A yellow-and-brown boa constrictor covers itself around David de Oliveira Gomes’s neck like a headscarf, however the 15-year-old Brazilian with autism is amazed, not scared. For him, this is treatment. “His name is Gold. He’s cold. He eats mice,” Gomes tells his therapist at a treatment centre in Sao Paulo, gently holding the large snake as it slithers around him.
That is exactly the kind of sentence his therapist, Andrea Ribeiro, is trying to elicit.
She specialises in treating people with disabilities, autism or anxiety, using an unusual method: reptile therapy, which she says helps patients relax and improve their communication, motor skills and other abilities.
“He’s working on speech and memory formation,” the 51-year-old language-speech therapist says of Gomes, sitting at a table with him and the large snake.
Ribeiro has pioneered this method over the past decade at the treatment centre, which features an open-air space where patients interact with lizards, turtles and a “jacare” — a kind of alligator native to Latin America that is common in Brazil, including in the Amazon rainforest.
The treatment is not scientifically proven.
But “it’s been medically demonstrated that when people come in contact with animals, it releases neurotransmitters such as serotonin and beta-endorphins that give a sense of pleasure and well-being,” says Ribeiro.
“That makes (patients) feel good and want to learn.”
The reptiles “enable us to achieve better, faster results,” she said.
Step aside, dogs
Ribeiro used to use dogs in her treatment sessions. But she found their constant attempts to play and interact made some patients uneasy, especially those with autism.
So she turned to reptiles. It’s a class of animals that makes many people squirm.
But people with autism tend to approach them “without prejudice,” she says: The animals spark their curiosity without making them uncomfortable. The reptiles, for their part, “are indifferent,” she says.
“They don’t seek attention the way some mammals do.”
Ten-year-old Gabriel Pinheiro is petting a small alligator, trying to imitate Ribeiro’s syllables by opening his mouth wide three times: “Ja-ca-re.”
“It’s wet,” he says, his eyes focused on the animal from behind his glasses. The alligator’s scales are “hard,” its stubborn belly “soft,” he says, as the therapist assists him deal with revers.
He and Ribeiro then sing a tune about the jacare to practice acoustic memory abilities. Pinheiro’s mom, Cristina, credits 4 years of this treatment with assisting enhance his listening, interaction and motor abilities.
“He’s constantly happy when we come,” she says.
Reptilian massage
Another client, 34-year-old Paulo Palacio Santos, suffered serious mental retardation in a mishap that left him paralysed and speechless. Ribeiro covers his confront with a thick snake, whose weight and cold temperature level help reactivate Santos’s swallowing reflex, she says.
She then utilizes a smaller sized boa constrictor to work the muscles around his mouth. The handling of these types is managed by Brazil’s ecological authority, IBAMA.
Ribeiro works side-by-side with biologist Beatriz Araujo, whose job is to keep an eye on the animals’ tension levels and guarantee clients stay safe. There has actually never ever been a mishap in ten years of treatment, the centre says.
The reptiles, which are raised on website, are accustomed to human contact. No harmful snakes are utilized. “I’m constantly here, simply in case (an animal) responds suddenly,” says Araujo.
“The threats are the very same when it comes to close contact with any animal.”
