ACENA Conference Wrap-Up

This week I had the fantastic opportunity to travel to Chicago, Illinois, to attend the Fifth Annual ACENA Conference. I began my travels on Wednesday by driving the hour and twenty minutes to my parents' home. From there, they drove me to the airport (train station). I caught the train (a very nerve-wracking experience for me), and enjoyed the less than 3 hour train ride to Chicago. I arrived at Millennium Station in Chicago on Wednesday evening, and checked into my hotel. I was beyond happy not to have to worry about driving into and around Chicago.

Some highlights...
Thursday morning, I arrived at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) bright and early for registration. Our keynote speaker was Dr. Jim Garofalo. His topic of interest, "Conductive Education in the USA: Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow." Dr. Garofalo was the Dean of the School of Education at Aquinas College for 25 years, during which the conductor training program was created in full cooperation with the Peto Institute.

Next, Dr. Julie Wirth presented "CEEP, Conductive Education Evaluation Project: Where We Are Now." Dr. Wirth is the CEEP Project Manager. CEEP is a randomized controlled trial designed to assess the value of CE for children aged 2-6 with CP. It was nice to hear the current status of the research project, but discouraging to hear that the lack of funds in the State of Michigan may be having an effect on the project.

David Dvorak, also ACENA President, presented "Fun with Fundraising." Topics discussed: What are the primary funding streams, funding structure, adding 'fun' and excitement to the fundraising director/strategies, benefits of fundraising, planning/execution of event, and specific examples of fundraisers. Some examples given were raffles, social events, golf outings, benefit concerts, etc. etc.

Monika Robinson, OTR/L, presented on "Educational and Medical Research Supporting Conductive Education." Topics discussed: Evidence-Based Practice (what is it, levels of EBP, randomized clinical trials, benefits of EBP); recent medical systematic review article on CE (Darrah, J. et. al. (2003) Effects of Conductive Education Intervention for Children with a Diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy: An AACPDM Evidence Report); use of educationally and medically relevant terms while searching for articles that support CE (intensity, repetition, semantic priming, verbal mediation, mental practice, neuroplasticity, ecological approach, dyad training, task-oriented, occupational life skills...). This was a 'hot topic' and had more discussion than there was time for.

And now for a little fun...
Thursday evening we walked just down the street for dinner at Quartino's Restaurant. This was the time for meeting up with old friends/classmates/colleagues, as well as meeting with new ones. I was so happy to have the chance to meet with two conductors working less than a 3 hour drive away from me. It was a great opportunity to 'charge up' for the coming year.

More presentations...
Friday morning came and Dr. Deborah Gaebler gave her presentation on "Levels of Participation of Children with CP." Dr. Gaebler also promoted the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine in Scottsdale, Arizona, September 23-26, 2009.

Then Andrea Benyovszky, CET, presented on "Traditional and Non-Traditional Cases in CE: Appropriate Candidates." Andrea presented three case studies, following three children from the initial application to assessment to admission (on a trial basis) through a four-week session, and the decision following the trial four-week session. Two of the children (with a non-traditional diagnosis) were found to be appropriate candidates for CE, and continued with CE sessions. Again, this presentation had much discussion. I really enjoyed this presentation as it reminded us to not put so much emphasis on the medical diagnosis, but to use operative observation and our best judgement when deciding if what we can offer will be beneficial to the child. Also discussed was the issue of how to best handle a situation in which we see a child who is not an appropriate candidate for CE.

Lastly was the group forum and ACENA membership meeting. Brent Page discussed the idea of a National Conductive Education Awareness Day. It seemed that everyone was in favor of the idea, but a date is yet to be determined.

At the Annual General Membership meeting of ACENA, each Director gave a report of his/her progress in meeting goals for the year.

Reflecting on 5 years...
It's hard to believe that we have been putting on a 'workshop' or 'conference' of some kind for 5 years now. I was a student when we started with the First Annual CE Workshop at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

We always have room to change, grow, and develop, but I felt good about this year's conference. Yes, participation was a bit lower comparing this year to last. (The poor economy and the later date combined to prevent some people from attending.) But many geographical areas were represented by approximately 40-45 participants:

• Illinois
• Michigan
• Pennsylvania
• Ohio
• Arkansas
• California
• Indiana
• Virginia
• Maryland
• Colorado
• Toronto, Canada
• Birmingham, UK

I enjoyed the company of conductors, Hungarian, British, and American alike, as well as program administrators, PTs, OTs, MDs, and other interested professionals. I hope to see them all again next year.

Many thanks!
I would like to thank the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and the Center for Independence through Conductive Education for hosting the conference again this year. A big, giant "thank you" to the Center for Independence staff for all of their hard work to pull this together. Also thanks to the following vendors for their support: Creative Mobility, Dynavox (Mayer-Johnson), Flaghouse Furniture, Kaye Products, Inc., Rifton Equipment, and, of course, Starbucks.

See you next year...in Toronto?