The PACE Centre is a UK-registered charity and

special school Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

based in

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

, Buckinghamshire, UK. It helps children and young people with motor disorders, such as

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensa ...

Background

PACE was founded by Heather Last in 1990 based on the principles of

conductive education Conductive Education (CE) is an educational system, based on the work of Hungarian Professor András Pető, that has been specifically developed for children and adults who have motor disorders of neurological origin such as cerebral palsy. CE is ...

. It is a parent-led initiative, with 5 children and 3 staff and initially based in converted farm buildings in

Dinton, Buckinghamshire Dinton is a village in Buckinghamshire, England, within the Buckinghamshire Council unitary authority area. It is in the south of the Aylesbury Vale on the ancient turnpike leading from Aylesbury to Thame (although this road has since been diver ...

. It moved into its first purpose-built facilities in Coventon Road,

in 1997, funded mainly through the generosity of the Philip Green Memorial Trust In 2009, a special PACE unit at the Heritage House secondary school in

Chesham Chesham (, , or ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordsh ...

was constituted on initiative of a Buckinghamshire parent Saera Carter, staffed by teachers from the PACE Centre to support four severely disabled teenagers during their secondary school education including her disabled son. It is funded and supported by the local authority. PACE now operates across two different sites - Coventon Road and The Bradbury Campus. The Bradbury Campus is a converted former car dealership into an Early Years Centre that will work with babies and very young children with cerebral palsy. The first brick for the new centre was laid in April 2013 and the first building ready for occupation in January 2014.

Activities and strategy

The PACE approach is based on specialist intensive learning programmes, based on the principles and practice of

and augmented by a range of other educational and therapeutic approaches, notably

Sensory Integration Multisensory integration, also known as multimodal integration, is the study of how information from the different sensory modalities (such as sight, sound, touch, smell, self-motion, and taste) may be integrated by the nervous system. A coherent r ...

Bobath The Bobath concept is an approach to neurological rehabilitation that is applied in patient assessment and treatment (such as with adults after stroke or children with cerebral palsy). The goal of applying the Bobath concept is to promote motor ...

and

augmentative and alternative communication Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) encompasses the communication methods used to supplement or replace speech or writing for those with impairments in the production or comprehension of spoken or written language. AAC is used by t ...

strategies Each year the Middle Aged men in Lycra (MAMIL) cycling club take part in a long-range cycle challenge to raise money for the PACE Centre. So far they have raised over £500,000. In October 2013 the company building the PACE Centre's new Early Years Centre led a 'flag relay' around towns in Buckinghamshire, hoping to raise £5000 for the charity.

References

External links

PACE, Aylesbury

Conductive Education Professional Education Group

National Institute of Conductive Education
{{DEFAULTSORT:PACE Centre 1990 establishments in England Special schools in Buckinghamshire Aylesbury Educational institutions established in 1990 Private schools in Buckinghamshire