ACCESS: Functional Movement for Children with Special Needs is a nonprofit organization devoted to making the Anat Baniel Method for Children available to all children with special needs.

“Rebecca’s lessons are a delight for our twins. Not only can she manage both of them, they look forward to seeing her and I notice a huge difference in their comfort, grace and freedom of movement”
–Jennifer Wollack, mother of two-year-old twins

The Anat Baniel Method for Children (AMBC) is based on the work of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. This method is a non-medical, learning-based approach which “accesses” the child's brain and its availability for potent learning, irrespective of the specific diagnosis. Through this learning process, children with many kinds of developmental issues, such as Cerebral Palsy, stroke, congenital heart problems, Brachial Plexus injury, scoliosis, genetic disorders such as Fragile X and Downs Syndrome, ADD, autism and a host of unspecified, undiagnosed developmental delays, can develop, thrive and grow to lead full lives. 

ABMC uses gentle movement and nonverbal kinesthetic experiences to communicate directly with the nervous system (the brain). We use a nonlinear approach that provides the brain with the conditions and information it needs in order to acquire the missing elements upon which all skills and developmental milestones depend. Because normal child development is a system of interdependencies, specific information must be established in the brain before subsequent development can occur. While other therapies tend to "make" the child perform and repeat specific developmental tasks the child already cannot do, we provide the child with the building blocks that result in meaningful changes and improvements. These changes evolve into major accomplishments. 

All lessons are performed by practitioners personally trained and certified by Anat Baniel. To maximize the child's learning, the child receives intensives of 1–2 lessons per day, 4–5 days in a row. Lessons are no longer than 45 minutes, the amount of time a child's brain is available to learn. Lessons and funds are appropriated by and under the supervision of ACCESS, which accepts contributions from multiple sources and makes 100% of these funds available to children in need of scholarships. We are of particular interest to:

• parents and caregivers of children with special needs
• professionals who work with children
• benefactors who seek to make tax deductible donations
   to support families of children with special needs

To learn more about making this potent form of learning available for a child with special needs please contact ACCESS and speak to co-founders Rebecca Gardiner. 212 736-3331 rebecca@learningfrommovement.com or Marcy Lindheimer 212 362-8597 or mlindheimr@aol.com 

“Marcy you are clearly in a class by yourself as a practitioner… competent, assured, loving, generous and beyond potent in your work … it was dazzling to watch and feel what your hands can do. As soon as you put your hands on the baby, you literally began to bring his body to life." —A. N., regarding 10-month old 

Marcy Lindheimer is a Trainer for Trainings in the Anat Baniel Method for Children, as well as an Assistant Trainer for Guild-certified Trainings in the Feldenkrais Method. Formerly a college professor in music, and well-known voice teacher with students on Broadway, in Early Music such as the Waverley Consort, Western Wind and Anonymous4 and at the Metropolitan Opera and other opera companies throughout the world, Marcy now dedicates herself to working with children with neurological challenges such as cerebral palsy, autism, fragile X syndrome, attention deficit disorder, and various syndromes such as Down's using the Anat Baniel Method for Children.

Rebecca Gardiner is devoted to creating powerful outcomes for each of her students using Feldenkrais and the Anat Baniel Method. She came to this work seeking recovery from an injury and brings her background as a professional ballet dancer and past president of the Iyengar Yoga Association to her understanding of the method and how to best apply it to each of her students. Rebecca is on the faculty of the Feldenkrais Learning Center and in the past year organized an advanced training program certifying 60 Feldenkrais® practitioners in The Anat Baniel Method for Childrensm. She created ACCESS: Functional Movement for Children with Special Needs to make this highly acclaimed method for children with neurological difficulties available to all children.

“Rebecca, we are both so totally amazed at the miracles you are working! I never dreamed that the unnatural and seemingly permanent position of her legs since the accident could be reversed. Thank you for taking care of my baby!” —Debbie Irwin, mother of 14 year old