Janette has complex physical disabilities and is visually impaired. Until she was placed in a gait trainer - a supporting frame with similarities to a baby walker and Zimmer - she had spent her time in a pushchair or on the floor. With the help of the gait trainer, she walked halfway down the school hall.

That was two years ago. Since then she has started to interact more with teaching staff, her head control has improved and she can sit supported and hold up her head.

Maggie Roger, a physical education teacher at Drummond School in Inverness, says: “The first day Janette walked, everybody had tears in their eyes.”

The Movement Opportunities via Education programme at the special school has enabled all eight children with complex needs who formerly were relatively immobile to move around their homes and classrooms and teachers are confident that, in time, some of them will be able to walk on their own. Their progress has also had an impact on other areas of their education.

The MOVE programme was started in California and aims to teach physical skills such as to sit unaided, stand and bear weight and walk to make people as independent as possible, especially children by the time they reached adulthood. Ms Roger undertook a two-day training course in Dundee in March 2000, as part of a programme financed by the Scottish Executive. She returned and, together with a physiotherapist who had attended a seminar by MOVE founder Linda Bidabe, started following the programme in the school.

Ms Roger says: “I had done a lot of movement programmes with pupils in mainstream schools and appreciated how important it was for their development. But with the children at Drummond School, I felt limited as to what I could do with them. The MOVE programme opened up a whole range of possibilities.”

Headteacher Donnie Macleod, says her enthusiasm has been infectious. “When she came back from the course, Maggie addressed a staff meeting and everyone was very keen to try it. It took me four attempts before I could close the meeting.”

MOVE Scotland co-ordinator Christine Shaw came to the school in the autumn of 2000 to train more of the staff, again financed by the Scottish Executive. It was during that course that Janette took her first steps.

“It is a brilliant feeling to see the children making progress, and they get so much out of it too,” says Ms Roger.

The children are placed in a gait trainer and the wheels on the frame can be locked in different ways to dictate the direction of movement and to prevent the child moving backwards.

“All the children react differently. We have another girl called Katie, who thinks more about her movement,” says Ms Roger. “She is now at the stage where she is correcting the movement of her right leg, which has a tendency to move out to one side, as she walks in the gait trainer.

“We don’t start from the conventional point of development. If we said, for example, that we expected children to crawl before they could walk, that would not work because some of the pupils would never crawl.

“We sit with the parents and with other staff and we set out goals. These could be goals such as walking to the car or sitting at the table for a meal, and then we set ourselves targets in order to reach that long-term aim.”

Mr Macleod explains: “We want to maximise the choice and independence of all our pupils. When we set our targets for them, it is what the parents, the pupils themselves, the teachers and other carers at school want and agree. Then we can all work towards the same goal and we have more chance of succeeding.

“We have high expectations of our pupils and as we see progress our expectations are raised still further.

“We are starting with even younger pupils now and their potential is even greater. This programme will help them to express their individuality and increase their dignity as people.”

Ms Roger, who has undertaken further training to enable her to train staff, says that the programme, which is backed by Highland’s education department and the Highland Primary Care NHS Trust, is also good for the children’s general health.

“Physical movement leads to more interaction; it stimulates alertness and tones the muscles. Because the children are upright, it helps to prevent chest infections. The children are also really pleased when they manage to move by themselves,” she says.

“We are starting with pupils at a younger age and we are very optimistic about the progress they will make.”

Liz Roberts, whose daughter April has benefited from the MOVE programme, says: “In the past we had an exercise programme to do each day, which fell by the wayside through the week. But MOVE is exercising for a purpose and is a happier and more natural approach. It combines independent movement and movement with support, and this has led to me not having to lift April at all times.

“April can now sit independently and she can get from sitting to standing with a little help. The sense of achievement she gets from simply doing tasks for herself is evident in the raising of her self-esteem.”

The school has more than 110 pupils and a typical day for children with movement impairment might include swimming, individual exercise sessions, music, sensory work, moving with the gait trainer and soft play. Each pupil has an individualised educational programme agreed with the parents and they can stay at the school until they are 19.

Eighteen months before pupils are due to leave school, social workers, health staff, teachers, parents and careers officers begin a series of meetings to find appropriate placements in employment, supported training or adult social work services for each pupil.

Ms Shaw says the programme is expected to be expanded in the Highlands. “We want to target staff working with pupils with impaired movement in mainstream schools, because we feel this is fundamental to their education.

“Children learn about their environment through movement and we would like to see a recognition that movement should underpin all other learning. It should not be seen as an add-on to education. When people see the success of the MOVE programme, their expectations change for all the pupils.

“It is also important that all the services work together. This is what has made the programme so effective in Drummond School. Other schools throughout the UK have tried it, but Drummond has achieved quick results through the co-operation of teachers and physiotherapists working together. All the staff are aware of the programme and are very supportive,” she says.

Drummond School would like to see the programme expanded to benefit special needs pupils throughout Scotland. “The programme should be offered to more schools and as many pupils as possible should be targeted,” says Mr Macleod.

Christine Shaw at MOVE Scotland, 42 Cammo Grove, Edinburgh EH4 8EX, tel 0131 339 7555; e-mail christine@disabilitypartnership.co.ukwww.move-international.org