Kapronczay Károly szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 200-201. (Budapest, 2007)
TANULMÁNYOK — ARTICLES - FORRAI, Judit: History of a Special Healing Method for Motor-disordered Children: Conductive Education - A mozgásszervi betegségben szenvedő gyermekek egyik sajátos gyógymódja, a konduktív nevelés története
cording to Born' s documentation , after the take-over of the Arrow-Cross Party in October 1944, a merciless persecution of Jews began. The number of orphans grew excessively, the mothers and fathers were deported or dumped into the Danube, and the babies left in baskets with begging notes at the gates of children's homes were waiting to be rescued. It was in the Home in Orsó street that Pető started to work with ill, disabled and motor dysfunctional children using movement therapy which had already been successful in pneumological and psychiatric institutions. However, this home could not guarantee complete protection to those living there either 40 . Hungarian Special Needs Education at the beginning of the 20 th century At the beginning of the 20 th century carefully planned and composed exercises, taken from the movements used in everyday life, were put into practice in healing. These consisted of conscious muscle strengthening and relaxing exercises and mechanical exercises. Hungarian physiotherapy training is associated with Alice Madzsar's name (1875-1935), who opened her Teacher's Training College for Functional Exercises in 1912. With her method of correctional gymnastics she strove towards "muscle consciousness." She made use of energy through suggestion, and achieved results by means of alternately relaxing and energising muscles. During the exercises very few clothes covered the bodies of the participants in order that the movements could be clearly seen. Pető's young patients on the threshold of puberty often felt very awkward during the mixed-sex demonstrations when this method was used 41 . There was already a tradition of Special Needs Education in Hungary at that time. Provision was made according to four characteristics: a) Those whose emotional life differs from the norm (emotional dissimilarity, totally withdrawn from society, unconstrained, antisocial) b) Those who are mentally disabled c) Those who have a low earning capacity d) Those who cannot be educated and treated by normal schools 42 Pető had to fight against these fossilised doctrines. Gusztáv Bárczi (1890-1964) was a determining figure in Hungarian Special Needs Education. He completed a Special Education course in 1913 and later started his medical career as an otologist (ear specialist). He worked on improving the speech of deaf-mutes, forming human communication, integrating 39 Ben-Tov, Arieh: Holocaust. Budapest, Dunakönyv, 1992. 195. 40 According to documents: "...At 1.3o am, December 6th, 1944 somebody rang the door bell to the Orsó street children's home, which stood under the protection of the Spanish Embassy and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Three armed arrow-cross soldiers demanded from the civil defence officer to be let in. The officer showed them the sign indicating the immunity of the house, and that it was out-of-bounds. The three arrow-cross men destroyed the signs and entered the building aggressively, in the bedrooms they made everyone undress, they searched their pockets and took everything, they then insulted some of the people and left. In Ben-Tov, Arieh: O.e., 211 41 Interview with Dr. Katalin Hídvégi, In: Forrai J.: O.e.. 137-145. 42 Vértes, József O.: A magyar gyógyító pedagógia 1848-ban és ma In: A köznevelés évkönyve. Ed. by. Kiss, Árpád. Budapest, MVKM, 1948. 264.
