International Conductive Education Working Group established

Whilst searching the Internet for items for my virtual catalogue, I often come across the unexpected, but all the more interesting because of that. Yesterday I found the minutes and working paper of the International Conductive Education Working Group, a group which I had not heard of.

http://www.konduktorenverband.de/uploaded_files/internationalworkinggroup_meetinghongkong_2010_corrected28.pdf

This records the minutes of a meeting held during the World Congress in Hong Kong involving people from Austria, Germany, North America, Hungary and Hong Kong only. No British, Australian or New Zealand representatives. 

 A photo of those at the meeting heads the minutes.

These minutes are recorded under the European Conductors Association logo by Thorsten Gegenwarth and it was agreed that the ECA, www.conductiveeducation.eu who have drawn up the mission/vision statement, would co-ordinate the working group for the next three years. Perhaps the results of this working together will be presented at the next World Congress in Germany in 2013.

It will be interesting to see the outcome of this proposed co-operation and sharing and I will post any further information I find.

What choice would you make?

 A mother, whose son has cerebral palsy, writes in the Guardian  movingly

'Nathan was born at 23 weeks. If I'd known then what I do now, I'd have wanted him to die in my arms'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/mar/20/nathan-born-premature-life-death


Her son was premature and had to spend some time in an incubator and now as well as being profoundly deaf ( a side effect of the drugs he has been given)

"He can't walk or talk. He's oxygen dependent, although hopefully that might change. He has chronic lung disease, cerebral palsy and global developmental delay. He has diabetes inspidus and his thermostat is a bit wonky so he gets hot and cold."

His life expectancy is short, not much more than his teens. A heartbreaking situation for any parent and she asks whether all premature babies should be saved.

A question I would not like to answer, and a decision I would not like to make.

Update re the Virtual Catalogue and Repository

A few months ago I started moving the virtual catalogue on my blog at http://www.virtualcelibrary.blogspot.com/    

 to a new page on Conduction's website at

 http://www.e-conduction.org/ 

and now  253 items have been added  with more still waiting, but please note that this task will be never ending as I discover more items on the Internet.

I hope to be able to post a selection of items recently added regularly to give you an idea of the types and numbers of material available via the catalogue.

A Repository has also been set up. This will include the full text of documents which have not been published and are unavailable elsewhere. Items will be listed in the searchable catalogue -  a fine resource for those wishing to read more about Conductive Education. 

I have several waiting to be included and last week Andrew Sutton alerted me to the possibility of another, a paper being delivered to a conference in the US. :-

   DeCleene, K, DePoy, L. Can Occupational Therapists Enhance a Conductive Education Program with Sensory Integration for Children with Cerebral Palsy? 24th Annual Dean's Occupational Therapy Research Conference. Saint Louis, MO, March 2011.

I have been in touch with Kate DeCleene and she has agreed to send me a copy when the final draft is complete. This is wonderful and made me wonder if there are any more such papers, presentations that could also go into the Repository. If you know of any, or have papers of your own, please do let me know.

Naturally it will take time to get  everything up, but I am working at it as time is what I have plenty of at the moment!

Please do let me know what you think of this project and how useful it is for you.

Feedback of any kind is very welcome.

News that NICE conductor-training with Wolverhampton is ending

 Yesterday evening I saw the report of the demise of the conductor-training at NICE

http://www.conductive-world.info/2011/03/conductor-training-at-nice.html

I felt very sad. I was involved in this course from the very beginning as I had been building the Library for some time at this stage. The Library was established as an open access  resource for all those interested in discovering, studying, researching Conductive Education and was used by all the students too.

I do remember many of the graduates who have gone on to do good work all over the world and enjoyed helping them during their studies. Quite a few have contacted me over the years with queries and I enjoyed editing the book Just Do It! - a collection of reports on their  new careers in Conductive Education, published by Conductive Education Press.

A Google Alert has led me to a number of comments on Andrew's blog in response to the news  and I will look forward to hearing more about the plans to continue the course at NICE in June, as promised there by Mel Brown, and post any information I get on this blog..

 

The five pillars and all that - what did Ester Cotton say?

I have just been working in the garden and thinking about the on-going discussion about the spread of Ester Cotton's principles  on Andrew's facebook page. It ocurred to me that there are probably people who are reading all the comments who don't know what Ester actually said, and what the principles are, that are now being questioned.

So I have given up on the pruning and weeding ( thank goodness!) and come inside to try and find material in the Internet which might help clarify what she said.

I have found a number of documents which are based on her principles and understanding of what she saw in Budapest in the late 1960s.

The article on her visit to Peto and his institute can be found on my blog at

http://www.gillian-maguire.info/2009/01/conductive-education-material-profile.html

She later wrote another article , published in  the Journal of Mental Subnormality, June, 1968, with Margaret Parnwell, about the service she had set up using the principles, and this can be found at  

http://contents.bjdd.net/oldPDFs/26_50to56.pdf

The now defunct UK Federation of Conductive Education produced a brochure  detailing the principles which has a foreword by Ester Cotton and this can be found at 

http://homepage.usask.ca/~zcs007/ce.html

The Scottish Centre for Children with Motor Impairments has a paper on its website which also gives details of these principles which I believe they use. (I hope someone will correct me if I am wrong about this.)

http://www.craighalbert.co.uk/dir_upload/Conductive%20Education%20Explanatory%20Paper%202010_06_18.pdf

These are the result of a quick search based on my memory and I am sure that a longer more thorough investigatioin would turn up others too. I do know that more items written by Ester Cotton can be found in the National Library of Conductive Education at NICE, but these won't be as easily accessed as the Internet.

Cerebral palsy numbers declining ?

I have seen a number of reports on the Internet stating that  cerebral palsy numbers are on the decline and this suggests improvement in quality of perinatal care.  These are highlighting the results of a study carried out in the Netherlands which will appear in the Journal of Pediatrics. The jornal website states:

Because cerebral palsy is a result of brain injury received shortly before, during, or soon after birth, the number of infants being diagnosed with the condition is a good indicator of the quality of perinatal and neonatal care. An article soon to be published in The Journal of Pediatrics indicates that the rates of cerebral palsy have declined dramatically in the past 15 years.

 

 For fmore information go to http://www.jpeds.com/content/JPEDSvanHaastertdeVries

This study by researchers in the Netherlands  has been reported  quite widely  e.g.

http://www.news-medical.net/news/20110303/Rates-of-cerebral-palsy-decline-among-children-born-prematurely.aspx

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2011/03/04/cerebral-palsy-decline/12494/

http://esciencenews.com/sources/science.daily/2011/03/05/decline.cerebral.palsy.diagnoses.premature.infants.suggests.improvements.perinatal.care

Perhaps it would be wise to wait until a closer look at the study and its findings is possible when the article is published in the March issue of the Jurnal of Pediatrics, but any improvement in  medical care  that produces such results,  certainly has to be good news.

British government special educational needs plans revealed

At last the green paper on special educational needs has been published by the UK government and can be found at

http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/Green-Paper-SEN.pdf

Quite what it will hold for all those children currently placed in this category, I can't say, as things may change after the consultation period which will now take place.

Anyone wishing to submit information, make comments etc on the proposals  can do so between 9 March and 30 June 2011.

For further information, and to see letters written by the minister, Sarah Teather along with go to

 http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/sen/sen/a0075339/sengreenpaper

and look at the left hand side bar.

The Opposition (Labour) party's comments and views can be seen at http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/sen/sen/a0075339/sengreenpaper

and The Teacher's union, the NASUWT, reports its reaction at http://www.politics.co.uk/opinion-formers/press-releases/education/nasuwt-comments-on-the-special-needs-green-paper-$21387674$1345015.htm

Further comments can be found by entering 'SEN green paper' into Google News. I expect there will be quite a few hits for this over the next few days.

Internet News no. 18

Here are items I have found on the Internet over the past month or so. All those about the Conductive Awareness Day have been included in my previous posting, so will not appear here.

http://topwirexs.com/children-suffering-from-cerebral-palsy-receive-assistance-from-a-center-in-lake-zurich/171636/

Report of services at Centre for Independence through Conductive Education

http://swgaitway.org/adultprograms.asp
Information about Adult programs at Gaitway, Arizona.


http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2011/02/10/youngsters-take-part-in-singing-promotion-97319-28144643/
Children at NICE in Birmingham take part in singing promotion.

http://blogcritics.org/culture/article/diane-sawyers-american-heart-cincinnati-grandmother/
Blog posting reporting efforts of a grandmother to start CE Centre in Cincinnati.

http://www.runcornandwidnesweeklynews.co.uk/runcorn-widnes-news/runcorn-widnes-local-news/2011/02/17/bridgewater-boat-club-runcorn-raise-cash-for-charity-55368-28180514/
Fundraising for Stick'n'Step Centre in UK raises £1000.


http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/local/localbrad/8864793.Mel_is_a_class_act_for_charities/
Dance fitness classes in Bradford raise money which her employer, Zurich Insurance will double the money shared by one of the company's charities, the Foundation for Conductive Education.

http://mt-druitt-standard.whereilive.com.au/news/story/new-name-for-spastic-centre-less-stigma/
Parent is pleased with the new name for Spastic Centre in Australia, Cerebral Palsy Alliance, as this removes stigma associated with the word 'spastic'.

http://www.motociclismo.it/passione-moto-fai-una-foto-sulla-desmosedici-di-rossi-e-doni-10-euro-in-beneficienza-moto-10593
Raising awareness and fund raising in Italy


http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1102/S00139/questions-and-answers-feb-9.htm
Question raised in NZ parliament about funding cuts for CE.

http://www.simcoe.com/news/article/952574--dakota-s-spirit-touches-community
Little boy in Canada now receives CE at Strive Learning Center for Children


http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2011/03/c7756.html
Little boy in Canada will receive CE paid for by President's Choice children's charity


http://www.birminghampost.net/birmingham-business/birmingham-business-news/legal-business/2011/03/03/irwin-mitchell-in-national-institute-of-conductive-education-charity-drive-65233-28273952/
Law firm supporting open day at National Institute of Conductive Education

http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN84064492/
Details of stroke study at National Institute of Conductive Education


http://www.hilltimes.com/page/view/oliphant-02-28-2011
Item about March of Dime and its services [Payment necessary to read full article]


http://www.brindleyplace.com/2011/02/lottery-launch/
Launch of lottery in aid of Foundation for Conductive Education

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/local/east-hampshire/let_the_celebrations_begin_1_2474382
21st birthday celebrations for Rainbow Cewntre in Fareham, Hants.

North America Conductive Education Awareness Day 2011

I have left it a week to make sure all items have been spotted but if I have missed any, do let me know.

It is a shame that there has not been many, even less than last year and only a couple of centres dominate those reports - see below.


http://www.facebook.com/conductivelearningcenter
Announcement of the Day

http://www.susie-mallett.org/
Susie wished everyone a good day on her blog

http://conductivelearningcenter.org/2011/01/national-conductive-education-awareness-day-february-24-2011/
http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=in5cyfeab&oeidk=a07e3c34z8dd091ebb5
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/02/conductive_learning_center_in.html
Information about the day's activities for Conductive Education Learning Center

http://www.marchofdimes.ca/EN/programs/CE/Documents/CE_Newsletter_Fall2010_WInter2011_highres_web.pdf
Announcement of the day made in the Fall 2010, newsletter from March of Dimes

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/eightwest/Conductive_Education_Awareness-
Television coverage in Michigan
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Happy-National-Conductive-Education-Day-.html?soid=1101637591853&aid=qk8FUdkSl4Y
Newsletter of the Conductive Education Center in Orlando, Florida, announces the Day
http://movingaheadconductiveconsulting.blogspot.com/2011/02/happy-conductive-education-awareness.html
Anne Wittig posts a blog wishing all a good Awareness Day and reports her attempts to get the media interested.

http://www.peto.hu/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=91:reminder-national-conductive-education-day-2011&catid=34:news&Itemid=60
Statement about the Day on Peto Institute website


If anymore come in I will add them to the list and blog it.

Why does this still happen?

Today I have been checking on reports of Conductive Education Awareness Day in North America (with little success, but that's another blog to follow later)  and found something else  to report as often happens.

Warington Disability Partnership (in the North of England) is holding an exhibition as part of its Disability Awareness Day in July 2011 and has posted a list of exhibitors on the Internet.
http://disabilityawarenessday.org.uk/show/exhibitorlist.shtml

Mention of Conductive Education led me to search the list and I found this:

Stick 'n' Step

Sarah Smithson , 0151 638 0888
http://www.sticknstep.org/
Conductive education is a type of physiotherapy to help children learn how to move and communicate to the best of their ability.

Why, oh why, do we still keep seeing CE described as 'a type of physiotherapy'? I have always been told that if its being carried out properly it certainly isn't any sort of therapy, its an education system, and I am sure the conductors at this centre are doing it properly.

 Am I wrong?

Please let me know.

North America Conductive Education Awareness Day 2011

Today is Conductive Education Awarenes Day in North America. Andrew Sutton blogged its imminence earlier this month

 http://www.conductive-world.info/2010/02/us-and-canada-ce-awareness.html  

and I hope it has gone well for all concerned.

Over the next few days  I will be looking for items about it on the Internet, just as I did last year. Most items found then referred to just three centres, so I hope there is more coverage this time, especially accurate and pertinent information.

We will see.

Over 200 now!

I have spent quite a bit of time entering more material into the virtual catalogue now at home on the Conduction website at
http://www.e-conduction.org/?page_id=115  

To me this is quite an achievement as so many searches and checks have to be made before an item is entered, that it takes nearly an hour to do half a dozen or so. I keep finding new ones so there will be no end to this process, I am sure.  

My priority has been to get things up for all to find and see; this is a big clerical task. I realise that it may not be easy to navigate round the catalogue and I will  soon be able to revise the Help sheet to make it better, make searching and using the catalogue quicker and easier.  Please do let me know if you are experiencing problems so I can incorporate the solution into the Help sheet.  So far I have had only one piece of feedback and more would be very welcome - good or critical!

New link to The Conductive Post

A new link has been added to the right hand side today. I blogged the new service bringing the CE blogs together a few days ago at

http://www.gillian-maguire.info/2011/02/conductive-post-new-service-up-and.html

Clicking on the picture of the Conductive Post will take you to the web page containing links to all the latest CE blog postings.

Enjoy!

Let me tell you a story

Mallett, S. (2010) Let me tell you a story. Nürnberg: Conductor Nürnberg.

Susie Mallet published her booklet based on some of her blog postings in December. For more information about it  go to

  http://www.susie-mallett.org/2010/11/book.html 

As she lives in Germany I am acting as her UK postwoman and therefore I have some copies. If you wish to purchase a copy, please email her at   
   small66711@aol.com

with your details and she will invoice you, send me your UK address  and I will post a copy to you. This will be much cheaper and quicker than sending it from Germany.

The Conductive Post - a new service up and running

Conduction, think tank for the world of Conductive Education, has decided to bring

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.

As part of this aim, a few days ago a new service started for those interested in keeping up with blog postings on Conductive Education.

The Conductive Post has been created on Conduction's website at

http://www.e-conduction.org/TheConductivePost/ 

and this has  links to all the latest postings from various Conductive Education blogs in one place. The name of the blog and the first couple of sentences are shown in columns just like a newspaper, and a quick click on the picture above these, will take you to the blog so you can read the whole posting. The latest posting is always first, as the date shows.

Go and have a look.

This is the work of Andrew Sutton and Ben Foulger developed from an original idea from Ben. It is a wonderful service allowing access to the blogs from one place and gives a quick overall picture of current topics of interest to the bloggers. The blogs concerned are still  'owned' by the bloggers, all the Conductive Post does is link to them.

One feature of the Conductive Post is the guest blogger column. This will contain postings by those who do not have a blog of therir own but would like to post now and again. This should make some interesting reading.

Why not have a go and submit a posting ?

Intelligent Love

Graham, J, and others, ed. (2010) Intelligent love; parents' action for Conductive Education. Birmingham: Conductive Education Press.

This is the third title to be published by Conductive Education Press, coming out in December in time for the World Congress in Hong Kong.

 I posted a blog at the time

http://www.gillian-maguire.info/2010/12/intelligent-love-new-book-from.html 

giving information about its contents, and it was also mentioned on Andrew Sutton's blog. 

 http://www.conductive-world.info/search/label/Books 

whilst Susie Mallett has reproduced a chapter  contributed by a German family, that she translated in to English for the book, at

 http://www.susie-mallett.com/2010/12/tough-living-and-tough-loving.html 

Now the New Year has really got started I have managed to upload a picture of the cover in the right-hand column - all you have to do is click on the picture to get more information and order if you wish.

This book is one that we are particulary pleased with and we are sure you will understand why when you have read it. Comments are always most welcome.

Information in newspapers is not always right, is it?

I check regularly for news items to include in my monthly list and have found this one today

http://topwirexs.com/children-suffering-from-cerebral-palsy-receive-assistance-from-a-center-in-lake-zurich/171636/

This reports the work of the Centre for Independence through Conductive Education as described at a Rotary Club of Lake Zurich function. It starts with an explanation of cerebral palsy and how it occurs before or during birth due to lack of oxygen; this is not my understanding. No-one really knows what causes it, lack of oxygen may be only one possibility. It is important to get facts right as wrong information in one section of an article can cast doubt on the rest of the piece.

Most  journalists and those interviewed by them, do get things right, but  perhaps everyone should check their information carefully before making such statements as that mentioned above.

Internet News, no. 17, January 2011

There has not been a lot of news items on Conductive Education over the past few weeks, but those I have found are included below.


http://www.portadowntimes.co.uk/news/Little-Caleb-making-great-strides.6675427.jp
Little boy helped at Buddy Bear school in Dungannon, Ireland


http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/people/39The-next-10-years-are.6676515.jp
Plans for extension to Rainbow Centre, Fareham, Hants going before Planning Committee.


http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2011/01/10/solihull-dad-celebrates-christmas-with-brave-stem-cell-trial-daughter-97319-27956975/
Little girl attending NICE, UK has stem cell treatment in Dubai.

http://www.chrisd.ca/blog/33550/move-n-groove-a-thon-2011-movement-centre-of-manitoba-fundraiser/
Dance-a-thon to raise funds for the Movement Centre in Manitoba.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Fundraising+boosts+kids+with+cerebral+palsy/4101902/story.html
Fundraising for Families of Alberta for Conductive Education in Canada.

http://www.union.ufl.edu/involvement/search/orgdetail.asp?org=GATORS+FOR+CONDUCTIVE++EDUCATION+
Report about Gators for Conductive Education which has been established to encourage UF students to participate in projects involving therapy and education of children with special needs, such as children with neuromuscular disabilities.

http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/local/8819502.Operation_could_give_our_brave_Ben_chance_to_walk/
Parents of boy attending Megan Baker House in UK hope to raise money for selective dorsal rhizotomy operation.

http://lakezurich.patch.com/articles/lake-zurich-center-helps-children-with-cerebral-palsy
Director of the Centre for Independence through Conductive Education in Lake Zurich explains cerebral palsy, the services the center offers to treat it and talks about the organization’s upcoming fundraiser

http://www.emcottawawest.ca/20110120/news/March+of+Dimes+marks+60+years
March of Dimes, which runs a CE program celebrates 60 years.
http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news/local/family_s_american_dream_to_get_their_son_on_his_feet_1_2903744
Sheffield boy attending Paces hopes to go America for selective dorsal rhizotomy operation.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/perspective/4599297/Vickys-progress-ends-as-funds-cut
News of funding cuts for CE in New Zealand

Virtual catalogue is slowly growing

This is just a little update on where I am with moving entries of material from the blog  Virtual catalogue I set up, to the searchable catalogue on Conduction's website at

http://www.e-conduction.org/?page_id=115

 

Recently there were some technical problems which meant that some entries had mysteriously been deleted. It has been sorted out now by my wonderful technical guy, Ben Foulger, so I can carry on adding items. This will take a little longer to do for a while as first  I have to check each one on my list to see if it is still there or needs re-adding. Very irritating, but I am getting through this stage gradually. I have spent some time today on adding more material to the  catalogue on the Conduction website and now there are 150 items.

Lots more to come!

Found it!

Andrew Sutton has been looking for an article on Conductive Education published in December, and I am very pleased to say that I have managed to obtain a copy which I will let him have.

This article is titled 'Conductive Education: appraising the evidence'  and is published in Educational Psychology in Practice, the journal of the Association of Educational Psychologists (full reference at the end of this posting.)

It includes the results of a literature search on two databases, neither educational, and produces these results  in a table. Most of the results are quite old , dating back to the early 1990s ad I can't help wondering if the authors visited the National Library of  Conductive Education (which contains more up to date material)  or are even aware of its existence.  Still, I am very pleased to be able to say that despite not having the resources around me I was able to track this down. One up for the Librarians, I think!

Tuersley-Dixon, L. and Frederickson, N. (2010) Conductive Education: appraising the evidence. Educational Psychology in Practice , 26(4), pp.253-373.