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| Dolphin Therapy
The Report of Nora Kees
Last year I completed my internship, which was supervised by Dr. Murat Kemaloðlu, about the “Dolphin Therapy” in the School of Psychology. I was deeply impressed from the success they have achieved with the dolphin therapy and therefore I have decided to visit this school once more with one of my patients. I was working as an occupation therapist in the pediatric nursing in Germany. I managed to come back to the School of Psychology with my five years-old patient Robin in order to practice the Dolphin Therapy. Robin has hemi paresis and epilepsy since he was born. We thought that he would love to swim with the dolphins because he loves water, and he really loved it. The first day he went into the water without any fear and caressed the dolphins with a little reservation. However, later on he really started to have fun. His hand, which he was not able to use properly due to his sickness, became also more active. A few days later Robin felt more independent in the water and he started to swim on his own. He could freely move his hands and his arms in the water. He became more resistant day by day. We also observed improvements in his daily life. His muscular tonus and his balance have also improved. He started walk longer distances easily. His right hand felt free and he was able to use his right hand more easily and there have been wonderful improvements in his talking. In other words, he started to talk with grammar and his talking was better understood. He actually tried to help another dolphin therapy patient, a child of Robin’s age, and Robin tried to give him support; tried to relax the child by caressing his cheeks. Besides, Robin could concrete longer, and he started to play actively with his brothers and with other children. Robin felt extremely comfortable during his dolphin therapy in the School of Psychology in Antalya. He took part in all activities of the program with great joy. The family of Robin departed from Antalya extremely happy and satisfied.
Nora Kees
The report of Robin’s Family
Our son Robin has hemi paresis and epilepsy since he was born. He has been receiving treatments on concentration and development delays. We were informed about the fact that, his occupation therapist Nora learned Dolphin Therapy under the supervision of Dr. Murat Kemaloðlu, in the School of Psychology Antalya. Robin was already taking part in the Horse Therapy, which was very useful for his treatment. As Robin loves animals and water, we also decided to take part in this therapy program of School of Psychology Antalya. Even though Robin stayed a little reserved the very first time, he got used to the water and to the dolphins very easily. He started to communicate with the dolphins very bravely. Even though Robin is not a big fan of salty water, he learned to close his mouth in the salty water in order not to swallow it. Robin showed wonderful improvements starting from the first day of the therapy. He started using his both hands more effectively. His muscular tonus improved. He started using his thumb when he was grapping something. He was also able to run comfortably. He became more successful when he was playing with the ball. There were also improvements in his talking and he started to use full sentences. He was then able to invite his brothers to play games and he was able to explain the game rules to them. He was even putting his own rules in the game. He was more interested in the external world. He started asking people about their names, how they are, about their ages, about their occupations. We were deeply impressed from the dolphin therapy as we could observe all these improvements on our son. Our whole family was in positive moods during the therapy and we all had fun. We were also very satisfied with other activities besides swimming with the dolphins. We hereby would like to extend our thanks to Dr. Murat and his team. We are hoping to come to Antalya next year again.
www.muratkemaloglu.com Fantastic! Years ago, I swam with dolphins myself at a research center that does therapy with kids and adults and was mightily impressed. This is something we plan to do with Cole, probably next spring.
In the meantime, we are starting horseback riding lessons. The therapy center is exclusively for kids with special needs, so they really know what they are doing. We adopted a young Golden Retriever about two months ago, and the dog has seemingly helped Cole be more conversational.
Hooray for all these magnificent creatures and the therapists who use them to help children soar!
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