DOLPHIN THERAPY AS THE LEADING METHOD OF PSYCHO-REHABILITATION OF TEENAGERS WITH MILD INTELLECTUAL DISORDERS

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to present a review of the research work in the field of dolphin therapy and to substantiate its beneficial effect on the development of children with psychoneurological pathology, as well as to present the results of our own research on optimization of the personal development of teenagers with intellectual disabilities of the light degree at the age of 14–15 years with the help of dolphin therapy.

On the methodological basis of the subject-existential approach, the peculiarities of the personal formation of adolescents of the specified category are analyzed, the model of the structure of the personality is developed, on the basis of which a selected and adapted complex of psychodiagnostic techniques is developed. The basic method of psycho-correction work is dolphin therapy.

Dolphin therapy has a powerful therapeutic, harmonizing and developing potential, creating psychological well-being in humans, but is not widely used in correctional programs due to its few studies.

The sample consisted of 254 respondents: the experimental group included 150 adolescents with intellectual disabilities at the age of 14–15 years, control – 104 senior pupils with the stored intelligence of the same age group.

The results of the experimental study indicate that dolphin therapy not only optimizes the personal development of adolescents with intellectual disorders, but also contributes to improving their socio-psychological adaptation. A three-component model for personal development optimization based on dolphin therapy has been developed. Dolphin symbols were used as an effective tool for dolphin therapy: their images, voices, fairy-tale and mythical heroes, toys without the direct communication of teens with a pet-therapist. Correction-development program combines various types of psychological correction to address the issues of optimizing the personal development of adolescents in this category.

Conclusion: Dolphin therapy as the main component of the correction and development program contributes to the harmonization of personal formation and improvement of the socio-psychological adaptation of adolescents with intellectual disorders of a mild degree and has a socio-psychological, psihocorrective and curative significance.