Leah-Autism Health And Wellness Magazine- Benefits of Dolphin Therapy

[Guest guest]

An Emotional Pathway to Learning

Dr. Janet Flowers and her team have over a decade of work exploring the emotional pathway to long term memory for exceptional children. The neural routes underlying the formation of memories about emotional experiences have been traced in the past decade. This work, although new, is quite a rewarding area of research because it begins to explain the relationship between emotion and memory. In simplest terms, emotional experiences can be linked to long term and working memory. Thus, by providing an emotionally arousing experience (i.e. interaction with water, a marine mammal or bird) is paired with teaching a specific communication/language

skill, the child is potentially storing skills learned not only through traditional pathways (hypocampal), but also through the emotional center of the brain (amygdala).

Dr. Flowers and her team use an intense emotional stimuli to engage an emotional memory pathway in the brain (amygdala). This pathway is quite fast and bypasses the "screening" that occurs to an "experience" before it is normally placed into long term memory. In practice, a specific communication skill chosen for a child is identified to be part of an activity. Dr. Flowers and her team teach these individualized skills for each child while providing an emotionally arousing experience (i.e. interaction with a marine mammal, water, birds etc.). The kind of

emotional stimulus is selected based on each individual child's needs, level of functioning and sensory capacity.

The specific skill chosen for therapy is usually one in which the child has had particular difficultly acquiring in his/her traditional ongoing weekly or daily therapies. As an example, a non-verbal three year old boy with a severe heart condition was referred to Dr. Flowers by his cardiac physician. The purpose of therapy was to gain a consistent yes/no response from "Davey". Upon arrival to Dr. Flowers Institute, Davey did not have a yes/no response of any kind. The doctor was concerned that during an upcoming surgery (pre- and post care), it was imperative for Davey to be able to consistently

respond and answer yes and no questions ("Does it hurt here? here?"). During his two weeks of therapy, by initially placing Davey on a voice output rocking switch plate, Davey acquired a consistent yes and no response. This skill was then transfered to a head shake and nod which Davey took back home so that heart surgery could be completed with communication skills in place that he had not possessed prior to therapy. Davey also said his first word during the second week of therapy: "guck" for duck while pointing to the new baby ducklings presented by Dr. Flowers.

Another example involves a 5 year old child with Down Syndrome. Communicatively, "Rosey" was using single word signs and single words verbally to request actions and objects. Parents and therapists back home had been unable to get Rosey to combine 2 words or signs. By providing an emotionally intense interaction with a marine mammal, Dr. Flowers was able to elicit two-word combinations both verbally and nonverbally to request actions from the marine mammal ("feed Ivan" to request that she get to feed; "more Ivan" to request more interaction; "more in" to request getting in the water). Through this 2

weeks of intensive intervention therapy, parents and therapists were able to then elicit two words combinations when Rosey returned home. When Rosey returned one year later, she had maintained and expanded her ability to combine 2 or more words to communicate her wants and needs with the support of her long term therapist.

As each child above returned to therapy once per year, stimuli intensity was, and should be expanded. Just as the intensity of the emotional experience can fade with frequency and experience; this technique has limits within the context of communication/language therapy for children. Dr. Flowers technique should be implemented as a complement to existing therapies, not as a replacement for daily/weekly therapies. This technique is intended to provide a bridge to overcome a hurdle in communication/language skills. The long term communication/language therapist should be the professional, along with the

parents, in determining the appropriate intervention use of this effective instructional tool as part of an overall long term plan.

Does this technique work for all children? No, for individual reasons as diverse as the children and situations presented. This puts Dr. Flowers and her team in an information gathering mode prior to ever scheduling a child for therapy at the Institute. Only about 70% of the children presented are accepted as therapy candidates, based on the Institute's review of each child's IEP, pertinent medical information, as well as school reports and records. This extensive review of each child's goals and objectives assures that children be accepted only if Dr. Flowers and her team deem a child as a good

candidate for achieving results utilizing their unique method of therapy.

There is much more work to be accomplished in this new, rewarding and promising area of an emotional pathway to long term memory. For those at the Dr. Janet Flowers Insititute, the results have been an "intense emotional experience" for the team that continues to drive their efforts.

Dr. Janet Flowers has a Bachelors and Masters of Science from the Department of Speech and Language/Communication Disorders of Florida State University and a Doctorate in Education from the University of West Florida. Janet has a decade of public school experience as a speech pathologist and a decade of experience as a researcher in private practice. Dr. Flowers is Kaufman certified, Beckman certified and a member of the American Speech Hearing Language Association. Websites can be viewed at drjanetflowersinstitute.com, doctordolphin.com; her facebook page is newly up and can be found under Dr. Janet Flowers Institute, and she can be reached at

bbflowers1@...