The Child-Dolphin Outreach Program

Speaker:	Robyn Strickland-Gordon
Affiliation:	Gulfarium

This paper presents the theoretical basis for the development of the Gulfarium's child-Dolphin Outreach Program. Using techniques with behaviorism (allowing for structure, direction, and making behavior measurable and observable), client centered therapy (allowing trust, understanding, and safety to make mistakes), and Gestalt (such as discovering new awareness leads the child to take personal control). The methods used in the development of this program correlates with the training of three Atlantic bottlenose Dolphins for the preparation of interacting with patients. Three case studies are described in detail in which Dolphin Assisted Therapy is used. The goal of the Child-Dolphin outreach Program is to aid the child in the processing and development of personal growth.