The Full Circle Program is an animal-assisted therapy program which offers children with disabilities therapy sessions with rescued and rehabilitated marine animals. The program utilizes dolphins, sea turtles, otters and fish in activities designed to help each child progress toward his or her specific treatment goals.

Dolphin-assisted therapy sessions are conducted in a pool-side, rather than a swim format. Therapist and trainer work closely to ensure a positive experience for both dolphin and child. During the interaction, the dolphin is utilized as both the stimulus (therapeutic task) and the reward (interaction following task). Complementary activities such as food preparation, feeding, training, husbandry care and play serve to engage the child and maintain the focus on therapy tasks. Full Circle therapy sessions have proven effective at stimulating, motivating and rewarding participants.

The Full Circle Program works almost exclusively with local children from the Tampa Bay area. Each participant attends weekly, one-hour sessions for twelve weeks; in some cases, a child's participation may be "renewed" for another term. All therapy sessions are documented with progress notes. While results vary with each individual, significant improvements have been noted in the areas of attention span, expressive speech and social skills. The subjective variables of happiness, confidence and self-esteem are difficult to quantify, yet often show remarkable improvement.

Now in its fifth year, the Full Circle Program continues to offer children with disabilities exciting and beneficial dolphin-assisted therapy experiences. As the field of dolphin-assisted therapy begins to develop and diversify, Full Circle demonstrates one of the many options available to therapists hoping to create and conduct dolphin-assisted therapy programs at other marine facilities in the near future.

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