Conductive Education needs special focus in India, says experts

Indian laws clearly state that all disabled children, irrespective of their economical backgrounds, are entitled to education. We have hundreds of schools that empower and reach out to disabled children in our country. But how well do they focus on the special education required for a child because the requirements of each disabled child varies. Experts point out that Conductive Education (CE) is something that is not very popular in India. In fact, it is one of the most essential and crucial methods of empowering a child with mobility and neurological disorders, especially for children with Cerebral palsy.

Conductive Education was first introduced by Hungarian Professor Andras Peto. CE is a method in which the child learns to perform actions and do things independently through normal life experiences. They learn to become self-reliant and solve problems through various techniques that are taught by a trained Conductive Educator. In western countries, CE is one of the most adopted learning techniques for children with developmental disorders. But special educators in India point out that CE is not even implemented well in the country.

Mrs Beata Turi Kusel is a Senior Conductor who was trained from the Hungarian Peto Institute. Recently, she had conducted a Conductive Education class for children in Bengaluru. Kusel says that the classes were highly educative to both children and parents.

The little ones learnt to sit safely on the floor, on the table and even learnt use their limbs together. They also learnt to become more aware of their body by learning tasks on the floor and also in sitting and standing positions. They learnt to use a potty, brush their teeth and eat at a table. Older children learnt to improve their balance and co-ordination, take higher and longer steps, forward rolls, jumping, changing positions, buttoning, lacing, using a pencil, refined eating and even group games. This is what CE teaches children to do-Beata Turi Kusel, Senior Conductor

Skills like self-care, academics, social interaction, playing with peers and how to function physically are taught for CE sessions. This only helps to improve the child socially and emotionally.

Nandita Paul is a Special Educator from Pune in India. Paul has practiced CE and points out that it is very effective for children with Cerebral palsy.

“Having practiced CE with children who have Cerebral palsy, I have found that this therapy based program is very useful for overall holistic development. They learn important life skills that help them to lead an active and independent life to a great extent”, says Paul.

Like experts point out, special education in India needs to work on introducing Conductive Education and making it popular in the country. But with the right guidance to instructors, CE can be the ideal method to empower children with developmental disorders, mainly Cerebral palsy.

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