Chris and Christine attend their seventh Conductive Education session with daughter Jessica

Chris:We’re from Georgia and our daughter Jessica is now 11 years old. This is our 7th session coming to Ability Camp. She began as a 5 year old, twice that year and we’ve been back every summer for the July sessions.

During the first session when we were here the Conductors were able to make the transition onto the quad canes. Since then, another 18 months later she moved onto single canes, which has been her sole means of getting around the last 3 or 4 years or so.

This summer she’s begun to be confident enough to move without her canes, which is something that we’d really basically given up on. So, we’re obviously magnificently grateful for all that’s gone on here.

In some ways the real benefits of the program come from the after school work that the kids do together and our greatest joy here is watching Jessie pushed by other kids or pushing other kids to try things that she hasn’t wanted to try.

Christine:We’re both school administrators and we know a lot about teaching. The Conductors have that wonderful balance of warmth, genuine love and care for the children, but they also have real strict standards. So it’s really unique to find that balance of warmth and rigor which Jessie responded to from the very beginning.

We were beginning to doubt that she’d walk independently, but it’s the combination of real good solid teaching, the way the sessions are set up, the repetitive activities, the memory from the muscle to the brain and different positions of lying, sitting and standing, and an individual program that’s tailored to meet each child’s needs.

She makes phenomenal progress and she really enjoys doing it at the same time. So now we’re thrilled she’s walking

There are some other places in the country who do Conductive Education but, as far as I know, this is the only place where there’s an actual residential program and that makes a huge difference, having the families live here, 24 hours a day. It’s not the Taj Mahal, it’s a place to live, but the presence of other families here, and our abilities to support each other and also the kids abilities to support each other while we’re living here, I think is the thing that makes this Conductive Education center so unique.

For more information and to receive a Free DVD call Kevin (Director) at 1-800-442-6992 or email   kevin@abilitycamp.com