New features on this blog

I'm gradually learning about the features of this blogging site and adding some of them to this blog. So far you will see that I have put up a CE in the News feature which gives a few (rather than all,unfortunately) current items found by Google - a taster, that will keep you up to date.

In a previous posting I mentioned trawling the internet for CE news using various search engines which give a fuller picture.

http://ce-library.blogspot.com/2008/07/conductive-education-in-news.html

Note also the translation features from Google and Webforditas (with thanks to Andrew Sutton)

Just for fun, I've added 'this day in history' near the bottom of the page, which so far has included some amazing (if not totally useful!) facts.

Let me know what you think.

Google's birthday

Google is ten years old! Difficult to believe, it only seems like yesterday to me that I first used its services.

You might like to join in the celebrations and offer suggestions for the future

http://www.google.co.uk/tenthbirthday/

Sad case highlights problems and difficulties of parents of disabled children

There has been a lot of media attention to the trial and conviction of a UK mother who drowned her 4year-old daughter with cerebral palsy over the past week. Today in The Times, Alexandra Blair looks at the problems and difficulties faced by parents bringing up disabled children, who battle daily to get services , none of which will be new parents of children with cerebral palsy.

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article4820556.ece

These comments are supported by other parents who speak out about the pressures and how close they have come to breaking

http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/news/Parents-of-disabled-children-need.4527081.jp

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/09/25/i-weep-for-naomi-and-her-mum-i-know-what-it-s-like-to-get-pushed-to-the-brink-115875-20751469/

including a mother whose child receives Conductive Education

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/09/23/mother-guilty-of-murdering-disabled-naomi-91466-21883091/

and a mother (and journalist) describes her sympathy for the mother of Naomi in the Daily Mail after meeting a man struggling with his severely disabled son in a supermarket car park

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1061302/Yes-evil-act-deserved-punished-So-I-feel-sorry-mother-drowned-little-Naomi.html

Norman Perrin has highlighted similar problems with a posting about the difficulties his adult disabled daughter has obtaining the right care in her own home
http://paces.typepad.com/paces/2008/04/does-anyone-at.html

There are many more examples to be found by searching the internet and I wonder when care will be provided according to need and not according to how much it costs.

I do have an article on the psychological well-being of mothers of children with cerebral palsy written by some researchers at Coventry University, which concludes that

levels of psychological well-being are a cause for concern and warrant exploration of interventions that will reduce maternal distress and increase self eficacy

Barlow, J., and others (2006) Psychological well-being among mothers of children with cerebral palsy. Early Child Development and Care, 176(3-4), pp.421-428.

Getting together - Conductor Associations

Conductors are now working all over the world, some on their own, some in organisations employing more than one conductor, and anything that helps with feelings of professional isolation and offers contact with others in similar situations has got to be of potential benefit. Some conductors have joined together to form associations to help with such circumstances and have created websites to help spread knowledge of their existence, so report of the new website of the German Conductors Association

http://www.konduktorenverband.de/

is very welcome as it joins others on the internet:

Hungarian Conductors Association

http://www.konduktorok.hu/

New Zealand Conductors Association

http://www.nzconductors.org.nz/

European Conductors Association

http://www.institutkeil.at/Kooperationspartner/ECA.html

ACENA (Association for Conductive Education in North America)

http://www.acena.org/ invites membership from conductors working in North America

In the UK, a professional organisation is currently being set up (more news on this as it comes)

These associations offer different things to their members such as a discussion forum, job and membership information, calendar of events and meetings as well as contact details, and are in German, Hungarian and English according to the country.

If anyone knows of any other associations/groups, please let me know.

Visitors

I have been away on holiday without quite being able to forget CE and all things Hungarian as I found a Magyar menu at a taverna on Corfu and saw an aerovista travel bus from Budapest at Stonehenge - perhaps these things have always been around and I just notice them now. Still its nice to be back and also be back to welcome a visitor.

Visitors are always welcome at the Library and tend to come in fits and starts (a bit like buses), and arrive from all over the world. This year they have come from Hong Kong, New Zealand, Hungary and of course, the UK. My visitor this week is from Canada, working for March of Dimes in Toronto and is a graduate of the BA Conductive Education course with qualified conductor status, started in 1997. She is here for her professional development in all aspects of running CE services and hopes to update her knowledge of the CE literature too. There has been quite a lot of items added to the library since she was last here so should be able to take a number of relevant references and possibly photocopies back with her.

If you are in the area or can manage to include a visit, you will be very welcome and it would be a pleasure to show you around the unique collection of material on CE that is here.

My last posting included some references to recent journal articles and I did receive requests for copies of them. It is all part of the library service to provide such copies but I do need to point out that for legal reasons (the Copyright Act of the UK) I do have to make a small charge but I hope this will not put people off, as having photocopies may be the only way of accessing the collection here.

Some new articles

The library has received some new issues of journals over the past couple of weeks which contain a number of articles which may well be of interest.

Families of disabled children today have a very hard time trying to get the services that are needed and dealing with the beaurocracy of the system. One mother writes in Support for Learning about her experiences

We had to struggle and fight to get anything, and, when the service was delivered, it ws provided in the most dehumanizing way possible

Tomlinson, C. (2008) The proof of the pudding is in the eating: two contrasting tales of a family's experience of services. Support for Learning, 23(3), pp.102-103.

Philippa Russell looks at recent trends in government (England and Wales) policy and practice for supporting and involving parents of children with special needs and in particular the Children's Plan and Every Child Matters. She concludes that :

These are ambitious policy developments - but they offer a real opportunity to address the historical fragmentation of support for children with disablities or SE and, importantly they place rights and responsibilities( with appropriate support) on families

Russell, P. (2008) Building brighter futures for all our children' - a new focus on families as partners and change agents in the care and development of children with disabilities or special educational needs.
Support for Learning, 23(3), pp.104-112.

An article in EPPN journal provides a checklist for all people with Parkinson's who drive, and outlines factors to consider.

McCall, B. (2008) Staying in the driving seat.
EPPN Journal, Summer, pp.16-17.

The National Strategy for Carers published by the English government in June is summarised and explained in

Carers UK (2008) A new vision for carers? Caring, July, pp.8-11.

These journals are all available in the National Library and anyone wishing to have copies of the articles should contact me at gill@nice.ac.uk

Maria Hari on conductive pedagogy

Producing Maria Hari on conductive pedagogy took a lot of hard work but was a labour of love. The library had copies of a number of Mari Hari's unpublished papers produced 1968-2000 which deserved a wider audience, so eight were selected, edited and published with explanatory introductions to each by Andrew Sutton. Our aim was to end up with a book which 'explained' Conductive Education in a easy to understand way in the words of someone who knew what it is all about and according to Susie Mallett, it appears that we were successful.

http://www.konduktorin.blogspot.com/

Thanks very much, Susie, feedback is very welcome!

It has proved to be a steady seller since publication in 2004, being purchased by conductors, parents, students, academics and health professionals all over the world and hopefully more and more people will want to buy, read and 'enjoy'. It costs £10.00 plus post and packing of £1.00 in the UK and £2.00 overseas. The other book that Susie mentions, Dina, is also available for £11.95 plus postage and packing as above. Anyone who would like to order either or both books,can do so by contacting me at gill@nice.ac.uk or can order Maria Hari on conductive pedagogy from our bookshop on cafe press.com.

http://www.cafepress.com/foundationce

Anyone else who would like to share their thoughts and opinions of either book, please let us know and I will report views on this blog.

The end of the world as I know it?

Ever since I was a small child, books have held a fascination for me and been an important part of all aspects of my life, work and pleasure. So, today on seeing an article in the Daily Mail about the launch of an electronic book jointly by Sony and Waterstones (the book shop), I had mixed emotions.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1051254/The-electronic-book-spell-end-paperback.html

It is wonderful that modern technology can make it possible to carry 160 books around with you on a small machine about the size of an average paperback and initially this one will come with a free CD allowing you to read such classics as Pride and Prejudice, Dracula and Great Expectations. Wow!

I immediately thought of something I had read several years ago. This announced the Built-in Orderly Organised Knowledge device and talks about technology and books and I have found several URLs for it:

e.g. http://bob.bob.bofh.org/~robm/manual/book.html

This extols the virtues of the printed word - which doesn't need batteries, an on/off switch, never crashes or needs re-booting, has an index to lead you to the part you particularly want to read etc. Libraries historically contain books which provide a bigger selection of information which is just as readily accessible and available (at little or no cost), but are moving with the times and now also collect electronic media such as Videos (which are now on the way out as the machines to watch them become obsolete, but the trusty book is still very much to hand),CDs, DVDs, and academic libraries in particular,have electronic books in their catalogues.

Personally, I think I will stick with the printed word for now and watch developments while continuing to collect information about CE regardless of its format.