Traveling, observing, hoping

movetrain062: 2006 MOVE Training
Bobby Smith feels the joy of standing on his own for the first time in six years.
What would bring a poor orphanage supervisor from China and a first-year preschool teacher from Redding, CA, to the triple-digit weather of Bakersfield, California, in June? The answer is MOVE -- a four-letter acronym for Mobility Opportunities Via Education -- a nonprofit organization that offers hope for children and adults with severe disabilities. MOVE International, headquartered in Bakersfield, held its annual training, June 21-24 at the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office. Caregivers, trainers, teachers and occupational therapists from far away China, as well as Canada, New Zealand, Panama and the United Kingdom made the journey.

"Why does MOVE attract so many people from so far," asked MOVE trainer Keith Whinnery, who travels each year from West Palm Beach, Florida, to teach the curriculum. "Parents of severely disabled children constantly hear what their children cannot do from people that do testing. MOVE welcomes parents by asking, 'what would you like your child to do?' And then, we set up a plan to try to make that happen. That gives them hope."

Anne and Tars Petrie and three-year-old son Dalton came from Redding looking for hope. Anne has become a preschool teacher and will have Dalton in her first class next year so she can help supervise his education. Dalton has a condition known as microcephaly. Anne says his brain is smaller than normal. Why is unknown, but he has both mental and physical delays. At this point in life, Dalton cannot sit independently. After being placed in a pacer (a mobile device with wheels and restraints that supports a body in a standing position), Dalton began taking small strides in the training room facility with the encouragement of his parents, trainers and those being taught to train.

"It's amazing to come such a long way, not knowing what to expect," Anne said. "As difficult as it was to get Dalton into the pacer, nobody ever gave up. Everybody associated with MOVE in that room was determined to make it work, no matter what. Once he found his comfort level, Dalton began to use his legs. When he saw Tars and I in front of him, he was going for it. Oh yeah, we definitely saw a light come on."

The MOVE training uses equipment to help in the development of independent sitting, standing and walking, but it is the education that drives the children to succeed, according to Whinnery.

"It is also why MOVE has started another curriculum to help adults with severe disabilities," he said. "Through education, trial and error and lots of repetitions, we find out what motivates those with mobility problems to succeed. I remember one adult we were working with whose wheelchair was placed next to the kitchen. Suddenly, she got out of her chair, walked into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. We didn't even know she liked coffee but discovered that was her motivation."

Motivation brought Migyeong Kang and Elaine Hennessy from Sheeyang Liaoning, China to Bakersfield. They run a government operated orphanage in which many of the students are severely disabled. The two say education for students with special needs in public schools is limited to those that can communicate and toilet for themselves. School facilities are not designed for the physically challenged -- built with stairs and without elevators. There are no school buses for transportation. Because it is such a hardship to raise special needs children, many are abandoned in orphanages.

While leafing through an equipment catalog, the two noticed an ad for MOVE on the back. They got on the Internet, contacted MOVE and decided they had to attend the training. Kang and Hennessy watched Dalton Petrie and then nine-year-old Bobby Smith taking their first steps in pacers and standers. They learned about the techniques of teaching mobility. As they did, Kang and Hennessy's faces ran the continuum of expressions from deep concentration to wide-eyed surprise.

"We eventually want to establish our own facility in China and work exclusively with handicapped orphans," Hennessy said. "Right now, we have one pacer -- it is a used one -- but our halls are too narrow for it to be very effective. We have children we know will never leave us. I may never be able to afford a new one, but somehow we are going to get those pacers and make a difference."

Kang felt an even more pressing need.

"Our challenge is to let the people of China know that disabled children are loved by society," Kang said. "Through the MOVE training we are receiving, we will help initiate change."

Change was happening quickly during the four-day MOVE training. Wayne and Connie Smith brought their nine-year-old son Bobby to the training, from Big Bear, CA. Bobby has a condition known as recurrent respiratory pappilloma which requires periodic surgery. It was after one of these surgeries, when he was three-years-old and just before the Smith's adopted him, that Bobby went into cardiac arrest. Prior to that he had been able to walk and talk. He had not since then.

The Smith's came to Bakersfield looking for answers, too, what they got was a big surprise. Suffering with some pain from recent hip surgery, Bobby was in tears as MOVE founder Linda Bidabe carefully put him into a pacer. The tears slowly changed to a huge smile, as Bobby took his first steps in six years.

"Doctors didn't give much hope," Connie said. "They told us Bobby would be in a wheelchair the rest of his life. I never accepted that and always believed. And now we have seen that MOVE does work and that is why we came here."

MOVE Executive Director David Schreuder said plans for next year's training have already begun.

"Many of them find out about MOVE through the Internet (http://www.move-international.org)," Schreuder said. "They place a lot of faith and trust in us, traveling to Bakersfield to learn. It goes beyond words how much that means. The common comment we hear at the end of the training is, 'thank you. Now, we understand so much. MOVE does help.' We are always looking for ways to make it a little better, a little easier for those families, caregivers, teachers and occupational therapists."


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