How effective are programs based on conductive education? A report of two studies

This report provides an overview of descriptive data collected during evaluation of two programs based on conductive education principles that were established in Sydney in the early 1990s by groups of parents of preschool and school-aged children with motor disabilities. Peto-trained conductors were brought from Hungary to work in the programs. Results showed that in both groups, the amount of progress made by individual children varied widely, with some children showing almost no change and other showing improvement in selected skills; particularly potty training and the plinth exercises in the preschool group and standing from the floor or a chair in the school-aged group. There was almost no change in academic and communication skills and no evidence of attempts to generalise trained skills to untrained tasks or contexts. Some children reacted negatively to the program. It must be recognised that, for children of this age group, developmental changes should be expected to occur as a result of maturation and from engagement in any reasonable form of planned intervention. Results of the studies reported here suggest that programs based on conductive education are no more effective than other currently-available forms of intervention for children with moderate to severe physical disabilities.