Evaluation of a Conductive Education intervention for children with profound multiple disabilities in a residential children’s home in South Africa

Abstract

Conductive Education (CE) is a holistic educational system developed by András Petö, which aims on teaching and motivating the child with cerebral palsy (CP) to participate and function in society. The current research attempts to map out the effect of CE on motor abilities of the children in a residential children’s home in South Africa, and the variables that possibly moderate the effectiveness of the program. Different from previous studies, in which progression is mostly measured by means of general functional motor skills, small individual goals, adjusted to the specific developmental level of the participants, are used and evaluated by observations during daily activities to determine the motor progression of the child. This contributes to more purposeful practicing and it makes it possible to also observe small progressions. The results show a significant progression with respect to the goals. This effect is moderated by the integrity of the intervention and the initial fine motor level of the child. In a subsample of children who participated in simultaneously executed programs aimed to increase social responsiveness and cognitive play next to CE, the levels of social responsiveness or of cognitive play have no influence on the effectiveness of CE. Although a particular degree of fine motor functioning appears to be an important predictor for progression and the degree of progression, it is shown that CE is an effective intervention to positively stimulate the motor development of children with severe multiple disabilities.