2009 Dolphin Therapy
Island Dolphin Care
Key Largo, Florida
Classroom session # 1
Date: Monday, July 20, 2009
- Painting bag w. staff
- Nice big smiles
- Full physical prompting to greet staff
- Nice sitting and working with staff
- Used picture schedule with gradual guidance
- Assistance stabilizing hand to allow for independent brush strokes with painting on stamps
- Loved making “hand sandwiches” and cheering when making imprint
- Enjoyed playing with the octopus bucket toy
- Practiced “putting in” needed some coaxing- did a great job with staff support
Dolphin: Bella and Fiji
Water session # 1
Date: Monday,July 20, 2009
- Nice affect and great looking- scanning for dolphins in the water and looking at therapist
- Gentle hands with the dolphins for belly and back rubs
- Introduced to 4 by 4 Mayor-Johnson picture symbol cards - paired cards with object for associations.
- Worked on making a choices from a field of 2, looking and choosing from either side rather then just the right side
- 2 dolphin dorsal ride and 1 dolphin lay back- independently held on and grasped the dolphin for 5-8 ft with proximal support
- Loved playing “find the duck” under the blue mat on the dock.
- Transitions in and out of the water were wonderful. Nice job keeping shoes on and walking up and down the ramp while holding on to one finger of parent or staff.
Classroom session # 2
Date: Tuesday, July 21, 2009
- Sat and waited at the table.
- Worked on using picture schedule. Taking off picture on the green side and moving it to the red side while moving card from left hand to right.
- Used springboard very appropriately. Choose to do more work or more play.
- Used pointed finger on left hand to paint on letters while holding stamp with right hand. Then imprint using right hand.
- Loved using pointer finger to paint on stamps.
- Did handprints, loved having hands painted
- Worked on “Putting in” using puzzle and octopus toy. Very receptive to puzzle that made animal noise when put in. Did well with pieces off to side and given one at a time.
- Put in ball in octopus toy independently on first try. After that needs some partial physical assistance and verbal encouragement.
Dolphin: Bella and Fiji
Water session # 2
Date: Tuesday,July 21, 2009
- Great transitions in and out of the water.
- Made choices on both the right and left side. Alternating reach when the picture was highly motivating. Loved going “Fast!”
- Nice looking, therapist alternated pictures after initial choice and Jake looked to pick same picture again on opposite side.
- Great looking, very attentive to the dolphin’s location in the water.
Classroom session # 3
Date: Wednesday, July 22, 2009
- Great job today!
- Needed partial physical prompting to stabilize arms as Jake transferred the picture symbol card from left hand to the right hand and moreover moved the card from the green side to the red side.
- Did a great job independently reaching to grab the stamp and then painting the letter using his pointer finger. Used minimal support with pointer finger.
- Nice looking at springboard to indicate more work please.
- Loved messy tactile experience of making play dough.
- Sat well and had nice hands while waiting to use stamps on his play dough plaque.
- Choose from both right and left when offered a choice of stamps from a field of 2.
Dolphin: Bella and Fiji
Water session # 3
Date: Wednesday,July 22, 2009
- Tried a variety of methods to see what would work best with giving a field of 2 pictures. Tried to eliminate environmental and visual distracters to help obtain focus.
- Held on the whole length of the lagoon for a double dorsal ride and a layback.
- Almost held on the entire time with a 1 dolphin pectoral ride.
- Did a nice job making a choice from both the right and the left side. On one occasion went to grab the card on the left, stopped and looked and reached across to take the card on the right.
- Did a nice job with partial physical support giving the cards back to staff on the dock after making a choice.
- Worked on give.
- Jake had a blast in the water; there were loud giggles and lots of smiles!
Classroom session # 4
Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009
- Great waiting for therapist!
- Great job independently changing hands when moving pictures on picture schedule. Needed some gradual guidance.
- Independently picked the color of sand he wanted to use from a field of 2.
- Therapist used hand-over-hand assistance to help Jake unscrew the sand container.
- Therapist used hand-over-hand assistance to help Jake pour the sand into a smaller container and then pour it over the correct area of his work of art.
- Therapist and staff used close proximal support to help Jake control both hands. One staff member would help Jake hold down his project and the therapist helped Jake squeeze the glue and spread it around using his pointer finger.
- Jake did well with initial partial physical prompting to put the ball in the octopus, but by the 3 try he was doing it fairly independently.
- He worked well putting in puzzle pieces when they were given to him one at a time. Therapist worked on holding puzzle with one hand and grasping and putting in with the other hand.
- Jake continued to work on using his springboard to choose work or play.
- Great session
Dolphin: Bella and Fiji
Water session # 4
Date: Thursday,July 23, 2009
- Water fun today taking turns with Bailey!
- Jake had slight difficulty with making choices today from the dock. There were many environmental distractions with the dolphins along his left and bailey and dad on the dock.
- When the therapist let go and just trailed him, Jake was able to hold on independently the entire length of the lagoon for a double dolphin pectoral ride and a double dorsal ride!
- Jake did awesome waiting on the dock when it was Bailey’s turn in the water!
2008 Island Dolphin Care
Jake and family went to Florida in
October 2008.
He enjoyed therapy with the dolphins and did very well.
In 2008, Jake did well following instructions and performing tasks in the classroom. He did really well thinking about and considering which choices to make and did well most days with concentrating on the tasks at hand. In the water, he was very strong and able to hold onto the dolphins to take fast reward rides and play time when he followed instructions and completed tasks at the dock.
His golf tournaments partially funded Jake’s annual therapy session at Island Dolphin Care,
http://www.islanddolphincare.org/. In 2007, while at IDC, communication was our focus and on Day 2, Jake actually starting saying “Pa Pa” for Dad, which made the trip worth every dime.
