A PILOT EVALUATION OF CONDUCTIVE EDUCATION-BASED INTERVENTION FOR CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL-PALSY - THE TONGALA PROJECT

Objective: To perform an objective evaluation of a programme based on conductive education (CE). Methodology: Two groups of children with ce rebral palsy were studied over 6 months. Eleven children participated in a CE-based programme and nine children received traditional early i ntervention programmes. Videotapes of the children performing items fr om the Vulpe Assessment Battery (VAB) were scored by assessors blind t o the treatment group. The questionnaire on resources and stress (QRS- F) was administered to the primary caregiver. Results: Few statistical ly significant results were obtained. There was a trend for the conduc tive education-based group to make slightly greater gains. The videota ped measures yielded high Chronbach coefficients and high interrater c orrelation coefficients suggesting that this is a useful method to eva luate progress. Conclusions: The study was limited by small sample siz e, the nature of the control group and the lack of random assignment t o CE and control groups. It did provide a basis for the development of further research in the area.