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Conductive Education

Young boy playing with toy blocks.

Services Provided by Footprints Conductive Education Centre

Help for Children Living With Mobility and Communication Difficulties

  • At Footprints, our activities have a common goal – to help every child achieve their full potential within a safe, fun and supportive environment.

  • Our work follows the practice and principles of Conductive Education. We encourage the child to develop motor, sensory and self-help skills (such as sitting, standing, touching, listening, looking, eating and playing), working in small groups based on their age, specific needs and abilities.

  • The early intervention we offer quickly benefits young children living with cerebral palsy or other conditions caused by damage to the part of the brain that controls movement. With the help of our programmes and strategies, children learn to overcome their physical challenges and their challenges to learning.

Giving Our Families Hope For The Future

  • We support and empower families to help understand and accept the disabilities their child lives with and how to enable their child to reach their full potential.

  • We ensure our families know where they can find further information and advice and our team give parents and siblings the emotional support they need to help them cope, offering practical and positive advice and information.

Our Services 

  • Providing initial visits and 1:1 consultation for each child and family as part of our admission process.

  • Providing a nurturing Conductive Education session per week in a supportive, small group environment, delivered by our expert team. These group sessions include carefully structured programmes to help children and parents explore their full potential using the support from our conductors and conductor assistants. Our sessions are aimed to develop the child’s personality and consider the child as a whole, addressing all areas of early development.

  • Providing specifically designed weekly communication and connection sessions for older children living with Down Syndrome up to 11 years, based on best practices advised by Symbol UK and the Down Syndrome Association (DSA), along with structured motor development activities.

  • Providing a safe environment and advice to encourage safe eating and drinking skills.

  • Running 'Gym Club' for over 5's to help them develop skills they need to continue to progress in their formal education and broader society.

  • Running Saturday Hydrotherapy sessions for our pre school children.

  • In partnership with Epic Partners, run Epic Bounce - weekly sensory play, with rebound trampoline therapy (for children aged 4-12 years who live wirh disabilities)

  • Providing sleep hygiene support and workshops for families.

  • Providing a positive environment for promoting various methods of communication, using strategies and resources to develop Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) skills, including eye gazing technology and Makaton.

 How We Empower Families 

  • Acknowledging their pivotal role in their child’s development.

  • Running practical sessions to support and educate families.

  • Providing help and advice with feeding and eating.

  • Preparing the child and parent unit for transition to school.

  • Providing details of other support agencies and voluntary organisations.

  • Organising social activities for families, including regular coffee events.

  • Liaising with educational/health bodies, sharing goals and strategies to enhance the child's learning.

Conductive Education

What is Conductive Education?

Our work is inspired by the principles and practices of Conductive Education, developed by the Hungarian physician Dr Andras Petö.

Conductive Education is a holistic system of education, a method of teaching and learning based on the human principle and the promise that everyone can learn - regardless of their condition or age - as long as they're supported by the right method of teaching and nurturing. CE originated in Hungary in the late 1940s as a unique form of education and rehabilitation for people living with neurological movement disorders, including cerebral palsy, parkinsons, stroke, multiple sclerosis etc.

Conductive Education transforms lives, developing physical, communication, social, sensory, self-help and thinking skills - including sitting, standing, touching, listening, looking, eating and playing. 

By following the practices and principles of CE, we use different ways to help children learn and remember, including repetition, images, songs and rhymes to accompany movement and incentives, games and fun.

All sessions provide a range of carefully structured educational programmes that enable each child to explore their full potential across all areas of their development. It brings some of the structure and rigour of schooling, including individual learning plans and regular reviews, but in a welcoming, encouraging and positive setting. 

Footprints is part of a more extensive network of Conductive Education services in England and Wales and we work with families who live across the East Midlands area.

Working Together

Conductive Education places parents firmly at the forefront of their child's education, fostering a positive child/parent relationship and allowing our team to work alongside parents as partners, encouraging their natural ability to aid their child's development, solve difficulties and overcome challenges.

CE awakens and stimulates a child's self-awareness and capacity to play and enjoy life. By working together, both children and families share this unique learning experience. To get the best results from Conductive Education, we encourage families to continue their child's learning at home, using strategies introduced in our sessions.

Key Benefits

  • To nurture a positive outlook with the ability to solve difficulties and overcome challenges.

  • To help children achieve greater independence and fulfil their potential.

  • A comprehensive, supportive and positive approach that covers physical, social, cognitive, and personal development.

  • A positive and holistic education system that focuses on what the individual child can achieve.

  • CE gives the child the motivation to find ways of functioning and developing a can-do attitude.

  • Contributes to establishing a daily routine for the child and allows active participation at an age-appropriate level.

  • Enables the child to work and play alongside others living with similar disabilities.

Some conditions where CE can be hugely beneficial include but are not limited to:

  • Cerebral Palsy

  • Genetic Disorders, including Muscular Dystrophy and Down Syndrome

  • Stroke or Brain Injury

  • Motor Disorders and Delay

  • Global Development Delay 

  • Spina Bifida

  • Rare/Undiagnosed Conditions

If your child has difficulties with movement, coordination and communication we might be able to help, please get in touch to find out more .