Please forward this email to anyone in your network who is keen to help a great cause.
Positive Training Solutions is serious about helping the community and in particular The Cerebral Palsy Education Centre an official charity of the 2010 St.George Melbourne Marathon
Walking and/or running in this event will help to raise money to assist children with Cerebral Palsy to walk for the first time.
Join the CPEC Team and help with our $500,000 Fundraising Target. Get a refund on your Registration fee. Receive discounts ($75) on ASICS footwear & Active Feet ($25) and The Coffee Club Rewards Card plus fantastic prizes …
$500,000 will ensure that many more babies with cerebral palsy (brain injury) could come off the three year waiting list to attend the unique CPEC learning programs and become more physically independent (e.g. to stand, to step and to walk) and possibly participate in the ASICS 4km Walk. To communicate, even though they may be unable to speak, “I completed my mini marathon in the ASICS 4km event.”
CPEC has 94 young children who attend day and after school programs. CPEC also provides Education & Training Courses across Australia for teachers and therapists who work with children who have cerebral palsy.
I have a personal connection to The Cerebral Palsy Education Centre (CPEC) located at Beacon Street, Glen Waverley, Victoria, Australia, 3150. My son Matthew Grima attended CPEC for several years and we as a family are forever in debt to CPEC for the opportunity to be able to communicate with Matthew through the extensive efforts and knowledge of the staff. Without CPEC, we would not know how to communicate with Matt and therefore would not be able to experience the truly wonderful personality he has. Thank you CPEC.
As a company, Positive Training Solutions is serious about providing ongoing support and has pledge financial and non-financial support which leads ultimately to more family’s being able to participate in the programs. We urge you to consider to personally or corporately supporting CPEC too.
The Cerebral Palsy Education Centre is acknowledged as a unique and successful specialist education service for children with cerebral palsy and their families which began over 20 years ago and continues to develop and evolve.
In 1998, the Cerebral Palsy Education Centre (CPEC) was established as a separate entity in response to financial constraints in the Spastic Society of Victoria which, at the time, effectively closed the service. This was a challenging time for the families and their perceptions of the service were reflected in a paper presented at the Australian Cerebral Palsy Conference (Cotter 1998). A group of families, staff and community supporters of the programs at the Knox Centre re-established the services under the auspice of an eastern suburbs disability organization.
In July 2001, CPEC commenced operating as an independent service provider with a service agreement with the Department of Human Services which was transferred to the Department of Education and Early Childhood Education (DEECD) in 2007. The funding which CPEC receives leaves a substantial shortfall which must be fundraised.
CPEC senior staff have co-authored two publications (Withall and Cotter, 1996; and Porter and Kirkland 1995) as well as contributed to the development and content of a multi-media training package developed by the Queensland Department of Education: Students with Physical Impairments. (Education Queensland, 2001)
In 2007, CPEC signed a service agreement with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development to provide a professional development series to those personnel in mainstream schools responsible for the education of students with cerebral palsy and, in particular, with complex communication needs.
From a service for 22 families in 1998, in 2009 CPEC will provides services for 53 families in early childhood intervention and 38 students in the extended education sessions ( after school for students with cerebral palsy who attend their local schools.) The demand for CPEC services is increasing with a substantial waiting list with limited vacancies until 2011.
The staff at the Cerebral Palsy Education Centre (CPEC) are recognized as global leaders in their specialist field of education and teaching for children with cerebral palsy or like disabilities. The Centre is internationally respected for its practical development and application of education and learning programs which are now sought by therapists and teachers from around the world.
Profiles of Senior Therapy Personnel
The staff at the Cerebral Palsy Education Centre are acknowledged as leading the world in the delivery of the education and learning programs for children with cerebral palsy and like disabilities. The delivery of the programs is provided in a “trandisciplinary team” structure which includes physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and speech pathologists; with consultative input from a Hungarian trained conductor (teacher/therapist) and a psychologist. A program aide assists within the learning groups with setting up and preparation of equipment and materials as required within the curriculum by the therapy team.
One of the other core aspects of the programs is that the child’s mother (and occasionally the father) directly participate in the programs full time so that they learn the principles of the education & learning programs which they become familiar and confident to apply in the child’s everyday life away beyond the Centre; hence the theme “Learning For Life”. So dedicated are the parents of older CPEC children who have seen the amazing successes for their own grown child, that many of these parents return as volunteers to assist and support the new mothers and babies starting out on their journey of providing the best life opportunities for their child.
For more information visit www.melbournemarathon.com.au/
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