Shallow Waters of Dolphin Therapy Claims

Dolphins are some of the most charming, charismatic and entertaining animals in the ocean. Adding to their mystique, they have gained a reputation for their supposed healing powers over the last couple of decades.
Facilities scattered around the world offer various forms of dolphin-assisted therapy for people with mental and physical ailments. Essentially, it's an expensive opportunity to swim with dolphins. Parents of children with severe autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy or other disabilities spend thousands of dollars on such dolphin-based treatments in hopes that the animals can reach their kids in ways that psychiatrists, physical therapists or medications never could.

Hooves, Heart and Hope for Children with Autism

HOUSTON- While the reasons why may not be fully understood, the idea is widely accepted that horses can sometimes have a therapeutic effect on human beings.

Horses are therefore utilized in several forms of therapy for people with disabilities, and multiple equine therapy organizations operate in the United States.

One of those is Spirit Horse International, based in Corinth, Texas, and an affiliated facility known as Spirit Horse JC Ranch, recently began operation in southeastern Texas County.

Spirit Horse JC Ranch president and director Jenni Spacek-Elseman is a Summersville native who has twin three-year-old boys with autism - Creek and Jesse James. After hearing about Spirit Horse and its many success stories, Spacek-Elseman purposed to open a branch in south-central Missouri. She made an arrangement with the owners of a 415-acre tract of land north of Willow Springs that includes a home and a 72,000 square-foot indoor rodeo facility formerly known as Soaring Eagle Arena, and she and her family members moved in about a year ago.

How Autism Can Help Us Understand Animals

Interesting piece that aired earlier this year on NPR that has been rebroadcast about Temple Grandin and how autism helps her understand animals.

Temple Grandin is one of the nation's top designers of livestock facilities — and she also happens to be a person with autism. She uses her personal experience with the disorder to develop better ways to understand and communicate with animals.
Grandin tells Terry Gross that animals have emotions, including "fear, rage, separation anxiety and seeking." One of her first assignments as a consultant to the livestock industry was designing humane chutes to get the cows to slaughter, a task that drew on her understanding of the animal brain:
"[I] had to really understand how animals process information and how their senses compare to human senses because some things that would upset animals wouldn't upset us," she explains.