Conductive Education For Kids With Cerebral Palsy

MITCHELLVILLE, Md. (WUSA) -- You don't expect to walk into a classroom and find children laying on the floor. But at the C. Elizabeth Rieg Regional Center, something called "conductive education" is getting students with cerebral palsy out of wheelchairs and walkers.

"Conductor" Robert Demeter incorporates exercises that encourage movement and relax rigid muscles. It is a unique approach of teaching body awareness and overcoming physical disability that is woven throughout the curriculum all day long.

Robert Demeter says, "The biggest difference is that we don't do just therapy. Therapists come for one hour a week, but we stay for 6 hours, five days a week. We do toilet training, feeding, and speech with the children, because that's a holistic approach.Demeter was trained at a conductive education institute in Hungary, one of only a a handful in the world. He came to the U.S. to launch a year-long pilot program in Prince George's County. The project was funded by Sixten's Foundation, a non-profit started by the parents of 9-year-old Sixten Kurz.

Anna Helm Kurz is Sixten's mother. She says, "We want it in the public schools. Kids who can use this methodology can benefit from it and really should have it. They're much more active and engaged. It builds self-confidence."

One example is a student named Jeremiah. With the conductive education approach, he can pull himself up to a standing position, for the first time in his life.

During our visit, other students cheered him, and Jeremiah sang about his success: "I am standing tall! I am standing tall!"

Venita Simon is a special education aide who says, "I've seen tremendous gains in their ability to use their hands, to use their legs, to be able to balance themselves. It significantly improves their quality of life."

She says, "That's the biggest thing thing I've seen is the social growth. You see them cheering each other on. All they have to do is cheer, and that child will do something they never did before, because he wants the praise of his peers."

The staff at C. Elizabeth Rieg hope to see conductive education continue, and expand. But that depends on the school district's ability to hire specially-trained teachers in this methodology, and whether there will be money in the budget to do that.