Скачать или смотреть USA: MIAMI: DOLPHIN THERAPY HELPS 8 YEAR OLD BOY TO SPEAK

(28 Mar 1998) English/Nat
An eight year old British boy trapped in a world of silence since birth has uttered his first words after an intense therapy session with dolphins.
The remarkable medical breakthrough, at the Human Dolphin Therapy Centre in Miami, has sparked new interest in what is known as 'dolphin therapy,' which is used to treat people with neurological and movement disorders.
The new age treatment has attracted many supporters and sceptics in recent years.
APTV looks at the unique relationship between humans and sea mammals, and why more and more people are turning to this unique form of treatment.
It's about as far away from a hospital you can get - the latest in new age therapy.
But there are no doctors here - just dolphins.
And it's these gentle giants of the sea that are making their mark in modern medicine.
British youngster Billy Bales, who has communication and learning difficulties triggered by a chromosome abnormality, is the latest patient at the Human Dolphin Therapy Centre in Miami.
But it doesn't come cheap.
Billy's parents, with the help of charities in their home town of Southampton, raised 10- thousand U-S dollars to bring him to the world renowned centre.
He spends forty minutes every day undergoing intense speech and communication therapy at the centre.
A large part of the treatment is interacting with the dolphins which are used to encourage and stimulate Billy to open up and focus on the learning process.
Although he has not yet uttered any words, already his mother, Andrea, has noticed an improvement.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"He's trying to do more signs because we do a lot of sign language with him so that we can give him another alternative way of communicating with us and he's actually done a couple of signs which he's not done before."
SUPER CAPTION: Andrea Bayles, Billy's mother
Directors of the Human Dolphin Therapy Centre in Miami believe the highly intelligent creatures have the extraordinary ability to help treat children with autism, Down Syndrome and other neurological and movement disorders.
It is widely accepted in the medical world that dolphins have a therapeutic effect on people suffering from depression and learning difficulties.
But doctors are baffled as to why or how it works.
One theory is that dolphins use their unique sonar ability to identify neurological disorders in people and then help them relax and open up to learning and healing processes.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"To get a child to perhaps if they've never opened their fist to open up, to loosen up a wee bit. To focus more and psychologically these kids gain a tremendous sense of confidence because they've actually, measurably, quantifiably improved."
SUPER CAPTION: Dr David Nathanson, Director of Human Dolphin Therapy Centre
The centre's biggest success story happened just this week when eight year old Nikki Brice from Britain spoke his first word after three days of intense therapy.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I said, I looked and had a nose to nose with him and said 'alright Nick do you want to get in the water?' and he shook his head yes and put his foot from the dock into the water and took his foot back and I said 'no Nick you have to say in' and he looked at me and he said in. 'I said let's hear it a little clearer please sir' and I put my hands to his face like this and he said in. 'Very good but a little bit better.' And he said 'in' just like that."
SUPER CAPTION: Dr David Nathanson, Director of Human Dolphin Therapy Centre
And they note that there are no comprehensive studies on dolphin therapy to prove it really works.

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