ABSTRACT

Although several studies have shown that dolphin-assisted therapy (DAT) may be beneficial for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), most of these studies have methodological weaknesses. This study tested the effectiveness of DAT in improving the social and communicative skills of children with ASD. We used a pretest–posttest design with a control group. The 48 participants were selected according to the following inclusion criteria: age between 4 and 5 years, diagnosis of ASD, and clear impairment in communication. Participants were randomly assigned to the groups: DAT and Therapy Without Dolphins (TWD). The research lasted 10 weeks. The intervention phase lasted 6 weeks and consisted of three weekly 45-min sessions, with a total of 18 sessions per participant. Therapy sessions for both groups, DAT and TWD, were conducted by a dolphin trainer and a health professional in the same facilities and under the same conditions, except for the use of the interaction with the dolphin as support for the activities. Three instruments were used to assess communicative and social skills: The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Generic, the Reynell Developmental Language scales, and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior scales. Significant improvements were observed between the pretests and posttests in both groups, DAT and TWD, on the total scores of all the scales, except for the Social Interaction Domain of the ADOS-G. These improvements were significantly greater for the DAT group on only two items of the Language and Communication Domain, ADOS-G: “frequency of vocalizations toward others” and “gestures” (η² = 0.11, p < 0.05) in both cases. In conclusion, we found some evidence that DAT is a useful therapeutic intervention to foster the social and communication skills of children with ASD and that dolphins specifically can enhance the improvement of some communication-related aspects.

摘要

尽管多项研究表明，海豚辅助疗法（DAT）对自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的儿童可能有益，但这些研究大多数都在方法论上存在缺陷。这项研究测试了DAT在改善ASD儿童的社交和沟通技巧方面的有效性。我们在对照组中使用了前测-后测设计。根据以下入选标准选择了48名参与者：年龄在4至5岁之间，ASD诊断和明显的沟通障碍。将参与者随机分配到以下组：DAT和无海豚疗法（TWD）。研究持续了十个星期。干预阶段为期6周，包括三个每周一次的45分钟课程，每位参与者总共18个课程。DAT和TWD两组的治疗会议，由海豚训练员和卫生专业人员在相同的设施和相同的条件下进行，除了使用与海豚的互动作为活动的支持外。三种工具被用来评估沟通和社交能力：“孤独症诊断观察时间表”，“雷诺发育语言量表”和“葡萄园适应行为量表”。在DAT和TWD两组的预测和后测之间，除ADOS-G的社交互动域外，所有量表的总分均获得了显着改善。对于仅在语言和交流领域ADOS-G的两个项目上的DAT组而言，这些改进要明显得多：“对其他人发声的频率”和“手势”（除了使用与海豚的互动作为活动的支持外。三种工具被用来评估沟通和社交能力：“孤独症诊断观察时间表”，“雷诺发育语言量表”和“葡萄园适应行为量表”。在DAT和TWD两组的预测和后测之间，除ADOS-G的社交互动域外，所有量表的总分均获得了显着改善。对于仅在语言和交流领域ADOS-G的两个项目上的DAT组而言，这些改进要明显得多：“对其他人发声的频率”和“手势”（除了使用与海豚的互动作为活动的支持外。三种工具被用来评估沟通和社交能力：“孤独症诊断观察时间表”，“雷诺发育语言量表”和“葡萄园适应行为量表”。在DAT和TWD两组的预测和后测之间，除ADOS-G的社交互动域外，所有量表的总分均获得了显着改善。对于仅在语言和交流领域ADOS-G的两个项目上的DAT组而言，这些改进要明显得多：“对其他人发声的频率”和“手势”（通用自闭症诊断观察时间表，Reynell发展语言量表和Vineland适应行为量表。在DAT和TWD两组的预测和后测之间，除ADOS-G的社交互动域外，所有量表的总分均获得了显着改善。对于仅在语言和交流领域ADOS-G的两个项目上的DAT组而言，这些改进要明显得多：“对其他人发声的频率”和“手势”（通用自闭症诊断观察时间表，Reynell发展语言量表和Vineland适应行为量表。在DAT和TWD两组的预测和后测之间，除ADOS-G的社交互动域外，所有量表的总分均获得了显着改善。对于仅在语言和交流领域ADOS-G的两个项目上的DAT组而言，这些改进要明显得多：“对其他人发声的频率”和“手势”（η ²  = 0.11，p 在这两种情况下<0.05）。总之，我们发现一些证据表明，DAT是一种有益的治疗干预措施，可提高ASD儿童的社交和沟通能力，海豚特异性地可以增强与沟通有关的某些方面的改善。