Why do some autistic children seem to ‘understand’ whale and dolphin behaviour?
Why are they able to identify individual animals so quickly?
Why do they, the children, get so profoundly affected by the interaction with wild dolphins?
At the Atlantic Whale & Dolphin Foundation our volunteers have been working ‘research guiding’ on the whale watching boats of Tenerife for over thirty years. We have a great knowledge of the resident pilot whale and bottlenose dolphin communities, recognising them as distinct individuals with social roles, character and personalities. They have individual names!?
Over the years we have observed the extraordinary connection between autistic children and the dolphin family (of Los Gigantes) in particular. We are particularly interested in the ‘sound’ of emotions, a new area of academic study. We feel autistic children connect strongly on the level of emotion as opposed to ‘language’, and we feel that interspecies communication should look at communication of emotions, as opposed to language per se (speech is only 5% of communication between people and probably less between humans and animals- body language, tone etc are far more significant than words).
We have also been aware of the exploitative nature of swimming with dolphin programmes which offer the families of autistic children the chance to swim with dolphins, itself exploitative of the dolphins, but at appalling financial cost and consequently only a once in a lifetime possibility. We feel the same experience could be generated simply by being in the presence of these amazing creatures (research in Tenerife with pilot whales, (part of the dolphin family) demonstrates this phenomena. We want to offer the opportunity to autistic children, with their carers, of visiting the dolphins on a small friendly boat sailing out of Los Gigantes in the most beautiful natural seascape overshadowed as it is by the giant sea cliffs, the second highest in the world- sunsets are magnificent.
We want to look at the relationship between the dolphins and children, how they connect and use sound as the main variable in their communication. Flights are cheap to Tenerife so these trips could be regular activities and as such be a great form of therapy for the children involved and offer a wonderful quality of life opportunity.
For further information of the opportunities available, of the work we are doing and of the dedicated programme we have developed, contact [email protected]
Why are they able to identify individual animals so quickly?
Why do they, the children, get so profoundly affected by the interaction with wild dolphins?
At the Atlantic Whale & Dolphin Foundation our volunteers have been working ‘research guiding’ on the whale watching boats of Tenerife for over thirty years. We have a great knowledge of the resident pilot whale and bottlenose dolphin communities, recognising them as distinct individuals with social roles, character and personalities. They have individual names!?
Over the years we have observed the extraordinary connection between autistic children and the dolphin family (of Los Gigantes) in particular. We are particularly interested in the ‘sound’ of emotions, a new area of academic study. We feel autistic children connect strongly on the level of emotion as opposed to ‘language’, and we feel that interspecies communication should look at communication of emotions, as opposed to language per se (speech is only 5% of communication between people and probably less between humans and animals- body language, tone etc are far more significant than words).
We have also been aware of the exploitative nature of swimming with dolphin programmes which offer the families of autistic children the chance to swim with dolphins, itself exploitative of the dolphins, but at appalling financial cost and consequently only a once in a lifetime possibility. We feel the same experience could be generated simply by being in the presence of these amazing creatures (research in Tenerife with pilot whales, (part of the dolphin family) demonstrates this phenomena. We want to offer the opportunity to autistic children, with their carers, of visiting the dolphins on a small friendly boat sailing out of Los Gigantes in the most beautiful natural seascape overshadowed as it is by the giant sea cliffs, the second highest in the world- sunsets are magnificent.
We want to look at the relationship between the dolphins and children, how they connect and use sound as the main variable in their communication. Flights are cheap to Tenerife so these trips could be regular activities and as such be a great form of therapy for the children involved and offer a wonderful quality of life opportunity.
For further information of the opportunities available, of the work we are doing and of the dedicated programme we have developed, contact [email protected]