Dolphin Therapy

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Does it work? A friend of mine spent a lot of money to take her autistic son overseas to have dolphin therapy. She says that there are visible improvments in her son's behaviour after 5 sesions.

Where I live there is a seaworld where you can go and swim with dolphins, I was wondering if this may help my 7 y.o. AS daughter with her anxiety. She is very excited by the ideea, she loves animals. It's not a place where they do therapy, just a place where kids can swim and pat dolphins.

Do you have any experience with this?

I have no experience with this but I'd say if you can afford it, it's worth a try.

In this seaworld place first I'd suggest though, no point in spending tonnes of money if a local place can help, even if it's just swimming advertised.

It looks like she realy likes the idea. I'd say go for it but I don't think that it's a magic bullet that would make everything better,but it will build wonderful childhood memories and give her something realy cool to talk about with her friends and classmates.

I know that having positive memories helps. Animals can help, in my view, because they don't judge and you don't have to worry about body language around them. But I agree with CRD, it's not a magic bullet, just a positive experience. For some Aspies, positive experiences are hard to come by, it would be good to try it and see.

Autistic people and animals get along well together, thats really about it.

If the child has fun, and gets to play with the animal, it may help them feel better. Feeling better means less anxiety, which leads to fewer problems. But you dont need a dolphin to do it. Getting a nice big fluffy passive dog that you can hug and pet works just as well. It is also a lot cheaper to visit your neighbor with a dog then to go swim with dolphins. Or you could just adopt a dog yourself from the local pound. They are pretty cheap.

But if you get a dog, try to get on that is nice, and passive. Usually an adult Labrador or Retriever work best, but any breed will do so long as it has a calm personality.

Cats can be good too, as pets.

I think its less about the dolphines than the fact that when you give a spectrum child an activity they absolutely love - in that, peaceful, all-is-right-with-the-world way - it is really helpful. Some spectrum kids do really well with horse therapy for the same reason. For my son, its hiking in complete solitude. I am so glad we found a key for him that is 100% free