One more time! : parents' and habilitation teams' conceptions of conductive education and support to children with motor disabilities

Abstract: The aim of this dissertation has been to increase the knowledge about support to children with CP injuries and to find out what they and their families need, expect, desire and can hope to receive. The aim is also to describe conductive education and investigate what ideas and experiences children, parents and habilitation staff have of it. Can conductive education give something to children and parents beyond the support that is already given by the habilitation system, and in that case what? The dissertation is made up of five articles and a theoretical framework. The studies were carried out via observations, interviews and questionnaires.The habilitation staff members see conductive education as merely intensive movement training in groups. The parents see, in addition, that the education includes all of the child’s functions and that the child makes progress in different areas including communication, cognition and social skills. The parents appreciate the intensive but pleasurable training and feel that the children are interested, stimulated and motivated to activity. The parents gain a great deal from the fellowship and information exchange they have with other parents during the courses. They get opportunities to share their feelings and reflect together with other parents over how they can manage their life situations. Almost all parents who have taken part in courses go on with play and training to varying degrees when they return home, and many of them take part in courses regularly in order to maintain knowledge, motivation and to get new ideas for play and activities that will suit their child. The parents see conductive education as a way of life that they use in their everyday lives, and they expect that it can give results in the future. In conductive education great importance is given to the parents’ acquisition of knowledge and capabilities to stimulate and activate their child as soon as the child’s injuries are diagnosed. It is also important that the parents at the same time get opportunities to meet other parents in the same situation for give-and-take support, hints and information. In some municipalities parents receive financial support for courses in conductive education and help with follow-up from the habilitation teams, while in other municipalities parents receive none of this support.