Today, it is a different story. Luke attends the Early Intervention Service at NICE daily. He enjoys his time with the other children in the class and he can now sit upright, grasp and hold objects with his hands, control his head and is extremely communicative and very alert. His mum, Sarah, tells us about his progress.

"When we first came to the National Institute the conductor asked us how we get Luke from a lying to a sitting position. When we told her we just pick him up, she showed us how to help Luke sit himself up by moving his arm so he could push himself up. This hit me straightaway – why hadn’t anybody else told us to do that before?

"Before he received CE Luke literally couldn’t do anything. He didn’t communicate, didn’t attempt to reach objects with his arms and had very poor head control. My partner and I felt guilty as it was difficult to devote enough time to our other daughter’s needs.

"It makes a huge difference that since coming to Conductive Education Luke has now learnt to nod his head for ‘yes’ and put his head to the side for ‘no’ – before he just didn’t communicate at all. It’s as if Conductive Education has helped him find the will to try.

"Luke’s head control has improved immensely – a small achievement to some but a great accomplishment for him. He can now hold his head up which means that he can now maintain eye contact and focus on whatever he is doing. Recently Luke sat upright, completely on his own. He had done it before, for a few seconds at a time but this time the conductors had to give up counting! Luke is making constant, steady progress and we are delighted."