Free Dolphin Therapy Webinar on 21.10.2010

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We like to invite interested persons to our Webinar. Dolphin Therapy presents a special possibility for kids with Autism, Asperger's Syndrome and other neurological differences to find new ways to health and to alleviate their ailments.

In our Dolphin Therapy in Marmaris, in Turkey, we offer our patients individually concerted therapies. Contact with our dolphins plays a central role. But a complete therapy is important, which is why Hippo therapy in a riding school, Physiotherapy, Cranio-Sacral and Ergo therapy are integrated in our program.

We receive many queries from affected parents as also from people interested in therapy. Now and then they are concerned or have reservations, this shows us how important it is to provide information and explanations with respect to Dolphin Therapy.

This prompted us to organize a free Dolphin Therapy online event. We will give first-hand reports on this interesting form of therapy and provide insights and background to our methods of work.

Appointed day: Thursday, 21.10.2010, 16.30 – 17.30 BST (GMT+1)

Further information and registration on our Dolphin Therapy webinar

www(dot)dolphin-therapy(dot)org

Most often, the dolphins in these type of programs are captured from the wild and mistreated. No thanks!

FWIW, my son's special interest in kindergarten was killer whales. We decided to take the plunge and visit SeaWorld and Discovery Cove for the dolphin swim.

I will say this: swimming with dolphins doesn't necessarily provide the best environment for a child with sensory issues: the water is REALLY cold, you have to wear a zip-up wetsuit all day long, it's all saltwater so it stings your eyes and sticks to your skin (it's not suggested to wear anything like goggles that might come off as the dolphins think it's a toy) and it's bright, extremely noisy, and there are lots of other people. DS made it through - we had to get him used to deep cold water (they let you wear life vests) quickly during the day, and his interest overrode his reluctance - but it was a close call.

When we got to our dolphin "swim," we shared it with about 15 other people. DS really had difficulty keeping still, and the dolphin clearly didn't like that - she actually swam away and hid for a bit (I swear, she gave him the evil eye just like a mean NT mother.) After a bit of coaxing on the part of the trainer, she came back - and DS stepped back, understanding that bouncing up and down was upsetting her, but unable to stop. Eventually, he calmed down enough - and she got acclimated enough - for him to pet her (it is also surprising to find how big they actually are - she was a garden-variety bottlenose, but up close you realized that she was longer and in some places wider than our big sofa.) and ask all kinds of special-interest questions to impress the trainer. (He won his own game of "guess the cetacean" at Seaworld, correctly identifying every obscure dolphin and whale species they had on display.)

We did have to make some concessions: he refused to "swim" with her (they have you swim out to the middle of the pool and then hold the dolphin's dorsal fin while it tows you back to shore) and wouldn't "kiss" her for the photo op, (we didn't push either thing, of course) but he did get out there and pet her and experience her up close and personal. (We were able to combine this trip with a visit to Kennedy Space Center and see the Space Shuttle, his other special interest. It was pretty neat to be able to really let him get involved in both things on one trip.)

If he hadn't been so invested in the special interest, the trip would have been a complete and very expensive disaster. I don't know anything about this program in particular, but I'd caution parents who are looking into this to be very aware of their child's limitations.

Thanks for your feedback and thoughts.

Please don´t compare our center with facilities like sea world or show dolphinariums.

We take our natural and social responsibility seriously!

We are working each day with our little angels and see all the small and large miracles we achieve with our therapy, so we seeing this with different eyes. For further information you can visit our blog, blog (dot) dolphin-therapy (dot) org where we publish all our patient reports, positive and negative voices.

Our dolphins are not held in an enclosed pool, this would not be even nearly appropriate for dolphins and they would waste away. We hold our dolphins in an open and extensive sea-water enclosure in Marmaris bay.

Through our extensive and naturalist sea water enclosures, fully equipped technical and veterinary facility, and our experienced international team of experts in zoological and marine biological areas (who are also attached to the Turkish marine biologist Universities) we are successfully the only Rescue Center for stranded or ill sea mammals and turtles on the whole Turkish Mediterranean coast.

Do you offer reimbursement for expenses, including travel and related costs, for parents who enroll in your program and then find their child is unable to participate due to their various sensitivities?

We investing a lot of time for each patient which is interested to take part in a dolphin therapy on our center. Each patient has to fill out first a comprehensive questionnaires. Our therapists and doctors in Marmaris are doing a detailed review. After this first check we request further medical diagnosis, medical history, a photo of the patient and a medical certificate stating that the patient is fit to travel and to take part in dolphin therapy. Our doctors in the Dolphin Therapy Centre in Marmaris analyse the documents they have received, decide whether or not a dolphin therapy would be beneficial and propose a course of treatment based on the Patient's disabilities.

As far as I know it never happened that a patient came and could not take place in the therapy. But I will check this again with our senior executive.

Best regards, Steffen

Do you only work with children? Do you offer private tours for someone like momsparky's son and myself? Can a person wear their own clothes or do they have to wear the facility's wetsuits? I never understood that policy. If the dolphins basicaly live in a clean lab, people should not be allowed in with them at all. Let me know if you get a meerkat interaction program and I will sign up right away. If you only work with children, you really out to expand your clientel becuase dispite popular beilef, autistic children don't disapear once they turn 21 and I know of countless autistic adults who would love to do something like this.

Basically we have mainly kids and younger patients because as ealier you start a therapy as more beneficial it can be. But we have also regularly adults and even elderly persons in our center.

I´m inviting you again to join our Dolphin Therapy Webinar on October 21st to discuss your questions in detail with our leading therapist, Barbara Dietrich, which can give clear answers.