Cam's first week of Conductive Education - 2008!

Hello to everyone from sunny Hilton Head Island! Just wanted to give you all an update on Cameron's first week of Conductive Education at the Grace Center for 2008! He is still in what we call the adjustment period, getting acclimated to working for 3 hours every day. He has done surprisingly well with that part. Last year, working with the potty was a challenge. The children are rewarded for their hard work and accomplishments with stickers throughout the morning. Last year the sticker count for going potty was zero. This year, thanks to Mrs. Annie working with him on his new potty chair at home, his sticker count for the first week is three! This week we focused on colors. Cam was trying his best to tell the Conductor, Erika, what the colors were, and would say a very adamant "No! No! No!" when the color being said was wrong! He said yellow and blue. He tried to say red and green. He did very well picking out the correct colors. In fact, Erika had to take the number of color choices from 3 to 4 to keep him interested as 3 was just to easy! The lying program where we spend a lot of time on the plinth table is still difficult for him, especially on the stomach. He was doing better by Friday, but he hates it. He will be doing so much better by the time we get through the next couple of weeks. Eating is also going well. So far, he has tasted chocolate pudding (loves it!), applesauce, sweet potatoes and carrots. He also drinks grape juice every day. He is swallowing much more and not loosing as much as he has been. Last year toward the end, he began rejecting the food. I think the mistake I made last year was also using snack time to brush his teeth (which he hates!). I am keeping that entirely separate from eating now.

Hannah Grace is the daughter of the wonderful lady who started The Grace Center (www.thegracecenter.org). Hannah is a month younger than Cameron and has been doing Conductive Education since she was about 18 months old. She began crawling just over a year ago. Erika and Hannah's Mom, Stephanie, have had about 4 different meetings with the school Hannah will begin attending for Kindergarten next year. They have finally proven to them that Hannah is capable of learning and despite the fact that she cannot speak and has physical limitations, she can still be mainstreamed! This is such a testament to what Conductive Education can do! I wish all of you could see her in action, you would not believe it. She is already ahead of where most other Kindergarenters are when they start school. She knows all of her letters and can choose the right ones to spell.

Erika told me about a Conductive Education Conference happening in Chicago August 28 and 29. Not only do they have sessions regarding Conductive Ed., but they have some great non-profit information as well as CP issues. I am attaching the files she sent me. I think Dawn and I are actually going to try to find a way to do this, anyone else want to join us? Information can also be found at the following website: www.acena.org