6/7/98

Dances with dolphins

   Ran Weiss had his bar mitzva in November. He is a man now, but as pure and simple as the day he was born. Ran is severely autistic.
   His father Shlomo is a tower of sensitive strength for his five children on Masuot Yitzhak, a religious moshav near Ashkelon.
This is their story.
    ג€œRan does not speak at all. His condition is very extreme. He's completely lost in himself. He likes to be alone and doesn't play with others, not even with his family. He goes to a special school for autistics at Kibbutz Hulda, learning to take care of himself, feed himself -- simple tasks. He is a sweet, nice boy.ג€

"mama dada ran"

ג€œWhen Ran was about six or seven, someone on our moshav showed us a story in ג€˜The Jerusalem Postג€™ about therapy for children like Ran, using dolphins in Eilat. It interested us because Ran loves water, he's a born swimmer, and we wanted to see if this could be a good environment for him.
    ג€œWe thought maybe he could make contact with something, anything -- human or animal, it didn't matter. We hoped the dolphins might encourage an interest in human relationships.
    ג€œWe called Maya at Dolphin Reef about half a year after it opened, and they accepted him for the program; in fact, he was the first one in it.
    ג€œIt was made clear to us from the beginning that dolphin therapy is not a cure. Ran cannot be cured. This is just a way to give children like Ran some excitement.
    ג€œBut there was an effect. One time I was lying on the beach and Ran came to us after being with the dolphins, and he came to sit with me, excited. He looked me in the eyes, he looked at me for a full minute. It was the first eye contact we'd ever had.
    ג€œAnd then, another time, Ran left the dolphins and came to me, and he hugged me. He hugged me. I can't tell you....ג€

"dada fish ran mama"

ג€œIt's the dolphins who seek contact, not Ran. He swims, they swim around him. We don't really know how it affects him, but the dolphins seem to relate to him as someone special, more so than with 'strangers.' Yes, I think they recognize Ran.
    ג€œAt first, there was one especially wonderful dolphin, Hindu. Most of the dolphins come from Russia, but this one was from Japan, and it had a social problem with the others. To our great grief, Hindu died after about a year and a half.
   ג€œIn recent years Domino is the special one. I remember one time, Ran was swimming alone, and Domino came up to him and they started playing a game together, for 10 minutes, just the two of them. It was remarkable!
    ג€œBut it doesn't always click. Sometimes he goes in and doesn't want to play with the dolphins. Sometimes they have their own things to do -- like after three baby dolphins were born, they were preoccupied with that.

"ran mama"

ג€œWe used to go there two or three times a year, until 1994, when my wife committed suicide.
    ג€œMalka had a great love of life, she was so sociable, and a successful lawyer; she was 42. She was the last person you'd think would kill herself. We don't really know why....'

"mama mama mama"

ג€œClearly he felt something. He cried. His behavior was a bit different. We told him Mommy wasn't coming back.
    ג€œWhen Ran was coming of age, I wondered what we should do to celebrate his bar mitzva. Some people said we should do nothing, just let it pass. Then I thought, if we're going to do something, it should be with the dolphins.
ג€œI went to Maya at Dolphin Reef, and she was thrilled by the idea. I got a lot of support from people. I thought it could also be a good opportunity to do something for all the autistic children of Israel, and felt the TV people should be there -- but Dolphin Reef insisted it should be a private celebration. They turned down a chance at great publicity for themselves, because they're sensitive, they didn't want a media circus. Later on, though, we did go on TV.
    ג€œThe bar mitzva was amazing. We really didn't know what to do, but Dolphin Reef took care of everything -- it was done entirely through donations, with Holiday Inn and the Dan Hotels providing excellent catering. We had about 130 guests.
ג€œYou have to remember, Dolphin Reef is a profit-making enterprise. But they go far beyond that. Their entire therapy program is sometimes at the expense of profits. For instance, Ran might be in the water, and the dolphins will come to him instead of others who paid a lot of money to swim with them.
    ג€œGenerally religious people don't go to that beach because of nude sunbathing, so the bar mitzva was a good chance for them to see Dolphin Reef. We wanted our family and friends to see Ran's special life there.
ג€œWe got there in the morning and found the place full of flowers and balloons and decorations, and I became emotional. There were tears in my eyes; I couldn't speak. They did all this for us, everything free.
    ג€œThe bar mitzva was very, very special for us. Our rabbi spoke and blessed Ran, and Maya read a letter that Ran's mother wrote to the Reef after our first visit there.
ג€œIf only Ran understood...ג€

"Ran dada"

UPDATE: Shlomo Weiss and 13 other families with autistic children are trying to build a private hostel in Rishon Lezion that will tend to their children for the duration of their lives. Their non-profit group, Rakefet, is seeking public help through donations. Checks may be made out to Rakefet and forwarded to Eli Cohen, PO Box 4301, Rishon Lezion 75142, or transfered to the First International Bank, branch 119, account number 105132543.

For information about Dolphin Reef's ג€œSupportive Experience with the Aid of Dolphinsג€ program for children with Downs, autism, physical disabilities, cancer, etc., contact Sophie at 08-637-1846, or see the Website:  www.dolphinreef.co.il .

It must be stressed that dolphin therapy will not provide a cure.