MOVE® International Therapy

The MOVE program is an international program which was developed in the 1980s by Linda Bidabet, a special education teacher in California. In 1994, MOVE became a non-profit organization and sought to teach students with severe, multiple and profound disabilities in public schools the critical mobility skills they needed to benefit from their educational programs. There are six steps to the program and these include assessing the individual, determining their functional goals, creating meaningful activities to help them achieve these goals, addressing the supports they need and reducing the prompts required and then scheduling the teaching during the individual’s typical day.

There have been studies of small numbers of children with special education needs, not specifically cerebral palsy, who have undertaken the MOVE International Program. The benefits include functional gains in sitting, standing and walking. There are also individual testimonials which highlight how the activities used to improve motor function and mobility were selected in line with the interests of the individual child and so this encouraged the child to stay engaged and interested. There are opportunities for parents to become trained in the method and so can provide the therapy directly for their own child.

Similar to other therapies like physiotherapy or occupational therapy, there are no risks to the child or adolescent with cerebral palsy as long as the therapy is being supervised by a trained and experienced therapist.

To learn more about MOVE therapy you may visit their website.

To learn more about the creator of this therapy, Linda Bidabe, you can obtain her memoir No Ordinary Move by clicking this link. From the description, “Driven by a fierce loyalty to those in her care and the conviction that all of us deserve a chance to live before we die, Linda swore to help each child fulfill his or her greatest aspiration. From the rubble of her own painful life experiences, she built the revolutionary approach to overcoming obstacles that shows us that if we set our sights on a goal, nothing can hold us back. Her story holds promise for anyone facing challenges.”