Outline

Thesis:

Dolphin Assisted Therapy is something that is growing in the world of behavioral therapy.  Dolphin Assisted Therapy is a type of therapy that can help with assisting in autism along with the other therapies that help with reducing the symptoms of autism.  Many professionals in the medical field state that there is not sufficient research to support the benefits of Dolphin Assisted Therapy.  My opinion is that I believe that Dolphin Assisted Therapy strongly helps with the relieving the symptoms of autism along with regular behavioral therapy.  The key points in Dolphin Assisted Therapy is that I will be defending are the benefits, the research, and the procedure.

Paragraph 1:

Level 1:  In Dolphin Assisted Therapy there are many benefits that can help with relieving the symptoms of autism along with the regular behavioral therapy.

Level2:

“Dolphin Assisted Therapy can effectively improve language, behavior, cognitive processing, attention, motivation to learn, and certain medical conditions.” (Humphries 1)

“Dolphin Assisted Therapy helps children with post traumatic stress disorder, autism, Down’s Syndrome, cancer, and other neurological, physical, or psychological conditions.” (Humphries 1)

Level 3:

 1. Along with the regular therapy the benefits that have been seen along with regular behavioral therapy and Dolphin Assisted Therapies are the processes that have been explained by Humphries.

2. Dolphin Assisted Therapy has showed benefits with the behavioral therapies from autism to stress problems.

Level 4: Conclusion. The benefits that have been stated in research by the therapy centers are the beneficial factors that have helped many different people suffering from autism.

Counter Argument 1:

Level 1: There are many articles of professionals that are not trained in this type of therapy do not believe that the therapy has any real benefits and that it gives a placebo effect.

Level 2:

“Dolphin Therapy may be fun and productive, but it has not been proven more effective than other animal therapies.” (sharoncreativecorner.com)

“Behavioral findings that all of the investigators reported improved behavioral outcome for children receiving DAT” (Humphries 4)

“Social Emotional outcomes included displays of newly emergent kindness, improved attentiveness, initiating play; maintain eye contact, and self control.” (Humphries 4)

Level 3: Although there are some that say that the therapy has not been proven, Humphries has stated that the therapy does have positive outcomes.

Level 4: When in therapy the testing can be uncontrolled but the results that families see are more beneficial than what any test can prove.

Paragraph 2:

Level 1:  The research that has been done has been minimal but the research designs have helped back up the benefits of Dolphin Assisted Therapy.

Level 2:

“All of the investigators reported improved behavioral outcomes for children receiving DAT, with the exception of Servais who reported positive outcomes in only on the two experimental groups.” (Humphries)

“Social emotional outcomes included displays of newly emergent kindness, improved attentiveness, initiating play; maintain eye contact, and self-control.” (Humphries)

“The dolphin therapy is also well complimentary for medicament and therapeutic treatment; it can be used combined with other curative methods.” (International Institute of Dolphin Assisted Therapy)

Level 3: These two studies found that there were beneficial outcomes to Dolphin Assisted Therapy, with emotional and behavioral sides of autism.

Level 4:  These studies were conduct to assist in the daily therapy that those suffering from Dolphin Assisted Therapy go through weekly.

Counter Argument 2:

Level 1: Those that are in the medical field have performed research, they have not found any medical improvements in the patients but with opening their eyes they would see that the therapy has a benefit to it.

Level 2:

“The dolphins are specially trained for therapy. At every treatment session the dolphin, the dolphin’s trainer and therapists (occupation, physical, speech and/or psychotherapists) are present” (http://www.sharonscreativecorner.com/524/the-verdict-dolphin-assisted-therapy-for-autism/)

Level 3: The way that Dolphin Assisted therapy is done is through professionals that have the education behind them. They are trained to work with the different mental and physical disabilities and complimenting this therapy with dolphins only helps move forward in the fight to cure autism.

Level 4: Using dolphins to assist in everyday therapy only excites those that suffer from autism and those that are the family members of those suffering from autism.

Paragraph 3:

Level 1: The procedure of Dolphin Assisted Therapy does not just consist of the children playing with dolphins, they also have different on land therapies and different behavioral tests that they have to pass in order to swim and play with the dolphins.

Level 2:

“DAT consists of defining a treatment goal for the individual child, such as completing a gross or fine motor task or producing a language behavior.”

The first step is the Recreation which the families of autism stay in a resort type area and with this comes activities that are administered and organized by the staff of a Dolphin Assisted Therapy center.  The second step is the Counseling which the entire family that is with the child that is autistic takes part in a therapeutic session at the beginning and the end of the each treatment week.  During the therapeutic session the families and the counselors view the child’s behavior with the dolphin and focus on working with improving their behavioral attitudes in other environments other than the Dolphin Center. The third step is the interaction with the dolphins and in this step they get introductions into how to treat the mammal and interact with them in thirty minute sessions (Erwin Breitenbach)

Level 3: The tasks that the patient must achieve are just like a regular therapy such as learning to express their emotions, make eye contact, making physical moves, and making sentences.

Level 4: The process of Dolphin Assisted Therapy helps the patient achieve goals and to be excited about something that is different than the regular day to day therapies.

Counter Argument 3:

Level 1: Some believe that the therapy is a cure for autism but there are professionals in the medical field that also work in the Dolphin Assisted Therapy to help bring different perspectives into the medical field.

Level 2:

“We must remember that Dolphin Assisted Therapy does not “cure” Autism, or related disorders, but well-structured therapy has shown rapid improvement in symptoms by reducing stress, elevating mood, modifying behavior and improving speech and learning patterns.” (sharonscreativecorner.com)

Level 3: While it is misunderstood with many people that have family with autism believe that it can cure autism, it only reduces the symptoms of autism with behavioral therapies.

Level 4: It is a great way to assist and a fun way to reduce the symptoms of autism along with regular therapy.