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Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt:
Hi, this is Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt, and I am the executive director of CECO. And this is your Assistive Technology Update.
Josh Anderson:
Hello and welcome to your Assistive Technology Update, a weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist individuals with disabilities and special needs. I’m your host, Josh Anderson with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. Welcome to episode 674 of Assistive Technology Update. It is scheduled to be released on April 26th, 2024. On today’s show, we’re super excited to welcome Dr. Weiszhaupt, the executive director of the Conductive Education Center of Orlando or CECO. She’s here to tell us about all the great things they do there.
And as always, listeners, we thank you so much for taking time out of your day to give us a listen. But don’t forget, you can also reach out and contact us. That’s right. You can always send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. Call our listener line at (317) 721-7124 or hit us up on Twitter or X or whatever at INDATAproject. We always love hearing from you and some of our best guests come from your suggestions. So if you got a comment, something you’d like to learn more about or really just anything, do feel free to drop us a line. But for now, let’s go ahead and get on with the show.
Folks, if you’re listening to this show, it’s obvious that you like assistive technology and you love podcasts. Well, if you like assistive technology and podcasts, well, I got a treat for you. Assistive Technology Update is not our only podcast here at the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads. No, we actually have two others. Assistive Technology Frequently Asked Questions or ATFAQ is a question and answer show where we take your questions as well as questions that we receive through our other programs and do our best to answer those with our panel of experts. I use that word very loosely, but usually it’s myself, Brian Norton, and other members of our team sitting in to try to answer your questions. This show relies on our listeners, not just for our questions, but sometimes for the answers. Let’s not lie, we do not know everything that there is to know. So we always kind of try to throw those questions out and sometimes our listeners’ feedback where we get to learn stuff as well, which is always a great thing.
Or if perhaps you’re short on time, we also have Accessibility Minute. Now, Accessibility Minute is just a little taster. It’s going to give you just a little bit of information about a new piece of assistive technology, a new app program, or something else cool that might be able to help individuals with disabilities, and I give you some resources where you can go and check out more about it on your own. So remember, if you like this show, if you like assistive technology and you like podcasts, check out our other shows, Assistive Technology Frequently Asked Questions and Accessibility Minute to go along with Assistive Technology Update, which you’re listening to right now. You can find those over at eastersealstech.com or anywhere you get your podcast. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and give us some comments and feedback. We always love hearing from you. And thank you so much for listening to this and all of our programs.
Listeners, we, here at the INDATA Project, are pleased to host a web accessibility webinar for programmers and developers on Wednesday, May 29th, 2024. Attend and join renowned web accessibility professional Dennis Lembree for a full day of training. The training starts with a background on disability, guidelines, and the law. Many techniques for designing and developing an accessible website are then explained. Basic through advanced levels are covered. The main topics include content structure, images, forms, tables, CSS, and ARIA. Techniques on writing for accessibility and testing for accessibility are also covered. If you’re involved in web designer development, don’t miss this wealth of practical knowledge.
Our speaker, Dennis Lembree, is a senior accessibility consultant at Deque Systems. He was previously director of accessibility at Diamond Web Services, and worked several years on the PayPal and eBay accessibility teams. He also has experience at several startup companies and contracted at large corporations, including Google, Ford, and Disney. Mr. Lembree published articles, led webinars, and presented on digital accessibility at many conferences, including HTML5 DevCon, CSS DevCon, CSUN, AccessU, Accessing Higher Ground, Accessibility Toronto, and Paris Web. Dennis runs a blog, Facebook, and Mastodon account on web accessibility called Web Axe. He created an accessible two-time national award-winning Twitter app, Easy Chirp, which is now sunset.
So remember, if you’re involved in web design or development or want to learn more about web accessibility, please join us for our web accessibility webinar for programmers and developers on Wednesday, May 29th, 2024. We’ll put a link down into the show notes that will get you over to more information as well as our registration page. There is no charge to attend this webinar, but you do need to register. So if you’re interested, please check out the link in our show notes.
Listeners, today we are very grateful to welcome Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt to the show to tell us all about CECO or the Conductive Education Center of Orlando, and how they’re using new techniques, teaching and training to help improve outcomes and independence of the individuals they serve. Krisztina, welcome to the show.
Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt:
Thank you. It is a pleasure to be here.
Josh Anderson:
And it is a pleasure to get to talk to you today. Before we get into talking about CECO and all those great things, could you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?
Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt:
Sure. I am a conductive education teacher. I was trained in Hungary because conductive education is originating from Hungary. And in 2014, the Conductive Education Center of Orlando needed a lead conductive education teacher. That’s how I ended up in Orlando. And since then, I worked in different positions. And presently, I am the executive director and I oversee almost every aspect of the organization.
Josh Anderson:
Very cool. Well, I guess let’s start with kind of the big picture. Tell us what is CECO?
Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt:
So CECO was established in 2001 by six families, actually with one family and five other families joined the group. The Raymonds, they had a son who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. And as this child, Joseph, was growing and received numerous different therapies, the families realized that they’re missing something that would maximize Joseph’s abilities. They heard about the method called conductive education. And at that point, conductive education was available only in Hungary and some other countries in Europe. So they hired a conductive education teacher in 2001 who came over and led a summer camp program for six weeks. The summer camp program and the result was so successful and impressive that the family, the Raymonds, decided to develop and create a year-run program. That’s how the Conductive Education Center of Orlando was established in 2001, September, and started with six students. And today we serve more than 100 families through the year. And since 2001, we reached out more than 1,000 families who have a child or an adult family member with some neurological disorders or cerebral palsy.
Josh Anderson:
Excellent. I love to see when a need gets filled. Somebody kind of has a need and hears about something and something’s built that can help so many other folks at the same time. So I guess we should probably let the listeners know kind of what is conductive education.
Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt:
Yes. I think that’s an important aspect of the program. So conductive education is a method to teach everyday life skills to individuals with cerebral palsy or with neurological disorders. The method is based on the brain’s neuroplasticity. And throughout repetitive tasks, we teach the individuals and the students the different movements that they would need to perform different activities that are essential in life. So for example, one task would be, if you think about child’s development, what happens in the first year, a child learns to lift their head up, roll over, start to crawl, stand up and walk. And, of course, other developmental areas are going to develop. So they learn how to talk, they will learn different self-help skills, they are going to learn to socialize with others.
When a child with cerebral palsy starts to learn these movements because they have the damage in the brain, that learning process is limited. That’s when conductive education comes in and will teach those skills what typically developing children learn in the first year of life, and then, of course, as we age, everything else that comes after that. We combine education and therapy strategies together. So it’s not just education, it’s actually therapy together. So our students or participants who come to CECO, they are here every single day, and they work on the different skills, feed themselves, learn to stand up, learn to walk, learn to crawl, and then other academic skills, for example, write, read, and everything else they would need.
Josh Anderson:
Nice. So you’re really kind of putting together the learning, the therapy, the movements involved as well as kind of everything else all in one. And I assume just because you kind of mentioned it, this can kind of teach skills throughout the whole life cycle. Is that correct?
Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt:
Exactly. Because learning never stops.
Josh Anderson:
Yep.
Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt:
You and I and everybody else, we learn something new every single day. So learning and the ability to learn basically never stops. So we cannot just stop teaching different skills or learning something new because somebody reached a certain age. That’s why we offer our program for the little ones from the very early childhood all the way to the adulthood. So we have the youngster program or we call the family program, we have school day program from age four till age 22, and then age 22 and above, the adults. Of course, the program is different for each group, but it’s a very stimulating environment. And all of our individuals, when they come here, they spend the day with meaningful activities regardless of their age.
Josh Anderson:
Excellent. And I assume that it’s pretty, I hate to use the word intense because that always brings bad connotation, but I assume this is… Is this done sort of one-on-one with each individual student? Is it kind of classroom setting for folks of the same maybe level of ability? How’s that all set up?
Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt:
That’s an excellent question. So yes, we provide the different sessions in group settings. And in our center, we have 67 students in one classroom. And to make sure, because we want to maximize their abilities, so we take them out from there, it’s called traditional equipment, from the wheelchair, for example, and we put them and teach them how to maintain sitting, for example, in the regular chair. So we provide one-on-one assistance for them. So the sessions and the different programs are provided in group setting. However, to make sure that our students can perform the tasks and then can learn, we provide an assistant for them so they can feel safe and they can focus on the learning. Right now, we have nine classrooms, and we also have the adult program, which works a little bit differently, but similar. We are still providing one-on-one assistance for certain tasks, making sure that our adults feel safe and can participate in the different activities.
Josh Anderson:
Very nice. And you’ve kind of told me this as we’ve kind of went along, but what would you say is the biggest difference between conductive education and maybe just standard therapy or just standard education? What really sets it apart?
Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt:
That is a very common question. And usually the way we can demonstrate the difference is the intensity, what you already mentioned. So therapy, usually it happens maybe once, twice, or even three times a week for a limited time, maybe 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes. Here at CECO, our students come here Monday to Friday for six, seven hours. And in that six, seven hours, we make sure that they practice these skills every single day. So when they start the school day program, for example, in August, we set up the program for them. And then in that program, they have to or they probably need to practice those movements day after day. As progress happens, we change the plan. So we are here every day so we can monitor the progress. And as the progress happens, we change the plan. So we take the individual to the next level. So I think that’s the one thin, it’s very important, the intensity. And I’m not talking about intensity that the heart rate is going to be higher-
Josh Anderson:
Sure. Yes.
Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt:
… it’s the number of hours that we provide them the opportunity to learn and practice. That would be one difference.
The other is really the strategy that we use here and really providing them the tools to learn the movement. So just practicing, for example, to stretch your arm out with a high muscle tone, it’s not going to be so effective if you don’t learn how to do that movement. So we teach them, we use educational strategies to do that. Obviously therapy is very good and very important, but they use different strategies to have an individual to perform this movement. So I think the approach is different, and, of course, the intensity.
Josh Anderson:
And I hear that you’ve got kind of a new invention you’ve been working on. Can you tell us a little bit more about it?
Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt:
Yes, of course. We actually developed a new tool that’s called the Interactive Ladder, and that’s a tool that we developed with individuals and students from Full Sail University. The Interactive Ladder is a assistive technology tool where a ladder basically is connected with a screen, and on the screen there are different games. And then if you think about the ladder, there are rungs of the ladder. On the ladder, there are sensors that you cannot really feel or you cannot see. And every time the student or the individual who plays a game touch the ladder or the sensor, something happens on the screen. So for example, we have a spelling game. And on the screen it says, “Spell the word bear.” And then there are letters on the screen, and then each letter on the screen we respond to a touch on the ladder rung. So when the student touch the ladder with the correct high and the level, then letter B is going to kind of light up, and then letter E and letter E and letter R.
So we have six different games, and we own the patent of this technology tool. And this is really great example how we connect mind and body together. So as the student is learning how to reach, how to grasp the ladder rung, how to release as well, the student can focus eye-hand coordination, visual attention, and, of course, the cognitive development is included with the different tasks that attach to the game. So this is a very complex and it’s hard to explain-
Josh Anderson:
Sure.
Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt:
… without the picture. But we do have several posts on our social media about the Interactive Ladder and also on our website.
Josh Anderson:
Excellent. Can you tell me a story maybe about someone’s kind of success at CECO or maybe someone that surprised you, or if you just have one or two that maybe come to mind that you could share?
Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt:
We have many success stories, which is awesome. But we have several students, younger ones, five, six years old who came here from another educational setting and, for example, was not able to walk. So we have several students who took their first steps here. And since then, they are able to walk independently. So they are going to places without any help or without any assistance. That’s one.
We do have several students who used the word mom the first time here at CECO, which was very emotional when it happened when the parents came to pick up the child and the child said mom the first time. We have two adult participants who came here and they never ever walked, not even with assistance. And this individual’s goal was to take steps and basically make it and surprise his favorite assistant. So after a year of practicing, this adult participant was able to walk and surprise his favorite assistant, of course, with support, but the facial expression and the hard work, it was just a wonderful day here at CECO. We celebrate everything, but those are the things that makes this one just a wonderful place because we experience a little and big success every single day almost.
Josh Anderson:
I imagine you do, especially being able to really help folks meet their goals and being able to give them the time and the tools and the well just amount of attention, I guess is kind of a word I’m looking to, to really be able to get to those goals. And I know some of them probably seem small day to day, and maybe not even for you because you’ve been doing this for a while, but I’m sure that some of those are very big things in their lives and just lead to even bigger things and probably bigger goals and all that. Well, if our listeners want to find out more about CECO, about all the great things that you do, what are some good ways for them to do that?
Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt:
Well, we have a website, ceco.org, and we very frequently post on social media. We have a Facebook account, we have Instagram called cecogramm. And on cecogramm, our stories mainly focus on those little and big success stories-
Josh Anderson:
Nice.
Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt:
… what we experience here at CECO. And we do have different events for those who are local and they are here in Orlando. They know that we are going to have our Prom, for example, coming up in April for those they are 16 years old and older.
Josh Anderson:
Awesome. Well, I’m sure that it’ll be a wonderful event and wishing a good time to all your staff and all the folks that you serve at the Prom and everything else. We’ll put links down in the show notes so folks can easily find more information. But thank you so much for coming on today, for telling us all the great things that CECO does, and for really just giving us a little bit more education on how conductive education works and how it can help individuals.
Dr. Krisztina Weiszhaupt:
Thank you. It was a pleasure to share the story of CECO.
Josh Anderson:
Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on Assistive Technology Update? If so, call our listener line at (317) 721-7124. Send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org or shoot us a note on Twitter at INDATAproject.
Our captions and transcripts for the show were sponsored by the Indiana Telephone Relay Access Corporation or InTRAC. You can find out more about InTRAC at relayindiana.com. A special thanks to Nikol Prieto for scheduling our amazing guests and making a mess of my schedule. Today’s show was produced, edited, hosted, and fraught over by yours truly. The opinions expressed by our guests are their own and may or may not reflect those of the INDATA Project, Easterseals Crossroads, our supporting partners, or this host. This was your Assistive Technology Update. And I’m Josh Anderson with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. We look forward to seeing you next time. Bye-bye.
