- Title: USA: SMALL MONKEYS TRAINED TO ASSIST QUADRIPLEGICS.
- Date: 20th August 2004
- Summary: BASKET OF STUFFED TOYS FOR MONKEY IN SHELF SHELVES FOR MONKEYS' BLANKETS AND TOYS TRAINER SUPERVISING WHILE MONKEY BATHES IN SINK MONKEY SCRUBBING ITSELF IN SINK WITH SOAP TRAINER WITH MONKEY IN ROOM FOR BASIC INSTRUCTION MONKEY LICKING FOOD FROM TRAINER'S FINGER UPON COMPLETING A TASK (SOUNDBITE) (English) JUDI ZAZULA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR HELPING HANDS, SAYING: "As the tasks get more and more complicated, we add more and more to them. So for example, a monkey might initially take the top off of a bottle, and put a straw in - and then we add to that more and more parts of that task until we have a very complex behaviour chain that actually starts out with opening the refrigerator, taking out a drink, bringing it to the table, maybe putting it in the microwave, opening the door of the microwave, putting the bottle in, eventually bringing it to a tray where you set it up, again then you open the bottle and put the straw in. And all of this is one task to a monkey but it's taught very simply, with adding more and more to the process." VIEW OF ADVANCED TRAINING ROOM WITH TRAINER IN WHEEL CHAIR AND MONKEY NAMED TOBY TRAINER USING VOICE COMMANDS AND LASER POINTER TO DIRECT TOBY TO OPEN REFRIGERATOR, FETCH SANDWICH CONTAINER, PUT CONTAINER INTO HOLDER AND READY SANDWICH FOR EATING TRAINER USING VOICE COMMANDS AND LASER POINTER TO DIRECT MONKEY TO PUT BOTTLE INTO MICROWAVE OVEN, AND START MICROWAVE TRAINER ASKING TOBY TO LIFT HER HAND ONTO HER LAP TRAINER ASKING TOBY TO USE CLOTH TO SCRATCH TRAINER'S FACE TOBY THE MONKEY GOING TO LIGHT SWITCH AND FLIPPING IT OFF (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALISON PAYNE, TRAINING COORDINATOR AT HELPING HANDS, SAYING: "It's kind of bitter-sweet. We're so happy for them, and they're going out in the world to do what they were meant to do. It's hard for us, but it's kind of like sending your kids off to college, you know they're off to a better place. They're moving on with their life, so you're a little sad for yourself, but so proud of them."
- Embargoed: 4th September 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS; MENDON, MASSACHUSETTS; UNDISCLOSED LOCATION, UNITED STATES
- City:
- Country: USA
- Topics: Environment,Health,Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVA7B31OGJ9ZJIZ1JQVEND5F0E82
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Monkey "university" trains small monkeys to assist quadriplegics.
It may look like any other university building, but upon approaching you might notice that these tenants are a little unusual.
This is 'monkey university' - owned by non-profit organisation "Helping Hands - Monkey Helpers for the Disabled."
Its students: monkeys. The curriculum: learning to assist disabled people.
The organisation has placed 93 monkey helpers with disabled people since 1979. They recently built a 6,000 square foot (1,829 square metre) new, modern facility just to train the monkeys to use their hands.
Judi Zazula (zah-ZOO-lah) is the executive director at Helping Hands. She says that the 6-8 pound (2.7-3.6 kilo) capuchin (CAP-oo-chin or cap-OO-chin) monkey is well suited to help a paralysed person with basic tasks when a care-giver is not always available. The monkeys aren't meant to replace a family member or care-giver but they can help fetch objects, flip switches and start CDs in a stereo.
"They love to manipulate objects. They're very good with their hands, and that truly is the very skill that people need help with, when you're paralysed. They also have formed very good working relationships with humans, through the years as the organ grinder monkey. So, they both had a history, as well as a lot of natural characteristics that made this very appropriate," Zazula said.
Helping Hands start their programme at a nearby zoo where the monkeys are bred. Soon after they're born, foster families adopt the animals until they're ready for school.
"Monkeys will live with families for about five years just being a kid - learning the kinds of things that any child would learn in a home. They certainly have baths every morning. They wear diapers until they're potty trained. They learn how to please their parents. They know what is theirs to play with and what's not okay to play with, like a medicine cabinet, or an outlet. And basically, just as a young child needs to play and be involved in gross motor activities before they can settle down and go to school that's the same process for a monkey. So after about five years, the monkeys will then come to school when they are slow enough, when their activity level has dropped, their attention span has lengthened, and it's time for that little monkey to go to school," Zazula said.
Once ready, the monkeys join Judi Zazula, her staff of trainers, and about 25 simian classmates at the "university" in Boston.
Trainers, many of whom are students in health, medicine, and science at Boston University, work with the monkeys using voice commands and laser pointers. Rewards for the clever monkeys come in the form of cream cheese or peanut butter. The trainers start the young monkeys off with simple tasks first.
"As the tasks get more and more complicated, we add more and more to them. So for example, a monkey might initially take the top off of a bottle, and put a straw in - and then we add to that more and more parts of that task until we have a very complex behaviour chain that actually starts out with opening the refrigerator, taking out a drink, bringing it to the table, maybe putting it in the microwave, opening the door of the microwave, putting the bottle in, eventually bringing it to a tray where you set it up, again then you open the bottle and put the straw in.
And all of this is one task to a monkey but it's taught very simply, with adding more and more to the process,"
Zazula explained.
In a training room built to mimic a small apartment, Alison Payne, the training coordinator for Helping Hands works with Toby, who's already progressed a fair bit.
Payne sits in a wheelchair and directs Toby holding a laser pointer, and voice commands. A quadriplegic companion of Toby one day might use their head or mouth to operate the laser in a similar fashion.
A red dot appears on a small refrigerator, and Toby opens the refrigerator and fetches a plastic container.
Toby is rewarded.
Seconds later Toby is putting the container into a holder on a counter top. The monkey slides back the plastic covering, and a sandwich appears. It's supported by the holder now, and ready to be eaten.
Getting a sandwich out of a refrigerator is something many people take for granted everyday, but for a quadriplegic it's something that can only be done with a little help.
The list goes on. Alison asks Toby to put a drink bottle into a microwave. Toby starts the microwave.
The monkey can even help with basic health care. If a muscle spasm causes a quadriplegic's hand or foot to slip from a wheel chair, Toby pulls the limb back to where it needs to be.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like not to be able to scratch an itch on your face? Toby can help with that too. As Payne demonstrates, Toby can fetch a cloth and scratch an itch. Once trained, it's as simple as a voice command and the direction of the laser pointer. Payne pushes her tongue against her cheek, and Toby scratches that side of her face.
Training can last from 1.5 to 2 years. Much of that time is spent with individual trainers, and a bond builds.
"It's kind of bitter-sweet. We're so happy for them, and they're going out in the world to do what they were meant to do. It's hard for us, but it's kind of like sending your kids off to college, you know they're off to a better place. They're moving on with their life, so you're a little sad for yourself, but so proud of them," Alison Payne said.
Robert Foster was paralysed after a car accident in 1979. He was the first person to get a monkey helper. Her name is "Hellion."
"It was like having a breath of freedom again to do what I wanted at my rate instead of saying, 'excuse me, sir, m'aam, would you move this?' Now I could just ask Hellion. She's a companion most of all. She's there helping me do the small things that I can't do that would make everybody else's life complicated," Foster said.
The process, from breeding to graduation, costs about $25,000 (USD), paid for mainly by grants and private donations. More than 200 patients across the United States are awaiting a capuchin monkey helper, while another 500 requests are pending approval and financial support.
More information on Helping Hands and instructions on how to donate can be found at www.helpinghandsmonkeys.org. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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