New books on Conductive Education

As I mentioned when I was still in Hong Kong, five new books on Conductive Education have been published and some information about them was available at the World Congress. The time has flown since I got back, and what with Christmas too, there doesn't seem to have been much time to blog.

But now I can.

It is quite an event for so many items to be published at the same time and I hope there will be more to come in 2011. Conductive Education Press has plans for three titles and maybe other people/organisations will publish too. More publications are needed, more accurate information, and more clarification, so I hope there will be more very soon.


I cannot comment on the quality of these five - it is up to you to decide!


In no particular order they are:

Mallett, S. Let me tell you a story. Nurnberg: Conductor Nurnberg.

Susie Mallett has selected six of her blog postings describing her work with children and adolescents and put them into a small booklet of 50 pages.

More information can be found at
http://juditszathmary.blogspot.com/2010/12/blog-post.html

This can be purchased directly from Susie at http://www.susie-mallet.org/  for 8.50 euros plus postage and packing and I do have a few copies to sell for Susie if you would like to contact me.

International Peto Association. Abstract book; the 7th World Congress on Conductive Education. Hong Kong: SAHK.

This collection of the abstracts and poster presentations was given to all delgates at the Congress.

If you wish to obtain a copy I suggest you contact Ivan Su at SAHK to see if there are any available.  

 ivan_syw@sahk1963.org.hk

Su, I., ed. A collection of articles published by the staff members of SAHK in the past 15 years (from 1994-2008). Hong Kong: SAHK

This collection of papers and presentations is in English and Chinese.

Contact Ivan Su for information on availability.
ivan_syw@sahk1963.org.hk

Airaksinen, L. and Carlstedt, I., ed. Conductive Education - towards an integrated school day. Alvsjo: Joriel School and Ruskeasuo School. 25 euros

This book contains chapters on the history of CE in Sweden and Finland and accounts of attempts to use the principles of Conductive Education as an integrated part of the school day in those countries.

Copies can be obtained from Ruskeasuo School
vahtimestartit@ruskis.fi

Beck, E. Task series in Conductive Education. Budapest: International Peto Institute

This is an English translation of the Hungarian edition published a few years ago.


Contact Bea at Library@peto.hu  for further information.

Of course, Conductive Education Press also published a book at the beginning of December titled Intelligent Love; parents' action for Conductive Education. Please see my posting at http://www.gillian-maguire.info/2010/12/intelligent-love-new-book-from.html  for more information.

Internet News no.14

There has been little news on the Inernet in past two months, but here is a list of what I have found.


http://www.az-web.de/lokales/stolberg-detail-az/1438279?_link=&skip=&_g=Foerderung-nach-Petoe-erfolgt-ganzheitlich.html
Report of CE in Stolberg,Germany

http://www.chiemgau-online.de/portal/lokales/trostberg-traunreut_Spende-fuer-Lebenshilfe-_arid,790369.html
Money for CE in Trostberg.
http://www.hanliumm1.com/the-center-for-peace-a-charity-for-children-with-physical-disabilities-such-as-cerebral-palsy/
Item and video about PACE centre UK.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_707532.html
Fundraiser for little boy to attend CE sessions in Pittsburgh, US.
http://www.thelegacy-rainbowhouse.com/news_more.asp?news_id=59¤t_id=1
Playgrounds built for Rainbow House,UK
http://www.thelegacy-rainbowhouse.com/news_more.asp?news_id=60¤t_id=1
New group for 11-16s set up at Legacy Rainbow House, UK
http://www.thelegacy-rainbowhouse.com/news_more.asp?news_id=61¤t_id=1
Special donation for Legacy Rainbow House, UK

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_707532.html
Fundraising for little boy in Gibsonia, to have CE.
http://www.stepscentre.org.uk/events/Steps-crche-opens-to-the-public.aspx
New creche opens at Steps Centre,UK.
http://www.journalism.co.uk/press-releases/festive-fundraising-for-local-children-s-charity-ticks-all-the-boxes/s66/a541628/
Fundraising for Nottingham School for Parents

http://www.monashweekly.com.au/news/local/news/general/walking-the-walk/2010776.aspx
Large donation given to Cerebral Palsy Centre in Monash, Australia.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-178807499.html

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=206726
News from 2008 about CE in Bahrain

http://7thspace.com/headlines/366037/speech_by_slw_at_7th_world_congress_on_conductive_education.html
Press release about 7th World Congress in Hong Kong
http://www.southportvisiter.co.uk/southport-news/southport-southport-news/2010/12/10/southport-boy-thomas-smith-aged-three-with-rare-illness-stars-in-nursery-nativity-at-the-legacy-rainbow-house-101022-27799713/
Little boy with rare illness stars in Nativity play at Legacy Rainbow House

http://joancollinsarchive.blogspot.com/2010/12/appearance-update-joan-takes-time-out.html

http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2010/12/15/joan-collins-drops-in-on-city-youngsters-97319-27827078/
Joan Collins visits NICE in Birmingham

http://www.standingtall.org/pdfsmarathon/ContractPledgeNYCHalf2011.pdf
Information and application for running New York marathon 13 March 2011, in aid of Standing Tall CE centre
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/4477837/Conductive-Education-stages-annual-Xmas-show
Addington School, NZ, annual Christmas show goes ahead despite cuts to the budget.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/4479158/Smith-laments-schools-funding-cut/
Patron, Wayne Smith, laments cuts in CE provision at Addington School in New Zealand

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I would like to wish you all a very enjoyable festive season despite bad weather and difficult travelling. I know of several people who have had their plans spoilt ( including myself) and are having to re-arrange. Part of life's rich pattern, I am told.

I will be back posting in 2011 and hope you will join me. Make lots of comments, please - it gets a bit lonely!

Congress photos

Lots more photos now upon the SAHK website for the 7th World Congress

http://www.ce-congress2010.org/CE/modules/news/article.php?storyid=82

It looks as though a good time was had by all!

Intelligent love - new book from Conductive Education Press

Graham, J, McGuigan, C. and Maguire, G., eds. Intelligent love; parents' action for Conductive Education.
Birmingham: Conductive Education Press.

Recovering from the trip back from Hong Kong has taken longer than I thought  but at last I am able to tell you that this book is now available.

 It has taken quite a while to recruit parents, receive their contributions and prepare it for publication.We managed to get it ready to launch at the World Congress, which we did and now I feel fit enough to post on this blog about it.

 It is a collection of parents'  reports about their difficulties and efforts to obtain Conductive Education for their cerebral palsied children. These cover the years 1972-2004 and come from parents all over the world, including  Margaret and David Clifton, parents of Elliot, who does all the technical things necessary to get CEP books up on Blurb.

As stated on the back cover:

‘I could write a book’: frequently heard when parents talk about services for their cerebrally palsied children, and Conductive Education. This book is by thirteen parents and a grandmother, from Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Israel, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, each contribution a testimonio in its own right.

Whatever your connection with motor disorders in children, this is a book to ignore at your peril, the first collected statement by families of disabled children, one of Conductive Education's prime beneficiary groups and, in the Western world, its prime mover. These families’ experiences throw light upon questions of how modern societies might do things differently – and better – for children with motor disorders and their families, yet further reminder that progress for disability and for Conductive Education is born out of struggle.

Conductive Education is potentially for life – as must be any properly constituted service for those affected by chronic disabling conditions. It is not a program, an intervention, something to be done once, or now and then, or during certain hours of the day, or on certain days of the year, at a given age or in some particular place. Nor it it something that is primarily to be dispensed by a certain kind of person, a ‘conductor’ (however important conductors’ contributions might be to the process as a whole).

It is more than just pedagogy. It embraces and transforms every aspect of children’s lives, everyone and every activity involved in their upbringing, a whole new lifestyle. Conductive upbringing and a conductive lifestyle. No short order but, witness the content of this book, it can be done.

Mention of its coming was posted on Andrew's blog at

http://www.conductive-world.info/2010/11/conductive-lifestyle.html

and Leticia Kuerten, one of the contributors, has also posted on her blog  at

http://educacaocondutiva.blogspot.com/2010/12/livro-intelligent-love.html

along with Susie Mallett at  http://www.susie-mallett.com/2010/12/tough-living-and-tough-loving.html

We would like to thank all those concerned very much indeed for taking the time and trouble to put down their experiences for us.



It  is  available to order from
 http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1755137

Please do let us know what you think of it.

Honarary Conductor Award

I have never been to a conference before so this was a very interesting experience for me. Initially I thought I would dip in and out but got hooked and attended as many sessions as possible.

 It was two days filled with parallel presentations which meant I was unable to go to all those I wanted to hear. People from all over the world presented and I learned about what was going on in Israel, UK, Hong Kong, mainland China, Australia, Mexico and Germany. Over the two days I met people who had only been names to me before and was able to learn more about them.

Of course, the main reason I went was to receive my Honorary Conductor Award.

There were seven awards this time to the following :

 Chris K. H. Kan, Hong Kong

 Gillian Maguire, United Kingdom

 Anete Mozes, Israel

 Katalin Racz, Hungary

Bettina Tauscher Fak, Austria

 Karin Weber, Germany

 Edith Y. S. Yeung, Hong Kong 

 

I am pleased to say that Edith Yeung is also a librarian working for SAHK. I had hoped to visit her library but the busy schedule of the congress and the study tours afterwards made it impossible. An excuse to go back some day perhaps!

 

The presentations were made at a banquet on the Sunday evening after everyone had watched a Lion Dance and listened to the SAHK children's  Brass Band. All great fun.

 

My award was presented to me by Franz Schaffhauser, Director of the Peto Institute and I now have a beautiful red leather folder embossed with the Peto Institute's name containing a certificate detailing the award.  I was very relieved to get up on to, and off the platform without any mishap due to nerves. 

 

After this I was lucky enough to sit with a group of people who were excellent company and we all enjoyed a traditional Chinese dinner of soup, fish, meat, noodles, rice, more soup, more fish and little cakes in copious amounts.

   

I would like to thank all those who made this possible very much indeed for an evening I shall always remember with pride and happiness.

Around the world in ten days - almost!

I arrived home in Birmingham yesterday lunchtime after what seemed to be a never-ending journey. It was 24 hours since I had left the hotel in Hong Kong and I was very tired indeed. How people can do this all the time amazes me.

On the way out to Hong Kong I stayed over in Dubai for a day with my nephew, a journalist, who lives there. All was on a very large scale - everywhere were tall buildings, construction projects and a very efficient road system. He took me up the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa and round the largest shopping mall in the world on the way to seeing a Fountain display, the water 'moving' to music. In the evening we took a short boat ride across the creek to the souks where spices and medicines are sold before having a very tasty Arabic dinner. Fabulous.

I was up early next morning and back to the huge airport for the next stage of the journey to Hong Kong, arriving late at night to a kaleidascope of bright lights.

Hong Kong ws a wonderful place to visit and everyone I met was very helpful and extremely polite. Temperatures were in the early 20s so it was even more wonderful to be there  after the freezing cold in the UK.

The city was very clean, well organised and easy to get around enabling me to visit most of the places on my list in the time allowed. I saw the Big Buddha, had lunch in the buddhist monastery, visited Taoist temples,  went to several street markets, had a trip round the harbour at night, crossed over to Kowloon on the Star Ferry and had coffee in the former headquarters of the Hong Kong Police Force - now converted into a shopping mall with restuarants and coffee bars. On my last day I went up to the Peak by cable car for the fantastic view. Here as everywhere there were more shops and restuarants!  It was windy and cold and a little misty (unless that was pollution, hard for me to tell) but well worth the effort. I was lucky to do all these things in the company of some wonderful friends - so thank you to all who came with me and made it so enjoyable.

This was all fitted in after, and round the conference, which I will talk about later.

Now it is time to unpack, do the washing and start thinking about Christmas.

 Back to earth with a bump!

Coming soon!

This is only a quick posting as there is still a lot going on here at the World Congress. Unlike Andrew I have not been able to post every day as I do not have a laptop or notebook of my own.

Since I arrived I have  met people who I only knew via the Internet or publications which has been wonderful. Of course no-one looks as I had imagined and they were probably surprised in the same way on meeting me.

In the process I have found out about three books that have just been published in English and one in Chinese. Full details about these will be posted when I get home at the weekend as I have the use of this notebook (courtesy of Susie Mallett) for a few minutes before going into the final part f the programme, the Plenary discussions on the essence of CE and the future for it in the 21st century ö no doubt Andrew will report on these later.

Congress time

Well its nearly Congress time and I start my journey to Hong Kong later today - weather permitting. It is still snowing here and I am watching the news for updates on the situation at the airport.

The above photo is of my brother, mother and I enjoying refreshment at the Peak in Hong Kong quite a long time ago. I hope to go up there again, enjoy the view and have another ice-cream next week!

I am looking forward to meeting all the people I have 'spoken' to via email, whose papers I have read and who contributed to the National Library of Conductive Education whilst I was Librarian.  Its my first visit to such an event and it should be an interesting time.



New home and format for Virtual Library of Conductive Education

At long last I can announce that the Virtual Library of Conductive Education now has a new format -  and a new home, thanks to Ben Foulger.

Ben has spent a lot of his own time in the past few months creating  a searchable database for the Virtual Library  and in the process been very patient with my requests for all sorts of features, changes, yet more changes and further additions - he has managed them all. Wonderful. 

Ben, I salute you!

The  catalogue can now be found on the website of Conduction, the new UK charity for Conductive Education  at http://www.e-conduction.org/virtuallibrary

The contents of the Library currently at http://www.virtualcelibrary.blogspot.com/ will gradually be included along with new items and the same criterium  applies for those, that is availablility on the Internet. Some are free to acess and some require a subscription, password or payment for an individual article. So far items included are written e.g. articles, conference papers, documents, presentations. Films and videos may be added later.

I have added over 100 items to the catalogue so far, but as you can appreciate transferring the material from the blog to the database takes time. I will add any new finds straight into the new format - in fact I have added some already - whilst continuing to 'move' the old items across.

 The blog will remain and not be deleted until this process is completed.

Some people may be unused to searching a catalogue online, so there is a link to a help page containing some basic instructions and guidance.

This catalogue, like all 'live' library catalogues, will never be 'finished' as more new material becomes available and is recorded. I welcome any help you can offer in finding such material.

You will see that there is also a link to a Depository on the same page. It is hoped to put complete documents, unpublished papers, articles etc not available elsewhere into this starting very soon. At present it is empty.

As always, if you have any queries, suggestions for improving the new set-up or suggestions for inclusion, please do let me know.

Conductive Education Classic no.9

Ludwig, S, Leggett, P Harstall, C. (2000) Conductive Education for children with cerebral palsy. Edmonton: Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research.

This is the only review so far to make a major critical proposal to better the quality of how evaluations done in Conductive Education. There were relatively few studies to look at, with five being carried out in Australia, three in the UK, and one in Ireland.

Why was it done?

The Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Unit of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for medical research was requested by Alberta Children’s Services and Alberta Health & Wellness to assess the evidence of effectiveness of Conductive Education for children with cerebral palsy

A review was requested to help the ministries answer the question, ‘is Conductive Education as a learning approach or therapeutic intervention safe and efficacious for children with disabilities such as cerebral palsy…?…The HTA Unit conducted a systematic search for and critical appraisal of published scientific evidence regarding the impact of Conductive Education on the overall learning and health status of children with cerebral palsy. (p.1)

Outline

The review gives an outline of its parameters followed by a brief description of Conductive Education and its origins and then goes on to look at six primary studies and three studies that examined parental reactions, perceptions and satisfaction.

It sets out their summaries in the form of a table, giving the type of study, (e.g. randomized or non-randomized, controlled, descriptive), setting, (e.g. UK, Australia), the methods, and authors’ conclusions, and then discusses each one in more detail.

This is followed by a summary of the main, conclusions, a discussion of these, and the authors’ conclusions. And, of course, a list of references. Also included are several appendices on methodology, cerebral palsy, CE models in Alberta, primary and parent studies (including outcomes and comments). All set out as tables.

It is noted that there were few reasonable studies to consult at that time (as is still the case) and the evidence on the efficacy of CE is sparse and of poor quality

Their radical suggestion for the betterment of such evaluations was ‘manualisation’, I.e. actual stating in he form of a ‘manual’ what is was that was actually done with the subjects in the intervention being evaluated (a well known measure in clinical psychology). If one does this then it may even be possible that studies might be replicated. If not, then they cannot be. It would also offer readers of reviews to form thie own judgements of how far then work being evaluated in fact merit the name of Conductive Education in the first place (not a lot, probably in many cases.

As far as I know, no later studies have taken up this suggestion.

The full report can be viewed at  http://www.ihe.ca/publications/library/archived/conductive-education-for-children-with-cerebral-palsy/

Judit's Hungarian book about Conductive Education

I have seen today a note on Judit Szathmary's blog about a book on Conductive Education in Hungarian:

Hári Mária, Székely Ily (1963)  Bevezeto A Konduktiv Mozgaspedagogiaba; Pető András eloadasai es gyakorlati bemutatoi alapjan. Gyogypedagogiai Tanarkepzo Foiskola, Budapest: Tankonyvkiado.

Judit has a copy given to her by Ester Cotton, who had had the book signed by Maria Hari , making it a very special item  of CE literature.

I remember this book, as it was held in the National Library of Conductive Education whilst I was there.

If anyone wishes to look at it I suggest they contact the National Institute of Conductive Education in Birmingham or perhaps Judit,  via her blog at

 http://juditszathmary.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html.

Conductive Education books at the World Congress

Several people have asked me if it will be possible to buy books published by Conductive Education Press at the Congress.

We have made Conductive Education Press publications easily accessible from anywhere in the world and deliverable to your door at the click of a mouse. http://www.blurb.com/user/cepress


CEP is a publisher and not a bookseller with premises and a physical stall.

Single copies of the titles will be available to look at during the Congress and a leaflet to take away containing information about all titles. I believe there may be information about a book from the Peto Institute available in the same way, Susie Mallett is working on a pamphlet, and there may be others too.

Usually at conferences books are available to order, rather than purchase there and then. A catalogue or titles may be available to look at and a form provided to complete to obtain copies. Sometimes there are copies available to buy, but not often; for instance, if the congress is being held in the home country of the  publisher it would be possible to take multiple copies to sell - perhaps SAHK will do this with their publications.  No airline luggage restrictions for them!

By the way, feedback from all of you who obtain and read copies would be very welcome.

It looks as though 2010 will see the publication of at least four titles on Conductive Education, quite an achievement!

New book on Conductive Education now available

A new book on Conductive Education has just been published by Conductive Education Press titled

 Internationalising Conductive Education and edited by Andrew Sutton and Gillian Maguire.

As stated on the backcover:

One group of articles in Recent Advances in Conductive Education (RACE), published across the years of the journal’s appearance, stand out as manifesting a common, coherent theme, one that has continuing relevance today. These articles may be collectively characterised as personal accounts of setting up and developing one’s own conductive practice, or service, or even system. Such determined and individual self-help, often in the face of surrounding indifference or even outright opposition, has been the base and backbone of the internationalisation of Conductive Education. In a continuously changing world, it will likely remain so. There is no other accessible written record of this process, no other collection of documents to suggest just what it takes to do this, none to offer reassurance, inspiration – and caution – to those who might wish to plough their own future furrows So, it has seemed a useful exercise to collect together these varied and needed articles into a single volume – this book.

Contributors ( in no particular order ) include Judit Szathmary, Judit Roth, Kari Hapnes, Lisa Gombinsky, Rony Schenker, Naomi Rotem, Lisa Gombinsky,  Wendy Baker, Istvan Szucs, Gemma Davy, Laura Jones, Rachael Skinner, Norman Perrin, Gabor Fellner, Márgara Millán.

Copies are available to purchase at

 http://bit.ly/cep-internationalising-ce

Computer problems

This week I have been experiencing computer problems which have resulted in my having to buy a new machine. Not what I wanted to do at all!  It is the same with  all modern inventions, we use them all the time without thinking, and then feel bereft when they are no longer working. This  then causes amazement that they are so important to us. What shall I do with myself?

Now  I am having to write this blog from my local public library, sitting in a long line with other people, a very strange experience as I am used to sitting at home on my own. But what a wonderful service, free and in a nice warm cosy place.

I hope to have my new machine up and running early next week, and be back on line again with a new posting.

Internet News October 2010

Some items about Conductive Education  found over the past few weeks on the Internet.
http://www.steinbachonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19035&Itemid=232
Money raised for boy to attend Movement Centre in Winnipeg, Canada

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11411824
Anne Wood, creator of Teletubbies, becomes patron of Heel and Toe CE Centre in County Durham, UK

http://www.reporterherald.com/news_story.asp?ID=29598
Report of program at Colorado Foundation for Conductive Education

http://www.ozarksunbound.com/brilliant-strokes-an-art-auction-for-independence-scheduled-for-friday-oct-8-community-announcement/11604
Art auction held for ConducABILITY, California.

http://www.whatsonni.com/more_info.php?id=5123

http://www.prlog.org/10984093-harrys-hosts-80s-fancy-dress-night-for-buddy-bear-trust.html
Fund raising event for Buddy Bear in Dungannon, Northern Ireland

http://www.sfexaminer.com/rss/?section=%2Flocal%2Fap%2F
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/ap/colo-center-aids-children-with-motor-disabilities-104230213.html
http://www.silobreaker.com/program-aids-children-with-motor-disabilities-5_2263752662572859506
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/Colo-center-aids-children-with-motor-disabilities-680392.php
Syndicated story about Colorado Foundation for Conductive Education


http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/suffolk_set_to_welcome_dame_vera_lynn_1_661805
Suffolk School for Parents becomes part of the Dame Vera Lynn Trust for Children with Cerebral Palsy

http://www.morpethherald.co.uk/sport/local-sport/golf/does_pro_am_golf_event_appeal_to_you_1_1891124
Report of fundraising for Heel and Toe Centre in UK

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-east-news/evening-chronicle-news/2010/10/07/princess-royal-visits-percy-hedley-foundation-72703-27422346/
Princess Royal visits Percy Hedley Foundation, UK, at opening of new centre for adults which offers the 'principles of Conductive Education, a form of physiotherapy'.

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Children-s-challenges-like-tackling-Mount-Everest/article-2734525-detail/article.html
Report on challenges faced by children at Rutland House School for Parents, UK offering principles of Conductive Education

http://paces.typepad.com/paces/2010/10/does-conductive-education-have-brand-probelms.html
Blog about 'brand' of Conductive Education posted by Norman Perrin

http://www.edu.com.kw/Subsidiaries/Afaq/More.aspx#
Details of Conductive Education school in Kuwait.

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/east/article_5dc0d658-efba-5ccd-a099-4751896a0392.html

http://www.necn.com/10/17/10/Nonprofit-uses-conductive-methods-for-th/landing_health.html?&blockID=3&apID=c53b0c585df4429c99ad54228ab81c33
Story about the GaitWay centre in Arizona

http://www.necn.com/10/17/10/Nonprofit-uses-conductive-methods-for-th/landing_health.html?&blockID=3&apID=c53b0c585df4429c99ad54228ab81c33
Art auction for CE centre in Arkansas

http://www.ingfoundation.com.au/main.php?page=gallery&gallery=Spastic-Centre-10-Years-Conductive-Education
ING centre, Sydney, Australia celebrates 10 years of CE

http://www.southportvisiter.co.uk/southport-news/southport-southport-news/2010/10/22/legacy-rainbow-house-founder-sentenced-for-benefit-fraud-101022-27521816/
Benefit fraud by founder of Rainbow House

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/people/Rainbow-Rover.6595121.jp
Man sails round world and raises money for the Rainbow Centre, Fareham, Hants.

Conductors with Consultancies and Practices

This  post was ready to go up today when I realised that Andrew had already blogged its content after a conversation we had yesterday, Still, better late than never!

I realised that a number of conductors are running their own services for individuals or groups. Some, but not all of these also offer consultancy work. Therefore the list on the right hand side of this blog has been amended to cover all those that I know of who practise Conductive Education on their own, and/or offer consultancy work, with the new title of Conductor Consultancies and Practices, and can be found at :

http://www.gillian-maguire.info/2010/02/conductors-with-consultancies-on.html

If you know of any others or you work in this way please let me know and I will add the information to the list. If you do not have a website ( or I haven't found it!) and I have not heard from another source it is impossible for me to discover your details and include them on the list.

New Conductive Education venture in the UK

Information about  a new service in the UK has just reached me and details can be found at

http://www.ce-services.co.uk/home/

This appears to be a service for children and adults, with sessions for groups or individuals.

Where does the money go?

I have seen an item in the Third Sector magazine reporting the launch of a new website. This website will provide details of charities' expenditure, breaking down how much goes on administration and how much on the actual work. As many CE centres in the UK operate as charities this presents an opportunity to let potential donors  know exactly where their money will go.

http://thirdsector.co.uk/News/MostRead/1034535/Charity-comparison-site-go-live/

Charities will be able to set up a microsite to enable donations to be made direct to them, but the host site will charge an administration fee for this. See the above link for further details.

Update to consultancies

I have just updated the list of Conductor Consultancies. It now include the new one set up by Anne-Christan Wittig in British Columbia and details of her services can be found on her blog by clicking the URL provided on the list .

Even though Judit Szathmary has now closed her centre, I believe she is still operating her consultancy, so she is still included. If this is not the case, I hope someone will let me know.

The list  can be accessed via the link on the right hand side of this page.

Snap! Taking a good photo

I have been sent the link to a website of a photographer offering advice on taking good pictures. We all want to record our children at the various stages in their development and this site, full of fun,  is worth looking at to get good tips for this. Taking pictures in CE sessions is also an art in itself to make sure all is recorded accurately, clearly and usefully. Having plenty to select the best examples of good posture and position in the group to put up on the web  is paramount.  There are some pictures up about CE  at http://www.westcanphoto.com/index.php?key=conductive

Perhaps this could help there too.

Unfortunately,I cannot find the name of the photographer responsible for this site.

http://www.westcanphoto.com/

Parent of a disabled child speaks out

A article has been published in the Daily Mail today as a response to controversial statements made on a television programme on Sunday.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1317786/Caring-disabled-daughter-enriched-lives.html

I would imagine that most parents of disabled children would heartily agree with the author, Ian Birrell.



---

Virtual catalogue is making progress

The new arrangements for the virtual catalogue are making good progress and I hope to be able to announce the launch of the new format soon.

 In the meantime the catalogue is still available at http://www.virtualcelibrary.blogspot.com/

Conductive Education books available on the Internet

 I was reminded the other day during a conversation with Andrew Sutton that Foundation for Conductive Education publications had been sent to Google for inclusion in Google Books with permissions to include some content.

I have now checked on this and found not only FCE titles with a large chunk of the text up on the Internet but another one that has some too. These will be included with full references and URLs in the Virtual Conductive Education Library as soon as I can get them up.

The FCE titles are

 Ákos, K. and Ákos, M. (1991) Dina. Birmingham: Foundation for Conductive Education AND Ulm: Alabander Verlag.


Cottam, P. and Sutton, A., ed. (1986) Conductive Education; a system for overcoming motor disorder. London: Croom Helm.
 
Read, J. (1991) Conductive Education 1987-1992; the transitional years. Birmingham: Foundation for Conductive Education.


Sutton, A. (1998) Last year in Jerusalem; four presentations to an international conference. Birmingham: Foundation for Conductive Education.


Read, J. (1991 ) Come wind come weather; a study of the difficulties faced by parents taking their children to the Peto Institute in Budapest. Birmingham: Foundation for Conductive Education.
 
The other book is :
 
Brown, M. and Mikula-Toth, A. (1997) Adult Conductive Education : a practical guide. Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes.


If you wish to read the available content of these, go to Google Books and do a search for Conductive Education. The books themselves are all available from the Foundation for Conductive Education at library@conductive-education.org.uk

Checking cookies

Even though I use my computer regularly and connect to the Internet to obtain information and maintain my blogs, I am not very good with any of the technical aspects of the hardware and software. Friends who are a bit more savvy than me often have to help out with advice and help. A piece in my local paper by Dave Pinwell about cookies has proved very useful too, and I would like to pass on the information.

One aspect I have had trouble understanding is the cookies that are small files which get put on  the PC without permission or notification when I visit websites. How this can happen I don't know, all I know is that it does.

These cookies collect details of browsing activity and sometimes contain login, passwords and other details needed to make repeat visits to a site. These are not dangerous unless they get into the wrong hands, and the information gained could be obtained by a hacker whether cookies are held or not. So a good firewall and security protection are vital. Having these will permit proper use of cookies and any unwanted intrusion will be prevented.

You can block all cookies but this may prevent you accessing sites that you want to, so it will be worth checking your privacy levels. It is possible to delete cookies before you close the computer down and I do this regularly. You need to right click on the Internet icon, choose properties and then click on  delete for brwsing history to remove all those cookies you do not want on your computer.

Thanks, Dave.

Charities merging in UK

Today I read a news item reporting the merging of three charities based in London - Radar, Disability Alliance and the National Centre for Independent Living. Theay are considering a merge under the new title Disability Rights Partnership.

http://thirdsector.co.uk/news/Article/1028437/Three-London-disability-charities-consider-merger/

Liz Sayce, chief executive of the Royal Association for Disability Rights, also known as Radar, said the charities had 35 staff and there were no plans to make any of the posts redundant.


She said the proposal to merge the charities was based on increasing the campaigning power of the charities and was nothing to do with financial difficulties.

 Perhaps this will be a way forward in these troubled times for some of the CE centres registered as charities in the UK?

Internet News no.14, September 2010

Below is a list of this month's news from the Internet - less than usual, I think.

http://tvnz.co.nz/close-up/alternative-education-changes-lives-3681983
CE in New Zealand receives spot on TVNZ. [Includes video]

http://www.redditchadvertiser.co.uk/news/8317204.Vietnam_challenge_for_Redditch_business_man/
Redditch businessman to ride round Vietnam to fundraise for Foundation for Conductive Education.

http://www.cincymagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=2CE771F28E0D4281817E2E034A9C57C6&nm=New+Articles&type=Publishing&mod=Publications::Article&mid=61465020993F438B9FCD60C66CC58CDC&tier=4&id=9B91C9EA6E204016BF9213D373570A52
Grandmother helps start summer camp in Cincinnatti to help grandson.


http://www.ehow.co.uk/facts_6823384_conductive-education-training.html
Lisa Pulsifer posts information about 'conductive education training'

http://northern-district-times.whereilive.com.au/news/story/the-spastic-centre-toasts-the-success-of-education-program/
Spastic Centre, Australia celebrates 10th anniversary of its CE program.


http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=93885&catid=35
Report of services at the Therapy Place in South Carolina.

http://www.stthomastimesjournal.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2710182
Brief mention with photo of summer camp in St Thomas, South-west Ontario

http://www.conductability.com/conductability_016.htm
Testimonal by a parent to the effects of CE on her child.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/news/latest-news/4034118/Community-champions-down-to-six-finalists
New Zealand CE centre in with a chance to win 30,000 dollars.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/4053746/Heartbreak-and-smiles-in-helping-children
More about the New Zealand centre with a chance to win money and its founder.

http://www.runshaw.ac.uk/Groups/Adult%20Marketing/ADULT/2010/StudentBulletinMarch2010.pdf
News of support for Rainbow House from Runshaw Adult College (p10).

http://www.baysidebulletin.com.au/news/local/news/general/little-battler-fights-disabling-condition/1927175.aspx
Story about Nicholas who goes to Xavier Early Intervention Program two days a week for Conductive Education as well as the Cerebral Palsy League, Mater Brisbane and the Royal Children's Hospital for physiotherapy, feeding clinic, sleeping clinic, speech therapist, hips surveillance, spinal clinic and occupational therapist.

http://cecmd.com/?p=35
Conductive Education centre of Metro Detroit has joined up with flower internet company, receiving a donation for every order of flowers.


http://www.muswellhilljournal24.co.uk/content/haringey/muswellhilljournal/news/story.aspx?brand=MHJOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsmhj&itemid=WeED08%20Sep%202010%2016%3A54%3A20%3A643
Fundraising event for the London Centre for Cerebral Palsy on 12 September

Building your own Conductive Education library

By an amazing coincidence, like Susie Mallett,  I have been looking on the Internet for books relevant to Conductuve Education so that I can build on my very small collection here.  Yesterday I received copies of both titles written by Bärnklau that Susie mentions on her blog.

http://www.susie-mallett.org/2010/09/story-of-search-for-books.html  

These are believed to have been written by András Petö and published in the 1960s. My copies are second-hand,  in a reasonable condition and arrived soon after ordering.

In my search for them I came across various titles on Conductive Education which are available via Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/ or Abe Books  http://www.abebooks.co.uk/ 

 Many early titles are now out of print so the price of these varied enormously according to 'rarity', I assume. For example, a copy of Hári and Ákos' Conductive Education can be bought for as much as £68.00 and Cottam and Sutton's,  Conductive Education; a system for overcoming motor disorder can be as much as £80! There are also a number of each title (and others) at  more reasonable prices.

Have a look.

If you do want to build your own collection buying second-hand can be a economical and sometimes the only way to do it.


Bärnklau . K. O. (1965) Unfug die Krankheiten, Triumph die Seele. Karl Schustek: Hanau/Main.
Bärnklau . K. O.  (n.d.) Gibt unheilbare Krankheiten, Nein. Lindau-Bodensee: Rudolphische Verlagsbuchhandlung.
Häri, M.  and Ákos, K.  (1988)  Conductive Education . London: Routledge.
Cottam, P. and Sutton, A., ed. (1986) Conductive Education ;a system for overcoming motor disorder.
London: Croom Helm.

Pause for thought

This year has not ben a very good one healthwise for my family, friends and myself. Over the past few months I have learnt what it is like to have your life controlled by appointments with doctors, hospitals, nurses, physiotherapists and consultants. Fortunately things are improving now and life will return to what passes for normal  fairly soon - I hope.

Because of this, blogging and finding material for the virtual catalogue  has suffered, but I have been thinking about them and wondering why my appeals for information go largely unanswered. Comments on postings are also rare. I have had some responses, thank you, ( a few privately), but had hoped in particular, that most people would know of at least one document and send me details.  Maintaining these sites is  voluntary and I do get satisfaction from doing so, but it would be great to have more feedbasck especially for the catalogue.

Checking the statistics shows that both sites get visitors averaging out to 50 per week for the catalogue, and 100 for this blog, which I think is quite good considering. All those who do visit, please keep coming and drop me a note occasionally, let me know what you think and make suggestions. 

Virtual catalogue is making progress

The new format of the virtual catalogue is making progress thanks to Ben Foulger. He has posted technical details of the systems he is using on his blog

  http://thejadenproject/mauritius 

All of that is a complete mystery to me as I am not computer savvy enough to understand any of it, but it sounds very impressive and seems to be doing the job required of it very well from the drafts I have seen so far.

As soon as its up and running and available via  Conduction's website I will let you know. This may take a while as there is still quite a bit to do and after all the technical stuff is in place, I will need to enter all the items found to date.

In the meantime the blog version will remain in place for anyone to access at

 http://virtualcelibrary.blogspot.com/

New source of information on Conductive Education launched today

Today has seen the launch of a new charity in Conductive Education. The aim of this charity is as follows.

Conduction creates a think tank for the world of Conductive Education. It begins its public-service role by bringing together online resource bases for those who use or seek to understand Conductive Education, those who work in it or help provide it, and anybody ‘outside’ who just wants to know

more information can be found on its website at http://www.e-conduction.org/

I intend to move the Virtual Library catalogue to this website and am receiving help to do this from Ben Foulger, who is building a database for me. This will have  a search facility using author, title, keyword, date of publication etc, and include all known bibliographic details, just like a 'proper' online library catalogue. The blog I set up was only intended to be temporary until I could find a way of recording and giving access the information properly, and the opportunity to make this improvement has come quicker than I had hoped.

Naturally it will take a little while to complete the technical specifications and then a little longer for me to transfer all the items from the blog to the new catalogue.  When it reaches the stage where it can be accessed  productively I will announce its transfer on this blog.

First of its kind? New job advertised in Australia

I have just been sent an alert about a new job advertised in Australia  for a Planning and Implementation Manager - Conductive Education, based at the Cerebral Palsy Education Centre (CPEC),  who will be involved in the production of courses at the centre, e-learning packages  and on-line course modules.
 The CPEC want someone :

Coming from an education background where you have had experience developing course modules this is a role that will align your values and take this world leading programme to Australia and abroad.

Further information is available at http://www.jobs.newcastle.iprime.com.au/education-and-training-jobs/other/1158856

No mention is made of the need for knowledge or experience of Conductive Education that I could find.

My new brain - a programme not to be missed

My new brain is the title of a TV programme being broadcast  on Wednesday 25 August by Channel 4 at 9pm. This tells the story of a young man, Simon, now 20 years old,  who had an accident resulting in severe head injury. He came out of a coma with poor memory and concentration, erratic speech and unable to organise himself, very like a 4 year old.

The cameras have followed his rehabilitation resulting in a tribute to those who cared for and helped him, especially his family, through this life changing episode of  Simon's life

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/my-new-brain

New website for the Peto Institute ?

Yesterday I  needed to check the date of a Peto Institute publication and clicked on the link for the publications page that I gave a few weeks ago.
http://www.gillian-maguire.info/2010/07/conductive-education-publications-for.html

To my dismay there was nothing there and so I put Peto Institute into Google again and found what looks like a new site under construction using the previous URL. It does look very crisp and clear with colourful pictures across the top, but at present there are no pages for the library and publications that I could find.

 I will keep checking and when I find this information up again on the Internet, I will let you know.

http://www.peto.hu/

More Conductive Education videos available online

A while ago I posted a blog about a source of videos on Conductive Education.

http://www.gillian-maguire.info/2009/10/conductive-education-videos.html

Today I have found another one, courtesy of Google alerts.


http://www.voobys.com/video/search_video.php?q=conductive

This has 6 pages of videos to browse through covering for example, children and adults, news stories, assesment videos,centres, fundraising events. I have not been able to discover much about this site other than it is :

' The first multimedia search engine that helps you find video music and image in one click.'

Let me know what you think.

Change of name

It is now five months since the launch of the New Conductive Education Library at

http://virtualcelibrary.blogspot.com/ 

and I think that the Library can not be considered 'new' anymore.

Today I have changed its name to The Virtual Conductive Education Library. It is still  a catalogue of items on the Internet, the URL remains the same and the content has not been altered.

 I will continue to add items as I find them.

New additions in New Conductive Education Library catalogue

A number of new additions have been made to the Conductive Education overview section in the New Conductive Education Library today.

http://virtualcelibrary.blogspot.com/2010/04/conductive-education-overview.html

 I am discovering material in a variety of languages now, so these include items in in English, German and Finnish.

I hope to add more and would like to ask as I usually do, that you send me information and links to any papers, articles etc that are still not included.

Internet News no 13, August 2010

Here is a list of news items found on the Internet over the past month and its good to have a couple from Germany and Spain this month. No doubt there will be less items to come over the next few weeks for the next list, as the summer holidays are now with us again.


http://www.percyhedley.org.uk/news/100708-CE.asp
Report on CE research meeting in Newcastle, UK

http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=2665758
Hungarian conductors teach at summer camp in Ontario

http://www.haaretz.com/magazine/friday-supplement/family-affair-the-painters-apartment-1.300975
Israeli conductor works with carers at flat for people with special needs.
http://www.pr.com/press-release/248904
Fundraising event by Drama Group for Rainbow House centre in UK

http://www.ledburyreporter.co.uk/news/8276146.Colourful_characters_will_be_around_Colwall_on_Sunday/

http://www.ledburyreporter.co.uk/news/8289605.Scarecrow_festival_a_great_success/
Fundraising event for Megan Baker House centre UK

http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/87007362.html
Family who have tried CE hope to open respite care home for those with special needs

http://dfwthrivemagazine.com/showarticle.asp?artid=66
Father who started up A Child Can Do All Things CE centre talks about setting up trusts to provide for special needs children.

http://www.reporter-times.com/stories/2010/04/20/columnl.qp-9411309.sto
Story about Jackson centre in the US. [You will need to register to read this in full]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/columnists/nchurnin/stories/DN-nh_kidfit_1013gd.ART.State.Edition1.4bc1e5c.html
Story about A Child Can Do All Things CE centre in Dallas.

http://bungy4conductiveed.vpweb.com.au/default.html
Bungy Jump fundraiser for child to receive CE.

http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2010/07/21/chatham/opinion/opinion04.txt
Parent thanks local community for raising funds for her child to attend Blue Ridge Association for Conductive Education.

http://www.osadvertiser.co.uk/news/ormskirk-news/2010/07/01/plans-to-create-new-rehabilitation-unit-at-the-legacy-rainbow-house-rejected-by-chorley-council-80904-26756229/
Plans to create a new unit blocked by local authority planning committee in Cheshire

http://www.childrenshopeinaction.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/CHIA-June-2010-Newsletter1.pdf
News of the start of CE groups in Vietnam

http://www.nz-online.de/artikel.asp?art=1271303&kat=317
Report of Conductive Education in Boxdorf, Germany [in German] ( A translation is available at http://www.susie-mallett.org/2010/08/inclusion-or-natural-progression-part.html )

http://www.rojoyazul.es/noticias/el-consell-apuesta-por-la-atencion-temprana-para-garantizar-la-igualdad-de-oportunidades-de-los-ninos-discapacitados-2/
Provincial minister pledges official support for CE centre in Spain.

Directories lost - and found again

Today I received an email informing me that the links to the Directories on the right-hand side of this blog were no longer working. On investigation I discovered that when I changed the URL for the blog a couple of months ago I didn't change the links to the directories accordingly.

This has now been corrected and each list is now available again at the click of the mouse.

If anyone else has had trouble accessing this information, please accept my apologies for this oversight.

A lesson well and truly learned now!

Israelis due to start new course for conductors in September

I have just read  on Andrew's blog 

http://www.conductive-world.info/2010/07/center-for-conductive-education-and.html      %20about

 about the new course, set up by Tsad Kadima, for training conductors in Israel which is due to start later in the year. What an exciting development this is for Israel and may prove a model for other countries to follow.

 Hearty congratulations to all concerned in setting this up and I will look forward to hearing more about it in the future.

Over the years I have sent material and references to Rony Schenker at Tsad Kadima and asssume these  will now be part of a collection of materials built up over time, making a valuable resource for the students. I hope that the virtual catalogue I am developing at 

 http://www.virtualcelibrary.blogspot.com/

will be useful to them too.

Maybe I will be sent some documents in Hebrew on the Internet  to include! Remember all contributions and suggestions are welcome.

Conductive Education starts in Vietnam

Today I received an email sending me a link to the  newsletter of Childrens Hope in Action, Vietnam.

http://www.childrenshopeinaction.org/

This led me to a brief piece about the work of Stephanie Driver, a British conductor who is volunteering there. She has been working on this project for 5 months. several groups with children have ben set up and she  is working hard at introducing Conductive Education to Vietnam. Let us hope that this is a case of small beginnings leading to bigger and better things.

http://www.childrenshopeinaction.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/CHIA-June-2010-Newsletter1.pdf

Well done, Stephanie!

New additions in New Conductive Education Library catalogue

A new subject has been added to the virtual library catalogue today. This is Conductive Education Worldwide and includes items covering Conductive Education in a number of countries, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Kuwait, UK and US.

http://virtualcelibrary.blogspot.com/2010/07/conductive-education-worldwide.html


I hope to find more to add to this list.

If you know of any please do let me know.

Research meeting in Newcastle

Over the past few weeks there have been rumours about a meeting on research in Conductive Education and what was discussed. There is a short report on this now available on the Internet at
http://www.percyhedley.org.uk/news/100708-CE.asp

Laszlo Szogeczki has also included some information on his blog at http://szogeczki.blogspot.com/2010/07/for-all-those-who-were-interested-in.html

where he makes some interesting points and lists those who were present.  He promises that more will follow and maybe we can look forward to published results of the group's work in the future.

Conductive Education publications for sale

Today I discovered a list of books and pamphlets for sale at Hari Maria Library in the Peto Institute, Budapest.

http://www.peto.hu/konyvtar/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=1#15

The majority of these are in  Hungarian but there are eighteen titles in English and a few in German. Other subjects such as the education system in Hungary and neurology are also included.

The rules of the Library are available in English and state that:

Publications for sale


In the Libraries we sell mainly the publications published under the auspices of the Institute, and works connected with the activity of the Institute, respectively. This service is available for anyone during the opening hours.

The complete rules can be viewed at
http://www.peto.hu/konyvtar/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=68



If you wish to follow up on this, please contact library@peto.hu

Fire alarm

How safe are libraries? 

We all rely on libraries being there when we want them and believe they are a safe depository of books, journals, papers etc. In the main they are, as precautions are taken to avoid losses due to damage such as fire. But...

In the past the great library in Alexandria was burnt down http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria
and, incidentally, a library in commemoration was  recently been opened there in 2002.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandria_Library
and several years ago, if I remember correctly  the library in the Goethe Institute in Germany suffered a lot of damage due to a fire. Anything lost in such circumstances can be irreplaceable especially if it is old and possibly the only known copy.

On the grapevine I have heard that there was a fire due to an electrical fault in the National Library of Conductive Education at NICE in Birmingham this week. This has happened before but the fire was quickly put out so there was  no losses of stock (or harm to individuals). At the time it was suggested that the library contents be scanned in case of any further fire, but this would have been an enormous and expensive task, so nothing came of it.

Rumour says that the fire was worse this time and it was necessary to throw a bookcase (or just its contents) out a window! Whether this is the complete story or just the story growing as it was passed on, I don't know, but it is extremely worrying as most of the collection is unique and not available anywhere else. 

The  material on the Internet listed in the virtual catalogue at http://www.virtualcelibrary.blogspot.com/ cannot be destroyed in the same way but is still vulnerable to the whims of the Internet machine and could be taken down or moved. At least it is there.

Perhaps we should all look to the safety of our personal collections of valuable materials in Conductive Education (and other areas) and consider their future.

Internet News, no.12

 Please find below a list of news items found on the Internet over the past few weeks.

Conductive Education
http://www.leamingtoncourier.co.uk/news/Positive-Amy-is-living-the.6324719.jp
One of the first children to go to Budapest in the 1980s has now written, produced and directed her own play.

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2010/05/28/specialist-help-for-parkinson-s-disease-and-stroke-patients-at-coventry-s-hereward-college-92746-26541945/
Adult services run by NICE in Coventry.

http://www.halifaxnewsnet.ca/index.cfm?sid=343883&sc=608
Report of March of Dimes Summer camp at Halifax, Nova Scotia.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2010/06/18/sky-sports-presenter-scoops-spirit-of-merseyside-award-100252-26677186/
Sky Sports news presenter wins award for all is help for Stick 'n' Step CE centre.

http://www.thestar.com/freshairfund/article/823385--camp-helps-kids-discover-their-abilities
March of Dimes summer camp in Orillia helps teenagers with cerebral palsy.
http://www.i-newswire.com/a-lifetime-of-difference/40885
Buddy Bear school in Northern Ireland launches new project.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/community-telegraph/east-belfast/news/mothers-share-their-stories-of-life-as-unpaid-carers-14846879.html
Mother talks about the long-term benefits of CE for her son.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Dealing-With-Parkinsons&id=4436549
Parkinson's disease sufferer writes about his experience of CE.

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/8199304.KESTON__Libby_Lee_s_family_exceed___72_000_after_fundraising_for_operation/
Fundraising helps to increase CE sessions for little girl in Kent.

http://www.maldonandburnhamstandard.co.uk/news/localnews/8240011.Burnham_couple_want_to_help_children_like_Honey/
Fundraising starts for centre in Essex, UK
http://mcalesternews.com/local/x383284729/Got-metal
Scrap metal collecting helping to raise funds to go Ability Camp.

Multiple sclerosis
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1288409/Savitex-Cannabis-mouth-spray-MS-relieves-pain-gets-ahead.html
Cannabis based medicine approved for use in UK, but expensive.

No triumph no tragedy

By accident I heard the last fifteen minutes of a radio programme yesterday morning, and it gave me much to think about. To quote the BBC website:

Peter White meets Tony Judt, the acclaimed historian of post-war Europe.  Eighteen months ago, Tony - an active, sporty 60-plus - was diagnosed with a severe form of Motorneurone Disease, leaving him able to do little more than think. Paralysed from the neck down, Tony needs 24 hour care and relies on other people for all his physical needs.


His mind however, is his own, and has been extraordiarily busy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00strxn

It will be available via the above URL on the Internet for the next six days.  I think it is something everyone should listen to.

Research and Evaluation is biggest section in New Conductive Education Library

I have just added some more items to the Research section of the virtual catalogue at
http://www.virtualcelibrary.blogspot.com/

It is by far the biggest subject in the catalogue at the moment with 44 items, 17 of which are free to access.

The range of material is growing by date, language and topic. One of those added today is an article published in 2010  by Susan Effgen and others, another the first to be added in Chinese (with an English abstract).


More to follow!!

Are you having a laugh? TV and disability

 A programme on the portrayal of disability over the past 50 years (with the above title) will be broadcast on  BBC2, at 9pm on Friday 25 June. According to the schedule it will be :

A humorous and irreverent look at the way disability has been portrayed on TV over the last 50 years, narrated by David Walliams. From Sandy in Crossroads to Brenda in The Office, we'll see how the subject has been done well, how it's been done badly and how box ticking and the odd token wheelchair has helped this process. We look at the astonishing journey from Ironside to Cast Offs, Monty Python to The Office and Little Britain.

Whether it is humourous, remains to be seen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00swg99

More on the virtual catalogue

Today I have added some items on Conductive Education in mainstream schools and the curriculum in such circumstances.

http://virtualcelibrary.blogspot.com/2010/06/conductive-education-in-schools-and.html


More references will go up in other areas later in the week.

Enquiries - the long, the short and the unclear

Ever since I have been involved in Conductive Education I have had lots of enquiries from lots of different people at all sorts of levels, from the general to the specific. These I have answered to the best of my ability and most respond with thanks for the information. Most people have told me who they are, what they are doing and why they are asking the questions. Some don't. Only this week I had an enquiry about biographies of Andras Peto and was only given the name of the enquirer, nothing else, but I answered, as I always do. At no time has it occurred to me to question any query as to its validity.

This week I have been following the postings on Susie Mallet's and Andrew Sutton's blogs about an enquiry which turned up in Susie's spam box and I too wondered if it was a hoax. 

http://www.conductive-world.info/2010/06/ce-research-pits.html

  http://www.susie-mallett.org/2010/06/research-or-spam.html 

Then I get the same message in my spam and now understand her reaction and  puzzlement. Usually anyone doing research at an academic level mentions exactly what they intend to investigate in their  enquiry,(as well as  including where they are studying etc.) and asks  specific questions(s), which is what I would expect from a student working at that level.
 This emailer mentions he is a Master's student at a named university but also adds that he is "Working on a school project I am doing research on conductive education and my focus is CE furniture". Perhaps he means that his research is being carried out in a school nearby which is offering CE and has the furniture,  otherwise 'school project' and 'masterate' don't really go together in my book, and sounds very odd. Or perhaps that is not the case. There may be a language problem here and if so, clarification would be helpful. I hope that the enquirer writes to all of us to explain further so we can understand his request fully. 

Virtual catalogue visitors

I have just checked the New Conductive Education Library and seen it has had its 1,000th visitor now!

Keep dropping as there are plenty more entries to go up     http://www.virtualcelibrary.blogspot.com/

Soon!

Courses and seminars in June, September and October 2010

I have been asked to pass this information about up these up and coming seminars and  courses in the UK to anyone who might be interested so am posting it here.
If you wish to know more about any events listed, please do use the emails given with each  event below.



 1. TAC Seminar: When ‘fewer people’ means better early support for children with complex needs & their families
Monday June 21st 2010. 10 a.m. - 3.30 p.m.

Friends House, Euston Road, London, NW1 2BJ.
Places Still Available
Topics for discussion:
1. The TAC System: keeping intervention as simple and straightforward as possible.

2. How we sometimes waste education and therapy resources with too many practitioners offering a child too many separate interventions.

3. TAC as the heart of a locality’s well organised, multi-agency, collective effort for early support.
Cost: Between £85* and £130 (* reduced prices for groups). Free places for parents
Contact: Peter Limbrick, e-mail:  p.limbrick@virgin.net   Tel: 01497 831550



2.  Lecture & Lunch: Towards 21st Century working practices for teachers and therapists in Early  
     Childhood Intervention / Support

Friday September 17th 2010. 10.30 a.m. - 12.30 p.m. (Reception at 10.00 and lunch at 12.30
Hayward Lecture Theatre
Postgraduate Centre, City Hospital, Birmingham, B18 7QH

A lecture and discussion by Peter Limbrick

In this lecture Peter will argue that, as an essential part of modernising Early Childhood Intervention / Early Support, radical change is needed in the working practices of both teachers and therapists – and in how they work together. From this change will come a 21st Century system that reduces the potential for stress and strain on children, saves families’ time and energy, and makes far better use of practitioners’ time.

Cost (to include light vegetarian lunch): £45.00. Some free places for parents.

To apply for a place: E-mail: p.limbrick@virgin.net  Tel: (0044) 01497 831550



3.  New Course: The Team Around the Child System: to take then strain off children, families and practitioners

Two days, 12th and 13th October, 2010

Friends House, Euston Road, London, NW1 2BJ.

Cost: £295 – not including accommodation.

For more information and booking form contact Peter Limbrick: p.limbrick@virgin.net


The Seminar, Lecture and TAC Training can come to your venue with reduced costs.


4.  Two-day Workshop: Sleep Practitioner Training for health professionals, PAMs, etc working with families of disabled children

Handsel Trust Sleep Practitioner Workshop is now accredited by the Royal College of Nursing Accreditation Unit
The rolling programme of workshops is part of Handsel Trust’s Sleep Initiative and offers an introduction to the principles of sleep assessment and management. The next one is in Birmingham in September 2010 (places available). For full programme e-mail: joanne@handseltrust.org


For more information, please contact  Peter Limbrick, Interconnections, Tel/fax: 01497 831 550. E-mail: p.limbrick@virgin.net