New school for children with motor disabilities opening in San Francisco

Chef Elisabeth Prueitt, co-owner with her husband, Chad Robertson, of Tartine Bakery and Bar Tartine, recently announced that she is co-founding the Conductive Learning Center of San Francisco (CLCSF), a non-profit school for children with motor disabilities. The new school is scheduled to open this fall.

Prueitt and Robertson’s daughter, Archer, who has motor delays due to cerebral palsy, has been helped significantly by her work with Hungarian teacher Krisztina Abonyi-Bernstein (co-founder of the CLC), as well as short stays at the Conductive Learning Center in Michigan. Archer’s progress with the program inspired Prueitt to bring this innovative approach within reach of Bay Area families.

“It was evident as soon as we started working with Krisztina that this was an approach that combined common sense with what science now understands about brain plasticity. After attending the school in Michigan, there were two things that stood out: this was a unique educational program that made a huge impact on Archer, and that in a classroom setting children are inspired to help each other and show what they have learned,” says Prueitt in a press release announcing the new school.  “We knew we either had to move to Michigan or open a school here.”

Created to help children with motor challenges such as cerebral palsy and spina bifida, conductive education is based on the work of Hungarian doctor András Pető.  The CLC aims to integrate medical knowledge with educational methods that enable children to gain independence, self-esteem and problem solving skills for daily activities. Although the approach is widespread in its native Hungary and parts of Western Europe, few conductive learning centers exist in the U.S. When it opens this fall, the CLCSF will be the first such educational system of its kind in the Bay Area.

You can watch a clip of a segment that ran on 60 Minutes about the Pető Institute and its methods and successes here: 60 Minutes on Facebook.



Because of the significant costs associated with opening the new Conductive Learning Center of San Francisco, Prueitt has organized a fund-raising campaign. The first benefit dinner will be held at Bar Tartine on June 27th and will feature a Hungarian menu created by executive chef Nick Balla.  It will be a family style meal eaten against a backdrop of live music, paired with wines by Alex Fox, and ending with desserts that Prueitt herself is creating.

The benefit will also feature a silent auction offering rare items such as a bread baking apprenticeship with Robertson, a custom herb garden from Flora Grubb Gardens, Tartine tote bags hand painted by local artists, as well as various gift certificates to local restaurants and cultural institutions.

DETAILS:
Date: Monday, June 27th, 2011
Time: Cocktails served at 6:30 PM; dinner and auction to follow
Location:
  Bar Tartine
  561 Valencia St. (at 17th Street)
  San Francisco, CA 94110
  (Valet parking available)
  415.487.1600
Cost: $250 per person (includes dinner, wine, tax, and gratuity; fully tax deductible)
Tickets: available at Eventbrite (http://clcsfbenefit.eventbrite.com/)

For more information on Conductive Learning Center of San Francisco, including more details about the upcoming benefit dinner, visit their website at www.conductivelearning.org.