Conductive education opens in Taranaki
Taranaki’s new Conductive Education Centre is celebrating its official opening and it couldn’t come soon enough for one family.
Vicky Thomas moved to Hamilton in 2015, so that her daughter then 2-year-old Lucy could attend a conductive education centre.
Conductive education is therapy that improves the quality of life for children with neuro-motor disorders. Until now, Taranaki parents had been regularly travelling to Hamilton or Wellington, so their children could attend sessions.
After Lucy was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was 18 months old Thomas struggled to get physical therapy for her daughter, she said.
‘‘At the hospital, to start with, she was getting as little as one hour every six weeks. In Hamilton, Lucy was able to attend conductive four times weekly, and while this meant a temporary relocation, it also meant a significant improvement in Lucy’s development.’’
Within six months Lucy was able to sit up independently. Now, she’s walking with sticks, Thomas said.
‘‘That’s all through conductive. I don’t think we could have had a better early intervention for Lucy at all.’’
And Lucy’s twin brother Ben was able to join in because conductive education is play and musicbased, she said.
It was lucky he could. ‘‘The conductors noticed something wasn’t quite right with Ben well before any medical people did.’’
Ben was finally diagnosed with monoplegia, a form of paralysis that affects just one limb, when he was 3-years-old.
‘‘Being in Hamilton, I had no family support.’’
But her stint in Hamilton meant that she gave her children the best possible start. ‘‘Conductive has allowed me as a mother to know that I did the best that I could for the kids.’’
The Conductive Education Trust has been been fundraising for the last three years to bring a teacher to Taranaki.