Hungarian-born method treats children with cerebral palsy

05-04-2006

For children with cerebral palsy, progress comes in small steps, by crawling a few inches or even by rolling over.

Ryan Rothenanger's mother is ready for a new tack to help her 7-year-old son in his lifelong quest to adapt to the condition. Last week, Sydney Rothenanger watched through a window at a center on Indianapolis' Far Southside as three children worked with aides.

The Jackson Center for Conductive Education opened in July and has drawn praise from parents who bring their children from as far away as Mooresville and Lafayette. Conductive education is not new, but the center -- started by the mother of one of its students -- is the only place in Indiana to practice it.

Rothenanger visited one morning to see if the Jackson Center could rejuvenate Ryan's training in skills that come naturally for most but take repeated effort by children with cerebral palsy.

"He's come a long way," the Carmel resident said. But the dividends are shrinking in one-on-one sessions with speech and physical therapists.

Lara DePoy, the founder, listened as Rothenanger talked about what Ryan can do -- walk, with some assistance -- and can't do -- chew and swallow food with texture.

"That will change," DePoy said.

She has seen it in her own son, 5-year-old Jackson, for whom the center is named. She and her husband, Spencer, took him to a center near Chicago last year before raising $50,000 from family and friends to start their own in a donated business center office.

Conductive education pairs children with a "conductor," who works with them to learn how to overcome tight and restrictive muscles and posture problems.

The goal is to help the children work through each problem and movement themselves so they remember how to do it.

DePoy, 32, Mooresville, is an occupational therapist. She said being around others with the condition helps the children learn. The method originated in the 1940s in Hungary, and that country's International Peto Institute of Conductive Education still has one of the few training programs for conductors. One graduate, Zsu Zsi Borcsok, moved to Indianapolis last year from a center in Cleveland to help DePoy.

"We are more holistic," Borcsok said of conductive education. "The human can be changed, but the disability cannot.

"Those kids are capable of so much more than they're given credit for."

The Jackson Center's students attend three-hour classes three days a week for four-week sessions. During the summer, the center will expand sessions to five days a week.

Over time, they learn to sit independently, walk using a support, pull themselves up and use a toilet. Cerebral palsy often comes with mental disabilities, but the Jackson Center's students vary. The age range is 17 months to 8 years.

Conductive education, like any treatment, is not a cure.

The United Cerebral Palsy Research and Educational Foundation has not endorsed it, although Dr. Mindy Aisen, its director, sees value in intensive practice. More research still is needed on the differences between conductive education and other methods, she said.

Angela Gottlieb, 35, has seen her daughter, Karliee, 4, learn to express herself verbally and crawl at the Jackson Center. She can walk with assistance.

"It was really more just a shot in the dark," she said. Gottlieb, who lives on Indianapolis' Far Southside, said Karliee's progress has amazed her.

Count Rhoda Waiss, 39, among the devotees. She waited for her son, 5-year-old Liam, to finish class Friday before driving him back to their home on Indianapolis' Northside.

The family will move to Florida soon because of her husband's job transfer, she said. There's no question they will continue with conductive education.

"We will not be without it," Waiss said.

But their new city lacks a center. Again, she said, there is no question -- after studying the DePoys' efforts, she will start a new center there.

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