"Of course it was the eyes. There they were, staring across at me in the dark, dirty, frigid salt-water tank. The stare, direct and aggressive, was from Spray, an Atlantic Bottlenose dolphin. As her left eye widened and sought to make contact with mine through my diving mask, I realized I'd never known such a powerful, intellectual gaze in my life. I found myself not breathing, trapping the air still held in my lungs, hoping that the moment would last forever.
"When I left the pool that first day, I had no way of knowing I was taking the first steps toward breaking the barriers of dolphin-human communication. I only knew that I'd touched and been touched by an experience too large for me to comprehend...."
"Most importantly, I would go on to find a way to use what I'd learned to improve the condition of other humans. At that first meeting, I had no idea how this information would enable me eventually to free autistic children to communicate with those who cared for them and about them."
