"Dolphins are some of the most charming charismatic and entertaining animals in the ocean. Adding to their mystique they have gained a reputation for their supposed healing powers over the last couple of decades. Facilities scattered around the world offer various forms of dolphinassisted therapy for people with mental and physical ailments. Essentially its an expensive opportunity to swim with dolphins. Parents of children with severe autism Down syndrome cerebral palsy or other disabilities spend thousands of dollars on such dolphinbased treatments in hopes that the animals can reach their kids in ways that psychiatrists physical therapists or medications never could. One destination for dolphinbased treatment is Island Dolphin Care in Key Largo Fla. The center has six Atlantic bottlenose dolphins in a pennedin canal connected to the ocean. According to the website the dolphins personalities run the gamut from tomboy to Gucci girl. The center also has a staff that includes a social worker and three special education teachers along with speech therapists and other specialists who visit from time to time. A fiveday program costs  and includes about  minutes of dolphin time each day. Other time is spent in classrooms or therapy depending on the needs of the child or the wishes of the parents. The dolphins also work with some adults including veterans who have lost limbs.   There dont appear to be any dolphin therapy programs in California. You can swim with dolphins at SeaWorld in San Diego but its not offered as therapy. There are several programs in Mexico however including the Living From the Heart Dolphin Experience in Cozumel. The program includes five minute sessions with a single dolphin in a pool over three days. The cost is . The claims The Internet is rife with claims that dolphins can use their natural ultrasound to zap tumors heal muscle injuries and stimulate the brains of disabled children. Through mechanisms that arent completely clear there are also reports that dolphins have relieved chest pain and restored faulty vision. A site for a dolphin therapy center in Ukraine says its dolphins can treat chronic fatigue syndrome headaches depression and autism among many other conditions. The programs closer to this part of the world tend to be more reserved. The website for Island Dolphin Care doesnt claim that the dolphins cure any illness although the dolphins are said to provide unconditional love and support to children with disabilities or terminal illnesses. Deena Hoagland a licensed social worker and executive director of Island Dolphin Care says that dolphins dont have magical powers. Its very irresponsible to give false hope she says. She believes the animals bring joy confidence and selfesteem to children and adults. She adds that dolphin therapy is only a small part of her overall program. We use traditional treatments in an exciting way she says. The website for the Living From the Heart Dolphin Experience says that  of autistic children who receive dolphin therapy enjoy benefits that last up to two years. Those benefits are said to include longer attention spans better emotional control and improved communication skills. Macy Jozsef the executive director of Living From the Heart says she has been providing dolphin therapy for more than  years. Nobody really knows why dolphins have the impact that they do she says. I speculate that dolphins help synchronize the left side and right side of our brains and nothing else does that. The bottom line If you think your child will enjoy splashing around with a big smart aquatic mammal a dolphin experience might be a fine investment. But if youre looking for a treatment with scientifically proven results you should look past the dolphin tank. Even Hoagland agrees that theres no real research to support dolphin therapy but she sees that shortcoming in a positive light If theres no science behind it how can you say that it doesnt work There are a few dolphin studies out there but they dont add up to much says Lori Marino a neuroscience and behavioral biology researcher at Emory University in Atlanta. Japanese researchers published a small study in  suggesting that dolphin therapy can somehow treat eczema but that finding stretches credulity Marino says. Another study that year from Australian researchers concluded that swimming with dolphins could improve feelings of wellbeing while reducing anxiety but the findings were based on questionnaires given to  healthy people who had paid for their adventures which predisposed them to see the investment as worthwhile. A more plausible study published in the British Medical Journal in  found that dolphin therapy relieved depression symptoms for a group of  adults. Marino critiqued these and other studies in a review article published in  in the journal Anthrozoos."