Experience
POPS was founded in 1993 to serve those in the community who were unable to receive aid from traditional sources. The Family Assistance Program and the Referral Service Program provided a valuable safety net for those "falling through the cracks". However, it was our Conductive Education Program, added to POPS in 1995, that filled the greatest and most immediate need. The success of our summer 1996 pilot program sharpened our focus and led to the establishment of the Conductive Education Centers of California. Currently three centers are operating year round in the Bay Area alone and over twenty centers have opened since the first National Conference for Conductive Education in Washington D.C. in June of 1997. Each summer more and more summer programs are available for 8 weeks and pilot programs are springing up in elementary schools throughout the Nation.

Focus
Relatively unknown in the United States, conductive education is a system of teaching and learning that enables children (and adults) with motor disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, to function more independently. Developed at the Peto Institute in Hungary over 50 years ago, this system motivates and empowers individuals with motor disabilities to find their own solutions to daily living problems. The success of the ongoing CE Programs provided proof that conductive education can build self esteem, independence and physical stamina in children with motor disabilities.

Our Vision
Since the establishment of ongoing conductive education in several Bay Area locations POPS/CECC main focus is to provide backing and support to existing centers and encourage the opening of additional centers. POPS/CECC educates the communities at large about the benefits of conductive education by raising awareness and recognition, thus strengthening the presence of conductive education in the Bay Area, California and the Nation. POPS/CECC provides funding for tuition assistance, scholarships, general aid, equipment and transportation to children with motor disabilities.

Our Hope
To see conductive education become a permanent part of the education system in America. POPS/CECC is dedicated to the continued advancement of conductive education in California and the Nation. We must better educate the medical professionals, parents and the general public as to the great benefits of conductive education. Our hope, that in our role as the fund raising entity and source of support for conductive education we can, in the not too distant future, offer tuition free classes in all of our affiliated teaching centers. The advancement of conductive education in the United States is moving forward and POPS/CECC is a major participant in those efforts.

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What is POPS?

We began simply by helping one little girl with cerebral palsy, whose family was unable to receive necessary aid from mainstream community agencies. Our original mission was to provide the assistance other agencies would not. Since 1993 we have offered the Referral Service Program and the Family Assistance Program. In 1996 we established a third program, the Conductive Education Program, and we have found that this is where our community needs us the most.

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What is CECC?

Conductive Education is a system of special education designed to enable children with developmental and motor disabilities to function more independently. It was developed in Hungary in 1954 by Dr. Andras Peto and has been almost unheard of in the United States. In summer of 1996 POPS ran a pilot program with conductors from the Peto Institute in Hungary and due to the success of that program we established Conductive Education Centers of California. The affiliated centers serve as a resource and support facility and offer Conductive Education year round to children age 2 to 6. Some of the teaching centers have expanded to include infants and older children.

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Contact Information

POPS/CECC
Peninsula Outreach Programs Inc.
Conductive Education Centers of California

2995 Woodside Road, Suite 400-429
Woodside, CA 94062

248 C East LAke Mead Parkway
Henderson, NV 89015

phone: 702-545-8778
email: info@popskids.org