Reinforcement Effectiveness of Animatronic and Real Dolphins

Abstract

Dolphin Human Therapy uses Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) as reinforcement in rehabilitation for children with disabilities. But dolphins are expensive to use and subject to many environmental, administrative/legal and practical limitations. An alternative reinforcer, an animatronic dolphin called TAD (Test Animatronic Dolphin), was designed, built, and compared with real dolphins as a reinforcer for 35 children with disabilities, representing ten diagnoses, seven countries, and five languages. An ABA design and data analysis examined three clinical issues. First, no significant difference between dolphins and TAD was found in eliciting orienting responses of touching and/or saying words for all study participants. Second, no significant difference between dolphins and TAD was found in eliciting orienting response of touching and/or saying words for children within ability groupings of moderate or severe levels of disability. For children with profound disabilities, TAD was significantly more effective in eliciting an orienting response of looking. Third, response times to either dolphins or TAD were the same whether the reinforcement was given from a platform or in water. Interaction with TAD provided the same or more therapeutic benefits as interaction with dolphins, without the environmental, administrative/legal and practical limitations, including high cost, associated with dolphins.