most rousing sing-a-long to Jingle Bells that I had ever witnessed. The lead female singer even left the stage to sing with him.

She received the familiar bear hug and posed long enough for the mom to take a photo.

She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before heading back to the stage.

Clearly, he had something the college boys did not. And his mother had perspective that I did not. But I started to look for it.

And all these years later, I thank her for that.

Sometimes I feel like a Wishy Washy Special Needs Mom

Naturally, I want to make decisions that will be in her best interest. Of course, I want to make decisions that will keep her alive!

I want to make decisions that will improve her quality of life!

I want to make decisions that will make her happy.

I want to make the same decisions for her that I imagine she would make for herself.

It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it! The problem is I never feel 100% positive like I am really making the correct decision.

Am I truly considering what she would want?

Am I truly capable of making an unbiased decision or am I making the decision that I want for her?

Just when I think I’ve finally got everything all figured out, the doubts begin to invade my mind!

I begin to second guess myself. Is what I am about to give my permission for not going to kill her? Is it really in her best interest.

Will it truly make her happy?

Will this decision really improve her life?

Then back to the drawing board I go. I start over from scratch, weighing all the pros and cons once again.

I torture myself as I go over all the terrible risks involved again. I agonize over every grizzly little detail of what could go horribly wrong if I give the “go ahead and do it” green light.

I also go over what could go incredibly wrong if I don’t give my permission to do it and what could go incredibly right if I do!

What harm could befall her if I make this decision?

What harm could befall her If I don’t? How will this decision benefit her.

What benefit will I be denying her If I choose not to do it? I always feel as if caught between a rock and a hard place.

I always feel as if I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t! I don’t want to make the wrong decision.

I want no regrets. I would never forgive myself if I made the wrong decision and something terrible happened to my precious, beloved daughter.

Somehow I must get over my fears and doubts and make that final decision!!

Somehow I always do make that final, once and for all, “there’s no turning back now” decision.

I will always and forever wonder if the decision I made was the right decision or if I should have made a different, better one!

Dolphin Therapy

The idea was first formulated in the 1960s by John Lilly, who studied dolphin-human communication and suggested that dolphins could help improve human communication.

In the 1970s, researchers began analysing the interaction between dolphins and children with neurological impairments.

The procedure was developed by David Nathanson, a clinical psychologist who has conducted a large porportion of the existing research on DAT.

Nathanson’s theory is that children with disabilities will increase their attention to relevant stimuli in the environment as a result of their desire to interact with dolphins (Nathanson, 1998).

Nathanson encourages DAT to be used as a complementary therapy with more traditional, therapeutic procedures (Nathanson, 1998).

However, most of the empirical research on the effectiveness of DAT in the last decade has been conducted primarily by those who operate dolphin-orientated programs. (Humphries, 2003)

Who can benefit?

Research and individual case reports suggest DAT can benefit: · Depression · Learning difficulties · Autism Spectrum Disorders · Down’s syndrome · Post-traumatic stress disorder · Cancer · Other neurological, physical, or psychological conditions

The Programme

DAT consists of defining a treatment goal for the individual child, such as completing a gross or fine motor task (e.g., placing a ring on a peg) or producing a language behavior (e.g., independently saying a word). Materials present during a DAT session include rubber balls or rings forneliciting motor responses, or flash cards depicting objects for languagenresponses. Children receive on-dock orientation to the dolphins, with the child and their therapist typically sitting at the edge of the dock, while a dolphin trainer controls the movements of a dolphin in the water. During orientation, children are able to touch or play with the dolphin from the dock or elicit specific dolphin behaviours through hand signals. After orientation, children engage in a series of therapeutic sessions during which they may interact with the dolphin from the dock or in the water after giving a correct motor, cognitive, or language response. Following each episode of reinforcement, the child and therapist return to the therapeutic task, often with an increasing frequency and complexity of correct responses required for the child to interact with the dolphin. (Humphries, 2003)

Approximate Cost

UK: 2 week treatment – £5000 USA: Five 40-minute sessions – $2600 Europe:10 day programme – €4590

Availability

UK & Ireland: Whale Watch West Cork CarrigillihyUnion Hall Co. CorkIreland Telephone: Mobile 00 353 (0) 86 120 0027 Landline 00 353 (0) 28 3335 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.whalewatchwestcork.com/

The Alexander Trust Richard Conibear 14 Ashford Road Moorfields Bath England Tel: 01225 337178 Web: http://www.thealexandertrust.org.uk/Operation Sunflower Dr Horace Dobbs International Dolphin Watch 10 Melton Road North Ferriby East Yorks HU14 3ET England Tel: 01482 645789 Web: http://www.idw.org/healing.htm

Asia: Dolphin Reef Eilat Southern Beach P.O Box 104 Eilat 88100 Israel Tel: (00 972) 8 637 1846 Web: http://www.dolphinreef.co.il Children are enrolled for 1year programme

Australia: Interspecies Research and Development P.O. Box 198 Gardenvale 3185 VIC Australia Web: http://www.interspecies.org/ The Dolphin Society PO Box 2052 Clovelly Sydney NSW 2052 Australia Web: http://www.dolphinsoc.org/

Europe: MEGA -Sport Reisen Germany Atatürk Street 64, Mares Hotel Sea Side, Icmeler/Marmaris, 48700 Marmaris / Muğla/Turkey Telephone: Landline: +90 252 – 455 40 64 Mobile: +90 533 664 19 51 +90 532 246 95 09 Fax: +90 252 – 455 24 33 Email: [email protected] Web: dolphin-therapy.org

Onmega Ltd. Dolphin-Park Marmaris Cumhuriyet Mah 503 Sokak Ferizcan Ismerkezi KAT 3 No. 6 48300 Fethiye/Mugla Turkey Tel: (0090) 252 614 67 16 Fax: (0090) 252 614 70 62 Email: [email protected] Web: www.yunusterapisi.com

USA: Island Dolphin Care 150 Lorelane Place Key Largo, FL 33037 Tel: 305-451-5884 Fax: 305-453-5399 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.islanddolphincare.org/ Upledger Institute 11211 Prosperity Farms Rd Palm Beach Gardens FL 33410 Tel: 571-622-4706 Fax: 561-627-9231 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.upledgerclinic.com/ Water Planet Mailing Address: 203 Greenwood Dr Panama City Beach, FL 32407 Boat Address: 5709 N. Lagoon Drive Panama City Beach, FL 32408 Telephone: Local: (850) 230-6030 Toll-Free: (866) 449-5591 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.waterplanetusa.com/

Dolphin Human Therapy (DHT) 13605 South Dixie Highway #523 Miami Florida 33176-7252 Tel: (001) 305 378 8670 Web: http://www.dolphinhumantherapy.com/ Lei Aloha Centre Dolphins and You PO Box 4277 Waianae Hawaii 96792-1932 Tel: (00 808) 696 4414 Web: http://www.lei-aloha.com

Dolphin Research Center 58901 Overseas Highway Grassy Key Florida 33050-6019 Tel: (001) 305 289 0002 Web: http://www.dolphins.org/ Clearwater Marine Aquarium Full Circle Programs 249 Windward Passage Clearwater Florida 33767 Tel: (001) 727 441 1790 Web: http://www.cmaquarium.org/ Research Centres The Aquathought Foundation 15921 McGregor Blvd. Suite 2C FT Myers Florida 33908 Tel: (001) 941 437 2958 Web: http://www.aquathought.com

South America: Dolphin Suites Bapor Kibra z/n Curacao Tel: (005999) 4652700 Fax: (005999) 4652701 Email: [email protected] Skype: dolphin.suites.curacao Web: http://www.dolphinsuitescuracao.com/

Research

Humphries (2003) carried out a research synthesis to examine DAT’s effectiveness children six years of age or younger with disabilities.

Humphries found that although claims regarding DAT’s efficacy have been widely promoted as having been proven, the available research evidence does not conclusively support the claims that DAT is effective for improving the behaviours of young children with disabilities.

The results of the synthesis, in addition, do not support the notion that using interactions with dolphins is any more effective than other intervention for improving child learning or social-emotional development.

Fiksdal, Houlihan and Barnes (2012) state the construct validity of DAT is threatened due to the multiple components behind DAT: swimming in the water, being somewhere warmer, being somewhere new or in a different country and sleeping and living in novel settings.

They suggest that these variables need to be controlled before reporting DAT’s sole effectiveness.

Fiksdal, B.L., Houlihan, D. and Barnes, A.C., 2012. Dolphin-Assisted Therapy: Claims versus Evidence. Autism Research and Treatment, 2012, pp. 1-7. Humphries,T.L., 2003. Effectiveness of Dolphin-Assisted Therapy as a Behavioural Intervention for Young Children with Disabilities. Bridges, 1(6), pp. 1-9.