Call for Ban on Dolphin Assisted Therapy

 

There appears to be be no firm repeatable evidence that Dolphin Assisted Therapy has a long term benefit to children with special needs, though short term effect may be more beneficial.

WDCS the whale and dolphin conversation society has called for a total ban on Dolphin Assisted Therapy (DAT), stating that the therapy provided is ineffective and potentially harmful to both people and animals.

Richard Mills of Research Autism agrees with the findings of the report, he said: “Research Autism endorses the WDCS report which highlights the fact that there is no evidence that dolphin therapy aids people with autism.”

Cathy Williamson one of the authors of the report said ” There is no scientific evidence that DAT is effective in the long term for participants.”

 

References:

Published research on DAT by Nathanson DE.

DAT Controversial Subject.

Dolphin Care.

Wild Dolphin Therapy.

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Freakonomics, quantitative

“A thing worth having is a thing worth cheating for” W.C. Fields

 

I think a thing worth having is not worth cheating for as this process devalues the thing worth having in the first place and once you have it, becomes not worth having anymore.

Students from a range of Universities are claiming they are being pressed to make falsely enthusiastic responses to an official satisfaction survey. Staff at Kingston University were recorded telling students to falsify their ratings in the government backed annual National Student Survey.

An audio recording made at Kingston University revealed that staff were instructing students how to respond to the survey and using it as a way of promoting a positive image rather than an honest assessment.

“The message was practically shoved down our throats. Give us good reviews or your degree won’t be worth much and you will look like you’re coming from a rubbish place in your interviews.”

BBC News – Education – Students claim survey dishonesty

Falsifying a few satisfaction survey forms on the face of it does not sound such a heinous crime. But lets look at what is really happening here. Why is the University telling its students to do this? so the University could get more government funding relative to its higher position in the league satisfaction tables – possibly. How does this effect the confidence of the students, surely it devalues the whole process, why have a student satisfaction survey or for that matter any survey if the results you get are not a true indication set out for the purpose of the survey.

Rob from Nottingham says ” I am in my final year at Nottingham Trent University. All the 3rd years were sent letters, a number of emails, even phone calls asking/telling us to do the survey. This did not work so we were told in big red letters £5 free printing credit for completing your Student Satisfaction Survey, no doubt we all did it, this is how desperate my Uni is to get a better review.”

You could argue even if bribery was involved that the University only has the best interests of its students at heart. However, if that has to be achieved by presenting false information for assessment, a process which itself questions the reliability of fair and impartial judgment, which will not increase but decrease your future interview standing!

 

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Dyslexia Board Members Resign

Why did some members of the editorial board of the publication Dyslexia resign?

 

Five members of the board resigned because of the publication of a favourable article on the benefits of the Dore programme. It appears they were very concerned about the accuracy and validity of the research, basis to the claimed success of the programme.

Further they were not happy that the author of the study was paid £30,000 by Dore for his research and also sponsored PHD students who were taught by the co-author. Uta Frith professor of cognitive development at University College London was one of those that resigned said “People stand to make a lot of money on the basis of research that appears in journals so it is important the studies are scientific in their approach, I do not feel this was the case.”

John Stein professor of physiology at Cambridge University was also concerned by the lack of control group and the small scale of the study. He said “I have serious concerns about the study. Without a control group you don’t know how the children would have done, or how they would have progressed without the exercises.”

Taken from: I speak of dreams, British Dyslexia Association Troubles

The resignations which may not have been that significant if the numbers were low seemed to have occurred in protest to Dore programme publication. It is understandable that this happened and particularly significant that respected members who are authorities on the subject felt it necessary to take this somewhat drastic step.

 

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Dore – Christopher Chope MP Statement

The MP Christopher Chope believes “the Government are suppressing information about the Dore programme, which is of proven benefit to a large number of sufferers”

 

 

Discuss

I think it is necessary to break this statement down and take a look at the component parts. I would break it down as follows:

• MP Christopher Chope
• Government Suppressing Information
• Dore Programme Benefits

If the Dore programme was successful then any information about it would not have to be suppressed as the long term benefits would stand out on their own. Clearly any programme of positive health development is something we should all embrace however, how many programmes require an up front fee to gain the knowledge from within? Even if after paying the fee, the system was successful why did the company go into administration?

“The problem is not a lack of information, but the fact that parents are being starved of the information that is available and are therefore not in a position to put pressure on education authorities to fund schemes such as Dore”  – taken from the debate in House of Commons 16 June

It would be more logical to assume that education authorities would be in favour to support such schemes, the relative benefit and cost saving of future NHS dependency! One can only assume that may be, all the facts were not totally at hand when the speech was conducted, these days especially with the wide and plentyful information avenues open to everyone.

References:

The Dore Project

Holford Watch

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