Conductive Education—Intervention
CE establishes sense of worth and accomplishment (Miller, 2005). The elements of the program can be incorporated into the day school or hospital setting and this approach to therapy fits into more recent trends which are focused on educational techniques rather than historical rehabilitation principles (Miller, 2005).
CE is an exciting alternative intervention for individuals with motor disorders. The primary aim of CE is to stimulate a developmental process that would not come about spontaneously and which would continue subsequently (Tillemans, 1984). CE approaches physical disability from an educational, rather than a treatment, perspective (Withall and Cotter, 1997; Finn, Campbell, and Fewell, 1990).
CE incorporates the specialized needs of individuals with motor disorders into a framework of strategies focusing on learning to solve problems, accepting responsibility, interacting and communicating, and optimizing motor skills and coordination while learning to function in daily life. This deliberate teaching process empowers the individual to understand their own potential.
When a person with a physical/multiple disability develops a view of themselves as a person who "can," and has the confidence, self-esteem, knowledge, strategies, and intent to problem-solve the challenges of life, then an orthofunctional personality exists. Orthofunction can be best described as achieving ones optimal functioning.