Magyar News, 1995. szeptember-1996. augusztus (6. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1995-11-01 / 3. szám
«HUNGARY'S GIFT TO THE WORLD.« My seven year old son, Daniel is a very happy, bright, talkative boy. He likes to do all of the things that other little children his age like to do. But he has never been able to run and play with his little friends because he spends most of his time sitting in a wheelchair. This is because he has cerebral palsy, an injury to his brain that is a result of a lack of oxygen when he was only a few days old. As a baby, Daniel nevet rolled over or crawled to explore the world around him. He has had an operation to keep his hip from coming out of the socket and the doctors have told me that one of his legs would always be shorter than the other because of this. In first grade he was still wearing diapers. But things have changed recently for Daniel because of a trip we took to Hungary last summer. Daniel can now roll over and drag-crawl across the floor to get a toy. His muscles have been put to use so that his legs are both the same length. And perhaps the most exciting development of all is that Daniel no longer needs to wear diapers. We feel that this change is due to something called Conductive Education, a Hungarian method of special education. Two years ago my friend who is a journalist in Budapest told me that an institute there is helping children with cerebral palsy to learn to walk and do many other things for themselves. Daniel and I went to visit last August only to find that the institute was closed for the summer. But we were able to meet with a doctor who told us some more about the method. We learned that Conductive Education was developed in the 1940's by Dr. András Pető. Dr. Pető knew that if children with cerebral palsy were to sit in wheelchairs and have others do everything for them, the children would learn to accept this. But if the children were put through the tasks of crawling, sitting and walking that their injured brains would find other pathways to send the messages to their bodies. Dr. Peto also developed a Set of simple wooden furniture that would help the children to learn to balance and strengthen their bodies. He saw from his work that changes took place in the children's personalities that gave them the determination to try new things. My research also brought me to a video tape called "Standing Up for Joe" which was released by the B B C. This video is a documentary about the Peto Institute and about families who have travelled from across the world to bring their children there. This video tape has been very important in bringing Conductive Education to other countries. Since the 1980's there are centers in England, Israel, Australia, Holland, Belgium and Hong Kong. Approximately forty families in the United States are helping their children using the Peto method. As the narrator of "Standing Up for Joe" states, "Conductive Education is truly Hungary's gift to the world" When I returned from Hungary I found a family in Fairfield who was using Conductive Education for their son. We decided to have a meeting to share information with other parents. Out of this meeting we found thirteen families who came from as far away as Cheshire and Meriden because they were willing to try the Peto method for their children. The children range in age from ten months to ten years old and all have cerebral palsy . The St. Vincent's Special Needs Center in Trumbull very kindly donated classroom space as well as mailings and printings to help our efforts. We began our classes for a ten week trial period. All of the families have decided to continue the classes beyond the ten weeks because they have seen such an improvement in their children in such a short span of time. These changes have been noted not only by the parents but by therapists and teachers as well . One of the reasons that we have had so much success is because we are lucky enough to have a wonderfull "conductor" (a teacher who is trained to provide Conductive Education). Zsuzsanna Bakó Deer is the conductor who is helping our children to strive for independence. She comes to us from the village of Gesztely, Hungary (near Miskolc) and was trained for four years at the Peto Institute in Budapest. Zsuzsanna also recently received a masters degree in special education here in the United States. She lives in. Stamford with her husband, Peter. Zsuzsanna is a blessing to us because her smiles and her encouraging manner urge the children to try new tasks that they have never been asked to do before. She also helps the parents to stop seeing our children as "handicapped". She is teaching us to change our ways of doing everything for our sons and daughters. Julie Ball of Menden says thrs of Zsuzsanna: "She is very positive, caring and loving. She is in tune with the children, and she is aware of the smallest things that they are learning to do." We see through Zsuzsanna that it takes a very special person to be a conductor. Despite all the successes we have had, we are still facing many obstacles. We know that Conductive Education is not a cure for cerebral palsy~our children will always have a brain injury and will always have to try very hard to make even small accomplishments. And although St. Vincent's Special Needs Center has been very supportive of our cause, the Conductive Education program is not funded and it's services are not covered by insurance. The burden of paying for tuition falls on the individual families and this has been very difficult for many of us. But this will not stop us from continuing to meet with Zsuzsanna to do the hard work that is ahead of us. Each session brings a little more progress for each of the children and we, the parents continue to believe that we are giving our children the best chance they have to learn to use their bodies so that may be someday they can run and play with other children. ********************************** In the middle of October the group had an informational meeting and a showing of a video. It was open to the public and Zsuzsanna Deer answered the questions of the concerned parents. For more information call Dawn at 375-0225. Tax deductable-donations are welcome. Make checks payable to SVSNC, 95 Merritt Boulevard, Trumbull, CT 06611. We're not Hungária a pretty good jo n, but we do b anyway. W PRINTING & Gl STRATFORD -IAPHICS *77-6571 EUROPEAN NAIL SALON Judith Racz Moved To: 565 Kings Highway, Fairfield, CT (Salon Maggi) Tel: 333-1468 page 7 by Dawn Marie Murray
