Conductive Education-of interest for those children with Cerebral Palsy, Dyspraxia or Down's Syndrome

[BenFoulger]

I am writing to let you know about an approach called Conductive Education which may be able to help children of all ages who have difficulties with movement caused by problems with their brain - for instance Cerebral Palsy or Dyspraxia - and also works well for children with Down's Syndrome.

Conductive Education is not a cure, it is a highly structured educational approach to teach children how to control their bodies and gain more independence. We also work with parents with their babies to show them how to encourage them to develop and learn. It is not suitable for everyone but has been successfully used to help many children all over the world.

Megan Baker House is a charity in Herefordshire which is one of many such centres offering this approach. Our services are free and offered either once a week to those who are close enough or in intensive block placements that are every day for one to three weeks. Our sessional and block placement timetable is now available on our website: www.meganbakerhouse.org.uk

If you think that this might be something that you would be interested in, please have a look at the website and get in touch with us, we would love to meet you and your child and find out if we could help them become more independent.

dd did CE at school for parents, I would recomend it

Hello Ben.
I have just watched the video on the website, am I right in thinking that this is only useful for children on the severe end of physical disability?
My DS is 4.5, he has a general developmental delay, terrible fine motor skills, not good coordination, only just learnt to (kind of) jump, cannot ride a bike because his legs are not strong enough, but is able to climb a frame, run, etc.
Can this therapy help a child like him? How does it differ from Occupational therapy?
Thanks

Hi MojoLost,

We have worked with children with Dev Delay and at both ends of the spectrum in terms of needs. Although the system is really designed for those with movement difficulties caused by neurological damage, we have found it benefical for others too. We always look specifically at the child and what they can do and whether what we do is appropriate for them (and whether we have a group we can put them in). Without meeting him, I cannot say whether we could help him or not, if you are interested, I encourage you to fill in an online assessment form (use the CP one as we don't have a specific Dev Delay form) and we can take a look - assessments are also free although obviously how easy it is for you to get here depends on where you are.

The difference with OT is that CE is has an educational approach, we believe that the childrens problems stem from a problem with learning and so we aim to teach them how to overcome the problems they have with their bodies, promote independence and, crucially, problem solving and we do this through a highly structured form of specialised education. In some ways there is an overlap with OT and we certainly see ourselves as complimentary rather than as a replacement (this is the same for other therapies such as physio). As part of the assessment, we would explain a bit more about CE and MBH and hopefully it would make things a little clearer.

Hope this helps, please feel free to ask any other questions.

Regards

Ben

As I said dd did it when she was diddy it really was an eye opener, as although it didn't suit her it really helped us not to wrap her up in cotton wool.

Hi Ben, I'm really interested in this. I have just filled out your online assessment form. We would need a block placement as we're not close by at all, but I'm not sure which one. I presumed parent and child, but DD2 is 2 yrs old. Which one would we need? Thanks.

Hi mumgoingcrazy,

At 2 years old, the most appropriate block would probably be Parent and Child. I will check to see that we have received your assessment form and will be touch by phone in the next couple of days by the latest to arrange an assessment if this is appropriate.

Thanks for your interest and I hope to meet you soon.

Ben