An adapted form of conductive education, the controversial education system used to teach children with cerebral palsy, is now available in Ireland.

Conductive education was first developed at the Peto Institute in Budapest, Hungary. At least a third of motor-disabled people with damage to the central nervous system make greater progress with the help of conductive education than with other methods, according to the institute.

A growing number of parents of children with cerebral palsy all over the world are opting for this system of education for their offspring, says Andrew Sutton, director of the National Institute of Conductive Education in Britain.

"We use an adapted form of conductive education," says Fiona McLoughlin, manager corporate marketing, Enable Ireland (formerly Cerebral Palsy Ireland). "We work in teams, which consist of occupational, physio and speech therapists, a teacher and a classroom assistant," she says. At the Peto Institute, specially trained conductors combine all these skills. In Ireland many parents are critical of the services on offer and believe that a full system of conductive education should be available. Irish parents struggle financially to send children with cerebral palsy to the Peto Institute. Four-year-old Orla Jordan, from Lucan, Co Dublin, was diagnosed with athetoid cerebral palsy when she was two-and-a-half. She has involuntary movement in her body and limbs which makes mobility difficult. It was only when she attended the Peto Institute last year that she began to show any improvement, according to her grandmother, Rea Finegan: "At the Peto they help children to reach their potential with the minimal use of artificial aids. When she was home at Christmas she was able to use a spoon and feed herself."