Island Dolphin Care, a not-for-profit, provides dolphin-assisted therapy programs for people with special needs. A needs assessment was completed by the therapy staff at IDC immediately after the therapy season ended in November 2017. The purpose of this DCE project was to to explore the potential role of occupational therapy in a non-traditional practice setting and create a home program to increase carryover of skills for children who participate in the dolphin-assisted therapy programs. Based on a review of the literature and personal experience, the home program was designed to include fun, cost-effective, and therapeutic activities divided into five domains: gross motor skills, fine motor skills, sensory integration, self-regulation, and speech/language skills. Feedback regarding the home program was obtained from two families. Parents reported the activities in the home program helped increase carryover and generalization of skills for their children into the home, school, and community setting. The book was well received by the families and met the need of the facility, but it was recommend to create multiple books for the additional populations being served. It is recommend that the facility utilize an outcome measure to determine effectiveness of the home program. The site determined having an occupational therapist on staff would provide a unique perspective to the interdisciplinary approach.

Creator

• Millar, Taylor

Contributors

• Walker, Beth Ann

Publisher

• University of Indianapolis

Language

• en

Identifier

• Millar, Taylor.pdf

Keyword

• Health Sciences

• Occupational Therapy

Date created

• 2018-05

Rights statement

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/