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.



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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.