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<a href="http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/pipexdsl/o/aotg75/dynamitekids/">www.dynamitekids.net</a>
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This unique project aims to help children with cerebral palsy get the most out their time at a mainstream primary school in Burnham, Slough using the principles of Conductive Education.
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What is it trying to achieve?
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<li>To maximise independence, build confidence and self-belief and encourage better concentration and learning for the children, without disruption to the core curriculum.</li>
<li>For them to have increased access to the National Curriculum, the school community and services.</li>
<li>The ultimate aim is to provide an active, problem solving approach, to learning skills for life.</li>
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How does it work at the moment?
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The current system is that physiotherapists work at the school, assessing the children and devising an individual physiotherapy programme, which is carried out by them and physio helpers on a one-to-one basis. Part-time occupational therapists, psychologists and speech therapists also visit the school on an regular basis.
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Some parents also choose to withdraw their children from the school for one day a week to attend PACE, the centre for Conductive Education at Aylesbury. This is over and above what is routinely available and extends and supports that which is currently in place. Some parents also arrange Conductive Education school in the Easter and Summer holidays.
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Why change?
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The practical difficulties of co-ordinating the time of various specialist agencies to deal with a cerebral palsied child are considerable. It is perfectly likely that a child needs regular (at least once a week) input from a physiotherapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist and educational psychologist all of which has to be fitted into a busy school curriculum. Resources often have to be allocated in blocks meaning that the child’s academic timetable can be severely disrupted.
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In practice, there is an ongoing problem of staffing, and resources are under constant threat. There is a chronic national shortage of both physiotherapists and occupational therapists to the point where the immigration authorities have relaxed the entry criteria on work permits for foreigners wishing to work in the UK in these areas.
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On a social level, unintentionally, we continue to treat these children as different – with wheelchairs, specialist equipment and various specialists to inspect them, these all mark the children out as ‘them’ and not ‘us’. It is a sad fact that some children who can walk with aides are actually confined to a wheelchair during the school day.
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The physiological harm of fixing a body into one position nearly all day goes deeper than increased stiffness, risk of bone contractures and pressure sores. These children are rarely given a chance to practice the movements required for independent mobility in a social environment and their ability to learn reduces the longer they are denied it, as muscles atrophy and tendons fail to grow with disuse. Most of these children require surgical intervention as a result of this causing yet more disruption to their schooling. Much therapy becomes palliative rather than dynamic and can reinforce to the children themselves that they can do little or nothing for themselves.
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Finally, the current system appears to maintain levels of independence rather than change them. The aim must be to increase independence in a positive and dynamic fashion. Not only will this benefit the child, but also the family, support carers and teacher assistants in the school.
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Tell me more about Priory School!
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The school has already achieved Beacon status and made outstanding achievements in many areas including integration of statemented children with very special needs into a mainstream environment. This ethos of excellence is ongoing – Priory School is committed to continually improving standards and facilitating increased access to the curriculum.
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As a Beacon School, Priory actively disseminates good practice locally and nationally, and is proactive in taking forward new developments within the school. The school’s motto is ‘the children come first’ and this guiding principle underpins all activity. This philosophy fits very well with the results focused holistic approach of Conductive Education.
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To be the first mainstream school in the country operating with Conductive Education principles will be a unique, ground breaking role model for other schools to follow.
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