It could be Canada's first school for cerebral palsy students that integrates the B.C. curriculum and the 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. school day, but it's taken more than 10 years to finally launch it this fall.

The Purpose Society has acted as the shelter organization for the parents trying to start the independent, private school in New Westminster with a class of about one dozen children from ages five to 12.

"Basically when your kid gets diagnosed with cerebral palsy, right away everyone is coming at you with what they can't do and what you can expect, and all kinds of equipment," said James Forliti, who's been a teacher at Purpose Independent Secondary School for 12 years. "Nobody teaches you how to help the child, ... anything about their personality or how to do stuff."

One out of every 500 babies, and one in three premature babies, are diagnosed with some form of a motor impairment, according to the Ontario Federation of Cerebral Palsy.

Forliti's son, Blue, is a 13-year-old boy with cerebral palsy. He has blond hair and bright blue eyes, but he's motor impaired, which is leaving him behind in the regular education system.

"So basically if your child is really well suited for conductive education, they can start doing things well within an hour that the parents have been told they'll never do," Forliti explained. "And I'm not talking about playing hockey or anything really big, just little things they start doing and right away you get excited."

Conductive education is a cornerstone to what the Purpose School of Conductive Learning will have to offer, and it's a highly specialized method for handling those with motor impairment.

The school was born out of parents' frustration with the regular education system, which has no real capacity to deal with motor-impaired students, who are often marginalized due to larger classrooms sizes and the specialized attention they require.

Phill Esau is one of the co-founders of the Purpose Society and has worked on this project with fellow director Lynda Fletcher-Gordon since it was just an idea.

"They won't be sitting in their wheelchairs for hours on end, they're going to be challenged to be physical and be learning both physical capacity as well as mental capacity," said Esau, future principal of the school, who also co-founded and is currently principal of the Purpose Independent Secondary School.

All that's required is the right location. Funding has also been lined up through the Ministry of Education, but it's just a matter of crossing the Ts and dotting the Is, according to Esau.

"There's a lot to do in a short time. Even if it's a school of 100 or a school of 12," Esau said. "If we're going to do these renovations, we need to find a property that's big enough to grow in."

What will also be different about this school is its specialized equipment that will allow students to get out of their wheelchairs and improve their movement.

The head conductor for the school was educated in Europe but was inspired to join the field because of her brother who also had cerebral palsy. She was able to witness the various approaches to education for her sibling, and conductive education was the best.

"At the end of the day, it's really about developing their personality," said Anne Wittig, who has qualified conductor status and a bachelor's degree in conductive education from the University of Wolverhampton in the U.K. "If you strap them in equipment and just push them around, then they're not active, they're not engaged. They have no motivation to try anything."

She explained that conductive education not only looks at the physical side during the lesson, but incorporates movement throughout the whole day.

"We're not only looking at the academic stuff," Wittig explained. "We're looking at the personality involved, social and emotional development."

The progression of a student will be judged by their own personal skills, just like a regular school, while juggling the challenge of keeping the child motivated.

"To be able to do stuff for yourself and you're motivated to try again even if it doesn't work, your body lets you down."

Wittig has been Blue's conductor for the past year, and Forliti said the change in his son's responses has exponentially transformed.

"Anne and I have been joking ever since she got here that it didn't take long for her to realize who the client was in my household, and it's me," Forliti said. "As Anne says, the biggest thing they learn is to try."

Forliti added that the school will not focus on buying the most expensive equipment, but on communicating with its students and parents.

"Instead of just adapting their environment by buying all this really expensive equipment, that usually doesn't work, that's too heavy or too big, but by the way people interact with the child, which is a lot more liquid."

For a person with motor impairment, it's best to teach them from an earlier age, according to Wittig.

"You have to start early to teach them to stand on their legs," Wittig said. "Conductive education is always about giving them options."

The school will be parent-driven, and there will be a fee for services as well. Esau will be joined by Forliti, who will be the teacher, and Wittig, who will be the main conductor. The three will be joined by assistants as it's required.

"It's really creative, it's not just textbook learning," Wittig said.

It's about engaging all of the senses, she added.

"It's not just in there sitting six hours a day. It's being there, grabbing stuff and pushing it to the side, kicking it, moving towards it, going under the table to find it," Wittig said. "Just movement, and that doesn't really happen for those kids."

For more about the new school visit www.purposesociety.org, call 604-526-2522 or email info@purposesociety.org. The society is more than 25 years old and was started by four friends, but now has more than 50 employees and provides a variety of services to youth and families in the Lower Mainland.

"He's too old for the school," said Forliti of Blue, adding that what he learns during the day as a teacher, he'll bring home. "It's just enriching for everybody in the family to keep learning."