WHAT might seem like simple tasks are the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest for children at Rutland House School for Parents.

The youngsters, from six months to five, were born with cerebral palsy or Down's syndrome and have difficulties with mobility, communication and concentration.

The school in Mapperley Park has held a Family Challenge Week.

For 21-month-old Lucas Wilkinson-Dunstan, of Arnold, the challenge was to sit and take a beanbag from a container with his right hand, pass it to his left and throw it in a bucket 10 times.

Sounds easy. But Lucas, who has cerebral palsy, finds it difficult to use the right side of his body.

It took him around 10 minutes, though it would have been done sooner had he not been distracted and began giggling at the Post photographer taking his picture. Sometimes he dropped a beanbag but with encouragement from his mum, Bree, and school manager Erika Juhasz, he kept going.

Every time a beanbag landed in the bucket, he got a clap and a cheer.

Bree, 29, said: "I made beanbags at home and we have been practising.

"He's gone from having a complete fisted right hand, which he'd idle down his side or behind his back, to bringing it into play."

Bree, like all the parents who attend the school with their children, has nothing but praise for its work. They have been going to the school for seven months.

"It's amazing. The way he has come on has made such a difference," said Bree.

Whatever skills the children learn, parents are shown how to keep up the practice at home. Because they attend once a week, it means a "real relevant approach", says mum Lynda Carter, 38, of Newark.

Her daughter, Sophie, has been attending for nine months.

Sophie, three in November, has Down's syndrome and has undergone open-heart surgery. She had to identify and say three colours using sign language.

"The difference we have noticed, particularly physically, has been immense. When she first started, she was only able to sit. Now she can bear her weight, walk along pushing a toy and bend down and pick something up," said Lynda.

School programmes are based on the principles of conductive education, developed in Hungary.

Staff at the School for Parents, which is a separate charity to Rutland House School next door, also show parents exercises.

Viba Kumar, 33, of West Bridgford, said: "You read about an exercise in a book, but this makes everything more tangible. It gives us more of a direction."

Her daughter, Jhanavi, two, has Down's syndrome and weakness in her legs, so she was had to take at least 10 steps using parallel bars.

"We have been coming here since December and it's a very structured input, with physio, speech and problem-solving," said Viba.

"It's a nice place to meet other parents and to see your child in context with her peers."

Other tasks for Family Challenge Week involved swimming, selling cakes, singing and standing.

The challenge for parents, meanwhile, was to raise awareness and money for the school, which costs £200,000 a year to run.

With no council funding, it relies on donations and grants from trusts.

Spokeswoman Eileen Sleaford said: "We are enabling the child, during their formative years, to be as independent as they can possibly be. Yet here we are struggling to bring in the funds, fearful we may have to close this amazing service if we can't get a large injection of cash."

Thirty-five children are on the school's books

The hope is to raise at least £5,000 from challenge week, the cost of supporting one family for a year.

The week ended on Saturday with a gala day at Spa Sensations, in Long Eaton.

Television presenter and weatherman Des Coleman, patron of the School for Parents, presented awards.

For more information, visit www.schoolforparents.org.