Things that András Pető said

Over the years I have seen many quotes assigned to András Pető without any information about the source, or even who he said it to. Preparing the CEP quotationary of András Pető and his Conductive Education enabled me to collect remarks of  Pető and about him, give each one a source, and  hopefully clarify things for people. Sixteen sources were used and full references for these given at the back of the quotationary. There may be more sources and if so, I would love to know about them.

Today I came across a quote from András Pető that was new to me and wonder if anyone can tell me the source for that.

Ask me not what I can do for children with Cerebral Palsy, but ask me what they can learn to do for themselves. 

 If a second edition is produced new sources can be reviewed and included.

New book from Conductive Education Press

   

CEP Quotationary of András Pető  and his
Conductive Education

Birmingham: Conductive Education Press. £12

   

ISBN 978-09569948-5-1

 

Yesterday the latest publication from Conductive Education Press was released on Blurb and can be found at 

 

http://blur.by/1dNtUxs

 This collection of quotes  reveals thoughts, experiences and various interactions with András Pető aimed at increasing knowledge of his work and about the man himself.

 

As stated on the back of the book:

András Pető left two inheritances.

One was the practice of conductive pedagogy, variously konduktív nevelés, Conductive Education, konduktive Förderung – an uncrystalised Chinese whisper that has since mutated down generations and across societies. Some such practices may have much in common with András Pető's and his associates', some very little – all are concrete activities, practised, or experienced, observed and analysed. They are what you see.

The other is the heritage of recollections of András Pető himself, what he did, how he was, and perhaps what drove him. Who was this Will-o'-the-Wisp, András Pető, what words of his echo down to us? How did people at the time understand that mystery in their midst? This second inheritance is far harder to find, to separate from myth and fantasy in what you hear and what you read.  

This quotationary's 307 quotations contribute some distilled essence, including 48 sayings or reported sayings from the man himself, plus vivid direct reports from friends and associates, and the observations of some of those who have tried to nail his fleeting shadow.

These quotations come from 40 named sources, and are referenced to 15 different texts.

Originals were in German, Hungarian and English, all are presented here in English translation. 


A preview may been seen by clicking on the book badge in the right hand column of this blog.
 
As always your comments on this book will be very welcome. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Júlia Dévai's bibliography

Yesterday news of Júlia Dévai's hundredth birthday appeared on Andrew Sutton's blog at

 

http://www.conductive-world.info/2013/07/100-years-old.html

 

Who is Júlia Dévai, you may ask. Well, she played a major role in the development of András Pető's Conductive Education from 1947-1952 and worked with him in his Institute. 

 

In recent years she has spoken and written about this period in her life and I first came across her when a paper that had been read at a conference in Israel, was donated to the National Library of Conductive Education in the late 1990s. When Andrew and I were preparing our recent publication András Pető, I contacted her to ask permission to include her paper in the book. She responded by offering to re-write it, including more detail, and that is what we published. In 2012 the Hungarian- language version of this was also published in a book, edited by her daughter, Sophia Kalman. 

 

Investigating further I realised she had produced other reminiscences too of the early days of conductive pedagogy, so here is a list of them all to celebrate her 100th birthday:

 

Devai, J. (1997) The first years with András Pető ; the birth of Conductive Education.

Unpublished paper read at Conductive Education conference, Tsad Kadima, Jerusalem, October 1997.

 

Dèvai, J. (1999) The first years with András Pető: the birth of Conductive Education. In  Forrai, J., ed., Memoirs of the beginnings of conductive pedagogy and András Pető.  Budapest and Birmingham: Új Aranyhíd and Foundation for Conductive Education, pp. 151-156.

Dèvai, J. (2005) Emlékeim. In Balogh, M. (ed.) Hári Mária (1923-2001). Budapest: Pető Institute,

 pp.46-52.

Dévai, J. (2007) My memories. In Balogh, M. ed., Hári Mária and her Conductive Education.

 Budapest: Pető Institute, pp. 46-53. [English translation of Emlékim]

 

Dèvai, J. (2012) Personal memories from the days of the beginning of Conductive Education. In

 Maguire, G. and Sutton, A.  ed., András Pető. Birmingham: Conductive Education Press, pp.45-70.

 

Dèvai, J. (2012) Egyszer volt, s ma is van: a sokarcú Pető – a konduktív nevelés kezdetei. In Kálman, Z., ed., Negyedszázad a kommunikáció bűvöletében. Budapest: Bliss Alapitvány, pp.73-101.

Thoughts on András Pető book

When Andras Peto was published readers were asked to let us know what they thought of it, if they had enjoyed it and learnt from it.

One such review was sent to me this week by Rony Schenker. She has read it twice now, and felt the same as I did when I read the memories and descriptions included.

She says:

The accumulative impression that you get from reading the book with bated breath is one of the things that makes this book so special. It is as if you had the opportunity to watch Prof. Pető walking into a room where children were working, to hear him, to see him seating by his desk and writing, having a nice meal with friends, or talking eye to eye with his patients. So vivid the descriptions are. And then, what I know, what I saw with my own eyes, what I have learned through my own experience, informal learning and excessive readings and discussions with many and goods, and from my repeated visits to the Pető Institute (October 1987 was the first). And then, the fusion of all of this information, melting into a higher degree of coherence, or preferably, into a more coherent puzzle.

 

 

She also comments on the useful references it includes:

 

Currently, these are very good references for those who want to know, for those who think they know, and for those who should know what Conductive Education is and who was Professor Pető.

Thank you very much for your appreciative comments, Rony.

 

Another interesting review has been written by Susie Mallett and can be found at

 

http://www.susie-mallett.org/2012/10/andras-peto-gillian-maguire-and-andrew.html

 

 

Have you read it? If so, please send me or Andrew your thoughts. If not, you can obtain a copy by clicking on the cover of the book on the right-hand side of this blog. 

 

 

New discount on Conductive Education Press books now available

I was just about to blog about another good offer for Conductive Education Press books as there is  25% off all titles until 13 December, using the code 12SANTA at the checkout.

 

  Then I saw that Andrew has beaten me to it. Therefore I will just give you a taster of his posting and a link to it.

His latest posting starts:

 

READ ABOUT

PETŐ

AND

MEET AN

ENIGMA

Read how András Pető developed his method, cut through the myth, and perhaps find things not quite as many imagine them. You may then join those who puzzle about who András Pető really was.

Read Bob Dent's book review from the Budapest Times (both book and review are in English):

http://www.budapesttimes.hu/2012/11/21/enigmatic-miracle-man-helped-the-incurable/

 

 

You can read the rest of his post at  http://www.conductive-world.info/2012/12/a-mystery-story.html

 

Books can be ordered by going to http://www.blurb.com/user/ store/cepress and making your selection.

 

Enjoy, and don't forget to let us know what you think about it.

 

First review for Andras Peto

The first review for András Pető  appeared in The Budapest Times on Friday and this has now gone up on the newspapers website at:

http://www.budapesttimes.hu/2012/11/21/enigmatic-miracle-man-helped-the-incurable/

The editor has made it a feature article with some pictures.

The review includes a brief account of the history of Conductive Education's discovery by the West, particularly the UK and an overview of the book's contents.

The editors of András Pető have produced a compilation consisting of memories of colleagues and others who knew him at different times, notes and letters written by Pető himself, obituaries following his death in 1967 and a selection of overviews. What emerges cannot – even in the editors’ opinion – be regarded as clear-cut or in any way final in terms of fully understanding Pető and his thinking. Nevertheless, certain themes shine through.

 

It was also very gratifying to read:

Its editors, who are also its compilers, should be congratulated for giving the wider world an opportunity to ponder about the enigma known as András Pető, who, without ever fully explaining how, positively affected the lives of thousands of people who otherwise were considered “hopeless cases”.
 

Copies of the book can be obtained by clicking on the cover in the right hand column of this blog or from

  www.blurb.co.uk/bookstore/detail/3647662


 

András Pető book now available again

Today the new book  András Pető,  published by Conductive Education Press became publically available again, after resolving some technical issues. This took a little longer than originally expected, and is now available to order again  at

 http://www.blurb.co.uk/bookstore/detail/3647662

When you have read your copy, please do let us know what you think about it.

More about the new András Pető book

Whilst in Hong Kong for the World Congress on Conductive Education in December 2009 it ocurred to me that the little that was known about  András Pető was scattered around in various different places. Why not bring it all together in a book? For the last eighteen months we have been doing just that and along the way managed to get three previously unpublished papers and facsimiles of  a exam booklet and poems by Pető for inclusion in the book. These were the icing on the cake! 

Getting all this collected, edited and ready for publication took longer than expected and publication a fortnight ago of  András Pető was a day of celebration for Conductive Education Press.

Copies of this are now being read and comments coming in. Yesterday Susie Mallett blogged her thoughts about it which can be read at 

http://www.susie-mallett.org/2012/10/andras-peto-gillian-maguire-and-andrew.html

and says her favourite piece is the one  by Júlia Dévai , which was specially written for the book. (Júlia also very kindly allowed us to reproduce the exam booklet and poems from her personal archive.) Her piece is my favourite too. It brings alive the time when Pető's conductive pedagogy was slowly emerging, in great detail, a  fascinating account.

I wonder what other readers of the book are deciding  are their favourites. 

Please do write and let us know.

The book can be ordered at
http://www.blurb.co.uk/bookstore/detail/3575875

András Pető book resume now in Portuguese

Word is spreading about the new book,  András Pető, and a Portuguese translation of the blurb on the back of the book can be found on Letitia Kuerten's blog at  http://educacaocondutiva.blogspot.co.uk/

See below:

Andras Peto criou em circunstâncias difíceis e tumultuada de um ambiente pós-guerra na Europa, uma prática pessoal de terapia do movimento com crianças e adultos paralisados, ele desenvolveu um método pedagógico a partir do qual atualmente conhecemos como Educação Condutiva.

Surpreendentemente, pouco tem sido geralmente conhecido sobre ele o criador húngaro, András Peto, ou mesmo os seus seguidores. Em sua vida, ele cultiva uma aura de mistério e com a morte tornou-se um mito.

Está sendo lançado Andras Peto, o livro. Este livro de 288 páginas, oferece lembranças pessoais de colaboradores próximos e colegas, alguns já publicados, alguns escritos especialmente para esta obra, juntamente com uma série de tentativas para somar e entender sua vida e obra. Originais foram escritos em alemão, húngaro e Inglês.

Este livro deve ajudar a dispersar parte do mito em torno de András Peto, para que seus leitores possam começar a criar sua própria apreciação crítica de quem ele era e o que ele fez.

Copies of the book can be orered from http://www.blurb.co.uk/bookstore/detail/3575875 

Thanks very much, Letitia, for spreading the word in this way.

There may be more of such translations to come, and I will blog any that I receive.

New book coming soon

Andrew has mentioned that we are currently working on a new publication about  András Pető  for Conductive Education Press. This has proved to be a very interesting experience but has taken a lot longer than was originally thought - doesn't everything? The idea was first discussed back in December 2010 at the conference in Hong Kong, and this has developed into something a lot more substantial than originally thought possible. More about that later.

Here we are nearly 18 months later almost there, on the home straight - we think!

The dilemma at the moment is to come up with a title for it and I would not have believed that it could be so difficult. Suggestions have gone back and forth but no definite decision made although there are a couple of front runners.

Watch this space for more information!

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.

What do we know about András Pető?

Those of you who are following Andrew's and Susie's blogs, will have realised that knowledge of András Pető the man is very skimpy indeed with a lot based on hearsay and comments of those who actually knew him. He gave very little away and much of the personal information we have is reminiscences, often contradictory, and not factual evidence.

I have compiled a list of material in held in the National Library which includes unpublished material, newspaper articles, contributions to books and also some items written by the man himself. These are in a variety of languages - English, Hungarian, German, Swedish and Norwegian. A student conductor in the late 1980s did start to investigate his life and work but never finished (Szorenyi, 1990; 1994), Judit Forrai published a collection of reminiscences (1999), and Mária Hári (who spoke at his funeral) produced several accounts of his life and establishment of what became the Pető Institute.

As you will see very little published material by Pető has been traced so far, but further discoveries may be made in the future. In the 1920s and 1930s he published under a variety of pseudonyms, some of which are included in the list below.

I am sure this is not everything and would welcome any information about other pieces, and especially copies of such items, that would make useful additions to my collection.

Pető the man

Ákos, K. and Ákos, M.(1997) The enigmatic Dr. Pető. The Conductor, 6(3-4),
pp.49-55.

Anon (1993) In memoriam Pető. In International Pető Institute, Pető András (1893-1993), Budapest: International Pető Institute, pp.30-37.

Anon (2000) Pető an König. Fortschritt, nos.2-3, p10.

Anon (2006) András Pető. [online] Wikipedia Fooundation. Accessed 20 December 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A1s_Pet%C5%91

Bachmann, W. and others (1977) András Pető. In Bachmann, W., and others, Biographies of Hungarian special educators. Rheinstetten: Schindele, pp.94-95.

Balogh, M. and Ocsenás, T. (2001) Hungarians of the century: András Pető. In International Pető Institute, Abstracts of the 4th World Congress on Conductive Education. Budapest: International Pető Institute, p13.

Billington, I. (2003) András Pető. In Billington, I., Petö-metoden – en tverrfaglig utfordring. Oslo: N.W.Damm & Søn, pp.26-28.

Bíró, K. (1993) Remembering András Pető. In International Pető Institute, Pető András (1893-1993). Budapest: International Pető Institute, pp.16-23.

Dévai, J. (1997) The first years with András Pető. Unpublished paper.

Dezséry, L. (1962) About a wonderful school. Magyar Hétköznapok, 29 May.

Fekete, G. (1970) Professor Pető’s legacy. Népszabadság, 31 October, p.6.

Forrai, J. (1999) Memoirs of the beginnings of conductive pedagogy and András Pető. Budapest: Új Aranyhíd and Foundation for Conductive Education.

Forster, V. (1997) A view from the past. The Conductor, 6(3-4), pp.43-48.

György, I. (1967) The man to whom there were no hopeless cases. Népszabadság, 13 September, p.11.

Halász, Z. (1965) Home thoughts from across the Channel. [Brief mention of Pető, pp.112-113.] New Hungarian Quarterly pp.100-113.

Hári, M. (1996) In memory of Pető. Pető Magazine, Summer, pp.5-8.

Hári, M. (1997) A konduktív pedagógia története. Budapest: MPANNI.

Hári, M. (1999) Die Geschichte der konduktiven Pädagogik. Budapest: International Pető Institute.

Hári, M. (2001) The history of Conductive Education. Conductive Education Occasional Papers, supplement 2. Budapest: International Pető Institute.

Hári, M., and others (1991) The origins of Conductive Education. In Hári, M., and others, A konduktív pedagógiai rendszer, Budapest: International Pető Institute,pp.9-20 and 212-213.

Harris, C. (1989) Pető - friend of the CP child. Therapy Weekly, 15 June, p.6.

Horváth, J. (1997) András Pető; a brief biographical sketch. In Taylor, M. and Horváth, J., ed., Conductive Education occasional papers, no.1. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books, pp.1-6.

International Pető Institute (1999) Who was András Pető? http://www.peto.hu/Tortenet/peto.htm (Accessed 25 October 1999)

International Pető Institute (1993) Pető András (1893-1993). Budapest: International Pető Institute.

Kapronczay, K. (1993) Remembering András Pető. In International Pető Institute, Pető András (1893-1993), Budapest: International Pető Institute, pp.24-29.

Kenyeres, A., ed. (1985) András Pető. In Kenyeres, A., ed. Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, pp.613-614.

Kerényi, P. (1989) Pető, the man. Hungarian Observer, 3 (2), p5.

Lehnhardt, R. (1965) Lebenshilfe für Bewegungsversehrte. Schwabische Zeitung, p? [English translation in The Conductor, 4(4), 1992, p65.]

Liljeroth, I. (2004) Pető’s liv fram till starten av KP. In Liljeroth, I. Konduktiv pedagogik. Goteberg: Bräcke Diakoni, pp.19-22.

Liphart, A. (1993) From András Pető to the Pető Institute. Unpublished paper. [English summary by R. Szörenyi of a programme broadcast by Izülőföldünk, 10 September]

Medveczky, E. (2006) Dr András Pető. In Medveczky, E. Conductive Education as an educational method of neurorehabilitation. Budapest: International Pető Institute, pp.11-13.

Mallet, S. (2008) Angels and souls, to me its one and the same. Nurnberg: Mallett.[online]http://konduktorin.blogspot.com/2008/11/angels-and-souls-to-me-its-one-and-same.html

Nádas, P. (1967) A man dies. Pest Megyei Hírlap, p?

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CONDUCTIVE EDUCATION (2000) András Pető 1893-1967; a selection of items from periodicals and the Hungarian press. Unpublished collection.

Papp, C. The spirit, rehabilitation and character formation. Magyarország, 1 October, p.24.

Pintér, G. (2003) András Pető and Jacob Levi Moreno. In Balogh, E. and Kozma, I., ed. Conductive Education Occasional Papers no.10. Budapest: International Pető Institute, pp.1-12.

Popper, P. (2001) Buddha Budapesten. In Popper, P. Holdidő. Budapest: Saxum, pp.51-70.

Ruffy, P. (1967) Professor Dr András Pető. Magyar Nemzet, 15 August, p?

Ruffy, P. (1974) Nagyszerü mérges ember. In Ruffy, P. Úttalan utakon. Budapest: Szépirodalmi Könyvkiadó, pp.97-102.

Ruffy, P. (1987) An angry man with the face of Buddha; András Pető. Magyar Nemzet, 4 July, pp.8-9.

Sarkány, J. (1994) Memories of Dr András Pető. The Conductor, 5(3-4), pp.75-76.

Sutton, A. (2000) The mysterious András Pető; report on the literary evening.
Unpublished paper.

Sutton, A. (2008) Dialogue with Judit 1. Birmingham: Sutton. [online] http://andrew-sutton.blogspot.com/2008/11/dialogue-with-judit-i.html

Sutton, A. (2008) Dialogue with Judit 2. Birmingham: Sutton. [online] http://andrew-sutton.blogspot.com/2008/11/dialogue-with-judit-ii.html

Szörenyi, R. (1990) A portrait sketch of András Pető, founder of Conductive Education. Unpublished paper.

Szörenyi, R. (1994) Bibliography of Pető’s works1921-1935 with chronology of his life 1893-1922. Unpublished paper.

Török, S. (1979) Table talk with Pető. In Török, S. Egy kis kertet szerettem volna. Budapest: Magveto Kiadó, pp.245-259.

Vekerdy, T. The charisma of a maverick healer. New Hungarian Quarterly, 34 (Spring), pp.115-120.

Wikipedia (2008) Pető András. San Francisco: Wikimedia Foundation. [online] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andras_Peto

Pető’s Works


Bärnklau, O. (1965) [pseudonym] Unfug der Krankheit. Hanau: Verlag Karl Schustek.

Bärnklau, O. (1965) [pseudonym] Gibt es unheil bare Krankheiten? Nein! Lindau-Bodensee:Rudolph’s Verlagsbuchandlung.

Jernqvist, L., ed. (2005) Pető’s letters to Ester Cotton 1965-1966. Cumbernaud: Jernqvist.

Pető, A. (1921-1935) Papers written under various pseudonyms. Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift, [In German]

Pető, A. (1930-1931) Papers written under various pseudonyms. Biologische Heilkunst, 11, 12. [In German]

Pető, A. (1952) Szoviet mozgásterápia módszerek.[ Paper read at Hungarian Special Education and Training conference, December 1952.] Unpublished paper.

Pető, A. (1955) Curriculum vitae. Unpublished paper.

Pető, A. (1956) Konduktív mozgásterápia mint gyógypedagógia. [Conductive movement therapy as special education] Gyógypedagógia, 1, pp.15-21. [Annotated and abridged version by A. Sutton in The Conductor, 5 (2), 1993, pp.37-39.]

Pető, A. (1959) Letter to Dr. König. [Briefly describes the practice of Conductive Education]. Unpublished paper.

Pető, A. (1962) Bevezető a konduktiv mozgáspedagógiába. Budapest: Tankönyvkiadó.

Pető, A. (1965) Notes on organic neurocare. Unpublished paper.

Pető, A. (1965) Pető’s proverbs. Compiled by E. Cotton. Unpublished paper.

Pető, A. (1965) Pető’s proverbs or truth in a nutshell. Compiled by J. House 1969. Unpublished paper. [A version of those by E. Cotton]