A YORK mother has praised the "fantastic" effects of a treatment that means her son can join mainstream education - despite the hugely debilitating genetic disorder from which he suffers.

Three-year-old Edward Mitten suffers from the extremely rare Pallister Killian Syndrome.

The condition causes an imbalance in the chromosomes, which badly affects physical and mental development.

In Edward's case, it meant he was blind until he was five months old and couldn't crawl until he was 16 months old.

But since he enrolled with the York Portage Service, he can walk, has mastered a number of basic tasks and is due to join a "mainstream" nursery school in January.

Edward's mother, Alison, who lives at Heworth, said: "It has been fantastic. There are so many fairly simple tasks that children just pick up, but some children with special needs find things much more difficult than that.

"For example, Edward can now hold a pen. This happened after a year of

various threading activities, which started out with his pushing a large wooden spoon through a large circle with a hole in it."

Portage is a system of child education that was founded in the United States more than 30 years ago, and is named after the place in America where it was first used.

It relies on a worker visiting the person with a particular condition on a regular basis, and working on activities that break tasks down into parts that can easily be remembered.

Special toys and learning aids are used, and the child's parents carry on with the activities in between visits from the workers.

Edward was first visited by Queenie McNally and then Kate Kenward, both workers at the York Portage Service, now funded from City of York Council's Education Budget.

Alison, who lives in Stockton Lane with daughter Xanthe and partner Clive, said: "I first heard about Portage through a friend who has a child with special needs, so I self-referred.

"The workers helped Edward make the most of his abilities, and have helped us to help him - it gives the parents the key to help their own child.

"It is brilliant that Edward is now able to attend a mainstream nursery, as that is very important for his development.

"Life is a lot more fun for him now."

Kate Kenward, whose son, David, suffers from Downs Syndrome, said: "At first Edward was very shy, but his confidence grew amazingly.

"He was lovely to work for and everyone is really pleased with the progress he has made. He is a little gem."

Anyone who would like to know more about York Portage Service can contact the service by telephone on 01904 633674.

Updated: 11:36 Thursday, November 29, 2001