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

to serve ourselves out of the common dish or pour out of the water jug by our own efforts. If the child was hyperactive, then he might miss his glass, might have even miss it twenty five times. One day we ate with our right hands, the following day with the left, in order that we could use our hands in the same way, or we had to use our paralyzed limb just as well on the given day. This was done with such strictness, that there was a sign put out on the table, with "TODAY WE ARE EATING WITH OUR RIGHT HANDS" written on it in big capital letters. The following day they changed the sign and then "TODAY WE ARE EATING WITH OUR LEFT HANDS" was written on it. This was very seriously supervised and if by any chance someone wanted to use his healthy arm without permission, he was punished by expulsion from the institute. This happened to me once, one had to be ready by eight o'clock, dressed and finished with breakfast. From eight to noon there were prescribed floor exercises for 50 minutes. The nurse said what we had to do and we had to say slowly, articulated and clearly: I am lifting up my right arm, one, two, three, four, five. I am holding it, one, two, three, four, five. I am lowering it down, one, two, three, four, five. You were not allowed to just drop it back. As many times it fell down, so many times you had to lift it up again to the same height, as it fell from, and then you started from the beginning. Usually we repeated the exercises until everybody in the group could achieve the desired goal. Which meant ten, fifteen, twenty times, one after another. These exercises were designed to make all muscle groups work systematically. There were ten-minute breaks between lessons, then you could go to the toilet or drink a glass of water. During the exercises it was strictly forbidden to go out to the loo, you had to hold it back. If you definitely couldn't hold it back, then you had to urinate in your clothes, but you had to continue with the exercises until the break. So there were exercises until twelve, sometimes till only eleven, and then walking exercises followed. Somehow everybody got to the vertical position. Even if they couldn't stand unaided at all. There were chairs with high backs, and even if only with the help and support of three nurses, we all got into vertical position, and then the walking exercises followed in such a way, that the chairs were moved forward and we had somehow to carry our bodies after them.... after the walking exercises we had lunch. That was special. Since they were trying to feed us in the richest possible way in calories, minerals and vitamins, only those who had worked exceptionally well during the week were treated to soup, but even then only once a week, or maybe on Sundays as well. The meal started with a big dish of raw vegetables, cut up carrots, lettuce and other kinds of green vegetables full of vitamins, we had to eat them first. Then came the main course, rich in protein. In order for us not to gain weight we did not get a lot of sweets, only on outstanding occasions such as festivals, birthdays and namedays. But we got a lot of ham, cheese and sour cream, e.g. for tea a glass of sour cream with quarter of a pound of ham, without any bread. At lunchtime, after having eaten the vegetables, everybody had to tip their heads back and the nurses poured down a tablespoon full of calcium, a few vitamin pills and a spoonful of cod-liver oil. The clever ones did not swallow it immediately, they tried hard to keep it in their mouths and then to go to the bathroom and spit it out there. Naturally being children we did not know that did no good to flush the toilets, the oil floated up again to the surface. The conductors checked the bathrooms and if there was any oil floating on the water, they poured cod-liver oil down all our throats again. There was siesta after lunch, two hours afternoon sleep. We were not allowed to talk or read... while I was there at the insti-