One Thursday evening, as the Porzel family was strolling along Key Biscayne's vast tropical beach, little Katharina began to sing and babble.

This may not seem to the average person unusual behavior for a seven-year-old. But for Katharina, who has an undiagnosed mental disability in which she speaks very little, it was what her mother called nothing less than a miracle.

"Before we came here we dreamed about it...Now we see it," said Gabi Porzel, Katharina's mother, who with her brother Mathias, brought the child to Key Biscayne-based Dolphin Human Therapy (DHT) all the way from their native Germany. "I see my daughter in the water with the dolphins and I feel it and I see it works."

What's more, that night on the beach Katharina completed the verbal assignment given to her that day by her DHT therapist, saying "water," "in" and "out."

The next day, as Porzel spoke with The Islander News, she became choked up. "I've tried all the time and now she's doing it. I'm so happy."

Porzel had taken Katharina to multiple specialists in Germany who had told the mother that her daughter was a hopeless case. "They said they could not help my daughter anymore."

Not unusual

The Porzels' case is not a one in a million for DHT, which has successfully offered its form of education and dolphin-assisted therapy to physically and mentally handicapped children since the 1980s, when founder and psychologist Dr. David Nathanson began implementing it with his private practice special needs patients. Originally based in the Keys, the program moved temporarily to the Miami Seaquarium in March.

Nathanson said despite Porzel's reference to miracles, program staff decline to use the terms "healing" and "cure" for the therapy. "Our purpose is we jump start the kids. In a very short period of time, we increase their functioning levels."

He said DHT provides a praise-oriented educational environment that aims to increase the confidence of disabled clients.

"We demand that the kids produce and they do," Nathanson explained. "But we do it in a loving way. We don't use anything punitive whatsoever."

"Once the kids get this praise and reinforcement with the dolphins," he continued, "they must say to themselves that if they can do that and swim with the dolphins then maybe other things they may try are not so tough."

According to Nathanson, many children respond to harsher approaches by giving up. "They become more handicapped because that's their way of surviving."

Nathanson said the program's effectiveness lies in the fact that animals can very often reach people in cases when other people can't.

"The winning lottery ticket for these kids is to swim with the dolphins," he said.

"That's not all animals," added Nathanson, former professor of educational psychology at Florida International University (FIU). "Python therapy I don't recommend. That's not on my list of things to help children. And not all water--ice cold water, forget about it."

Nathanson began studying the effects of dolphins on the learning processes of physically and mentally handicapped children as a research project at Ocean World in Ft. Lauderdale in the 1970s.

"I was interested in seeing how we could increase the attention span of the kids," he said. "That's the underlying neurological problem in kids with disabilities."

"Theoretically," he continued, "if you can increase their attention they're less handicapped because the amount of time it takes to learn information is decreased."

The combination of hands-on work with the animals in an aquatic setting was ideal for motivating the clients to learn. "You put these elements together and you have the optimum stress-reducing environment," Nathanson said. "Not to mention the kids seeing me with the hat with a fish sticking through it and my Hawaiian shirt. When the kids see me, they laugh, they relax. When they see someone in a lab coat, it scares the hell out of them. With the populations we work with that's very important."

Relaxed environment

A relaxed, supportive environment is exactly what Nathanson and his staff of trained physical therapists, educators and psychologists have created for children and families alike.

"They are gentle with us," Porzel said. "We were nervous and didn't know what to do. Everyone says, 'It's okay and they hug you.'"

Marcia McMahon, the DHT behavioral psychologist who worked with Katharina, said this is because it is "a real pleasure and a real joy" to work with the kids whether big strides are evident or not.

"We see a lot of small movements like eye contact and greater attention and those are enough in and of themselves," McMahon explained. "But when you have a lesson like we had today, you just get goose bumps all over. It's what makes this job so wonderful."

But DHT staff and volunteers said the parents are the real heroes in the DHT story. Many travel thousands of miles and spend thousands of dollars and at least 14 of their vacation days to give their child the opportunity to be successful.

"They are special kinds of parents to travel so far for their child," said Anne-Cecile Groulard, a Rosenstiel School student who is studying dolphin therapy.

"I will do anything for my daughter," Porzel said of Katharina, who is by now splashing happily in the water and has taken several rides on the dolphin as a reward for her efforts during that day's session.

For information, call the DHT office at 361-3313 or Nathanson at 378-8670. Dream makers fulfills wish

Michelle Walker probably did not have to make a wish as she blew out the candles on her seventh birthday cake.

That's because her life's wish just came true through Dream Makers, the national organization that arranges for terminally ill children to experience the magic of fulfilled wishes.

Michele, who has cystic fibrosis, got to swim with the dolphins at the Miami Seaquarium as part of Dolphin Human Therapy (DHT), a privately-run organization that uses the marine park's mammals for its educational program. DHT works with physically and mentally handicapped children as well as terminally ill children who are enrolled in programs such as Make-a-Wish and Dream Makers.

Billie Walker, Michelle's mother, said an employee at the family's bank in Nashville submitted the child's name to Dream Makers, which funded a nine-day family vacation at the Sonesta Beach Resort in addition to a swim with the dolphins.

Christine McMillan, DHT spokesperson, said her staff will accommodate a Make-a-Wish or Dream Makers child on a last-minute basis. "Time is a limiting factor," McMillan said. "You never know how much time these kids will have. That's why we'll do anything--come early, stay late--to make sure they get their wish."

As Billie and her husband, Phillip, caught every moment of Michelle's joy on video camera, the tears ran freely.

"There's no words to express to see your child doing something you couldn't do for her," Billie explained. "When at any time you can lose your child, you want to do everything you possibly can."

A DHT therapist assisted Michelle in riding the dolphin, holding up the hula hoop so the dolphin could swim through it and touching its impossibly soft skin as a Seaquarium animal trainer guided the gentle mammal.

After almost an hour in the water, Michelle emerged to find a rich chocolate birthday cake laden with candles and a hearty rendition of "Happy Birthday to You" from all the DHT staff, volunteers and families present.

She smiled gleefully as she blew out the candles, seeming to know her wish had already come true.

To contact DHT, call (305) 361-3313 in the USA.