Deepest Sympathy, Again

The journey from sorrow to peace is one we all take at our own peace. The sympathy of loved ones help guide the way. I have to express my deepest sympathy to the loss of our CE community again. A conductor could not find her way back from Himalaya which is a great loss for us and for the speleotist community too.

Have A Great Winter Holidays, Merry Christmas

Konduktiv mehrfach- therapeutische Förderung nach Petö und Keil: Theorie - Praxis - Effektivität

And this is what I brought to question in one of my former posts: Conductive Education as a name for CE is a misnomer. But to call it "mehrfachtherapie" is even worse to me. I guess it refers to Frau Helga Keil.

Sandra Schwarcenbacher's new book: Konduktiv mehrfach- therapeutische Förderung nach Petö und Keil: Theorie - Praxis - Effektivität

This is written by Amazon as product description:

Die ursprünglich von dem ungarischen Arzt und Wissenschafter Dr. András Petö gegründete und von Helga Keil weiterentwickelte Methode der konduktiven Förderung wird in der Behandlung und Förderung v.a. cerebral bewegungsbeeinträchtigter Menschen seit Jahren erfolgreich eingesetzt. In diesem Buch gibt die Autorin in einem ersten allgemeinen Teil einen Überblick über die theoretischen Grundpfeiler der konduktiv mehrfachtherapeutischen Förderung nach Petö und Keil, ihrer Zielsetzung und ihrer praktischen Anwendung. Anhand zweier Fallbeispiele geht sie im zweiten, empirisch-wissenschaftlichen Teil der Arbeit der Frage nach, ob sich aufgrund der Teilnahme an einem Intensiv-Therapiekurs nach der erwähnten Methode Veränderungen im Selbstbild, im Speziellen in den Kontroll- und Kompetenzüberzeugungen feststellen lassen. Ein Blick in dieses Buch ist für alle Personen interessant, die mit dem Thema "Behinderung" befasst sind. Sowohl betroffenen Eltern, als auch Therapeuten, Konduktoren oder Personen, die weiterführende Studien zu diesem Themenkomplex durchführen wollen kann diese Arbeit grundlegende Informationen geben und darüber hinaus neue Denkanstöße vermitteln.

Sandra Schwarzenbacher
Mag.a phil.: Studium der Bildungswissenschaften (Psychoanalytische Pädagogik, Heil- & Integrativpädagogik), Universität Wien. 2002 - 2007 Austrian Federation of adapted Physical Activity Wien (Gruppenleitung Sektion Schwimmen), 2004 - dato Fachspezifische Schule für individualisierte Teilausbildungen der ITA GmbH. Wien (Trainerin).

Our story in participatory practice

My story defines who I am. If I want to know myself, to gain insight into the meaning of my own life, then I …must come to know my own story. (McAdams, 1993:11)

Coming to know own stories is the beginning of becoming critical and self-critical. Participatory practitioners listen to and share everyday stories as respectful opening of a mutual partnership. It is a relationship founded on the fundamental belief in people to be autonomous subjects in their word. Our stories embody process begins so early in our lives that our identities are shaped by what is reflected back to us about who we are, and we tend to accept these messages with all their flawed contradictions unquestioningly. Therefore, our stories contain the values and attitudes of the status quo that rank us in order of perceived importance in society. What happens when you suddenly surrounded by another and different society? When your embodied values are questioned? This would be an uncomfortable process, and a distressing experience.

Ultimately we must ask ourselves what kind of a society we wish to live in and what we are going to do … (Darder, 2002:231) Praxis can not happen without respect, dignity, trust, reciprocity and mutuality neither can dialogue exist without humility.

The way we see the world influences the way we act in the world: epistemologies and ontologies work in dynamic relationship.

Our story is (or shoud be) a community based "action" for transformative change.

The Abstraction of CE + Human Dimension

The original language of CE is Hungarian and according to a rough translation of the name, Conductive Pedagogic System, the currently used English label is a misnomer. I think.

The word pedagogy comes from Greek paidagōgiā, the slave who took children to and from school called paidagōgos in which παίδ (paíd) means "child" and άγω (ágō) means "lead"; so it literally means "to lead the child". The Latin-derived word for pedagogy is the technique used by an instructor to foster and facilitate learning by another, which can be by upbringing, training or educating. The person who facilitates the learning process can be anybody, but the trained professional facilitator, however, is called a “teacher.” The word “pedagogy” is still used today in many countries , referring to the teaching – learning process . A number of famous people contributed to the theories of pedagogy: Benjamin Bloom, John Dewey, Celestin Freinet, Geetha Narayanan, Paulo Freire, Friedrich Fröbel, Kurt Hahn, Gloria Jean Watkins, Jan Amos Komensky, Janusz Korczak, Maria Montessori, William G Perry, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Jean Piaget, Simon Soloveychik, Rudolf Steiner, Lev Vygotsky, Henry Giroux.

The Conductive Pedagogic System is a transformative concept. The most important expression in the name is “pedagogic”, because it highlights a new way of rehabilitation. Dr. Andras Pető assumed that ortho- and dys-functions are not mutually exclusive. Therefore, orthofunction is not based on the change in a defect but is the transformation of someone to help them overcome their difficulties. The pedagogic aim is to facilitate the transformation of the disabled person, which is only possible if we approach the person as a whole and deal with his cognitive, communicative, social, emotional and physical existence altogether. At this level of pedagogy the role of active participation is very important, and activities should not be separated from human interest or from the assumptions and feedback of the surrounding culture and society.

The word conductive is new in a pedagogical context. It emphasises the active form of learning. Conductive means here inductive, which starts by creating aims, and then leads towards resolution. This resolution is not simply what we perceive as a function of behaviour but as a result of an inner organisation which, through interaction with the environment, results in a successful outcome. The conductor “inducts” the person through complex and systematic activities, which produce an inner organisation which in turn coordinates the nervous system. Having established an aim, the nervous system works out how to execute it. This process, however, is not conscious and the aims and activities are interlinked.

The expression “system” refers to the fact that the pedagogical programme is structured, being networked horizontally and longitudinally. It deals with many interdependent factors. It is deductive, planed, linear, parallel, spiral, concentric,and at the same time inductive. The system, through the structure of activities, assures the relationships.

About the human dimension:

Conductive Education deals with people with damage to the central nervous system and it has as one of it’s basic beliefs that people with disabilities should not be treated less favourably because of their disability and that reasonable steps should be taken to ensure that they are not placed at a substantial disadvantage. The “normal function” can be defined in many ways. Dr. Andras Pető defined it as orthofunction which term points out the human dimension of Conductive Education. CE shows a very high respect for humanity and it builds its system based on that respect. Conductive Education seeks to realise the full potential of those who live with damage of their central nervous system.

Participatory practice

Lived experience is at the heart of participatory practice.

“Men and women make history from the starting point of given concrete circumstances, from structures that already exist when they are born….The future is something that is constantly taking place, and this constant ‘taking place means that the future only exists to the extent that we change the present. It is by changing the present that we build the future; therefore history is possibility, not determinism. (Freire P., 1993)

Paula Allman talks about the need to understand and use concepts more fluidly, more critically, more dialectically, if we are ‘to engage in authentic local and global social transformation’ (1999)

By making sense of our social reality, understanding the critical connections between our histories, cultures and differences, gaining insight into the relations of power that have shaped who we are in the world, we begin to grasp the links between ideology and alienation, and this helps us to dismantle the “common sense” that has led to dominant ideology that divides and alienates us from our natural participatory place in the web of life on earth.
Participatory approaches are committed to locating knowledge in every day life. Transformative practice begins in everyday lives. In our practice we bring ideas and knowledge and action together to produce orthofunction.


Participation is transformative. It is central to the purpose of CE. There are three key stages in the process of transformations: changing ourselves, connecting with others and changing the world.

Variety of Interventions for Parkinson Disease

Neuroscientists at Karolinska Institute in Sweeden used PET and functional MRI scans to reveal changes in the number of the receptors for dopamine. Whether volunteers started with relatively low or relatively high number of dopamine receptors, brain training /brain gym resulted in a shift closer to the optimum balance.
“We knew that brain is plastic” says Torkel Klingberg, the lead neuroscientist for the investigation. “But nobody has shown that biochemistry of the brain is plastic in this way”.
He developed a programme used in the study, called Cogmed Working Memory Training. Neuroscientist Peter Snyder of Brown University, who is not really convinced of the effectiveness of brain training, also pointed out that it is given that the brain will change in response to a variety of interventions. The best memory enhancer is exercise. Secondarily, a good diet and an active social life have brain benefits.

From the article of Goodier R. in Scientific American Mind July/August 2009

Have you seen something similar around? Conductive Education for people with Parkinson Disease?

One example of the Narratives

Dr. Julia Devai who recalls her memory in The first years with András Pető: The birth of Conductive Education (OMOD 1997 pp.1-8. in Forrai J. 1999)
“On that grey November day in 1946 Pető was sitting behind his desk, leaning back on his chair. His eyes were only partly open but, while talking to somebody, he seemed to be aware of everything that was going on. He did not even look at us, only indicated the door to the next room with his head. I was eager to leave the place where nobody paid any attention to me, and happily entered the next room. There were three people inside doing different things. One of them was lying on the floor, and tried to reach the end of the carpet with his extended legs and feet. The other was sitting on a chair, attempting to lift a seemingly paralysed arm with the good one, and the third person was leaning on a chair, while bending and extending a knee along the leg of the chair. There was a slight murmur in the room, because everybody was counting slowly, according to the rhythm of the forced move. The murmur, the quiet effort and the unbelievable concentration of these people created such a great tension the room, that there was no space left for questions. I was simply drawn into their world, and before long I realised that I was unconsciously counting and sitting on one of the chairs to help to stabilise it. I wanted them to succeed, I wantedthat knee to bend and that arm to raise with such a fervour, that I hardly realised the Pető was standing in the middle of the room. He walked to every one of them, showed a better grip, turned something here, pushed a little bit there. The guy using the new trick Pető just showed him, was finally lifting his arm, and was all smiled, without interrupting our counting…From than on I was frequent visitor in his apartment…At that time only half of his patients suffered motor problems, the other half or even more had internal or dermatological diseases. His methods were somewhat unusual in Hungary, and could not be easily adapted to any traditional hospital setting. He was convinced that the essence of the “movement therapy”, which was the original name of conductive education, was a learning process, thus it seemed logical to get this new discipline accepted through the Ministry of Education[...]”

Hermeneutic Phenomenology

Hermeneutics is the study of interpretation theory, and can be defined as either the art of interpretation, or the theory and practice of interpretation. Phenomenology becomes hermeneutical when its method is taken to be interpretive (rather than purely descriptive as in transcendental phenomenology). This orientation is evident in Heidegger’s work as he argues that all description is always already interpretation. Every form of human awareness is interpretive. In his later work especially he increasingly introduces poetry and art as expressive works for interpreting the nature of truth, language, thinking, dwelling, and being. Contemporary or modern hermeneutics encompasses not just issues involving the written text, but everything in the interpretative process. This includes verbal and nonverbal forms of communication as well as prior aspects that impact communication, such as presuppositions, preunderstandings, the meaning and philosophy of language, and semiotics. Hans-Georg Gadamer, one of the followers of Heidegger, continued the development of a hermeneutic phenomenology, expecially in his famous work Truth and Method. In this work, he carefully explores the role of language, the nature of questioning, the phenomenology of human conversation, and the significance of prejudice, historically, and tradition in the project of human understanding.
Paul Ricoeur also studied Husserl, and he too does not subscribe to the transparency of the self-reflective cogito of Husserl. He argues that meanings are not given directly to us, and that we must therefore make a hermeneutic detour through the symbolic apparatus of the culture. Ricoeur's hermeneutic phenomenology examines how human meanings are deposited and mediated through myth, religion, art, and language. He elaborates especially on the narrative function of language, on the various uses of language such as storytelling, and how narrativity and temporality interact and ultimately return to the question of the meaning of being, the self and self-identity. Researchers and educators are increasingly implementing qualitative research methods to investigate issues of concern and interest. Hermeneutics has risen as an option for the qualitative research paradigm particularly after the 1970s. The precedence of the sciences that have applied hermeneutics as an approach to investigation is provided with special reference to nursing. In the nursing science, hermeneutics have been used extensively as a qualitative research method to investigate a variety of issues, through the lived experiences of the participants.

Improving Understanding on CE

During working out an adequate qualitative methodology for a research on Conductive Education, particularly on the emotional and social elements alongside with the physical ones, I met many ideas how to implement different methods for better understanding. Some critics say that it is not useful listening to CE participants, patient’s opinion about their treatment since they are subjectively involved and they won’t inform us about the objective rehabilitation truth. I am and many other qualitative researchers are arguing that point. If we would follow this idea we probably would never get any information about the participants’ lived experience. Lived experience, which is crucial in education, habilitation, rehabilitation.
When we would like to express the lived experience and write down as a narration, we produce an autonomous text, a text that expresses its own meaning. Whatever the production is it does not need any correction. It tells about our world, about “Dasein” according to Heidegger, in English translation about “being in the world”, about our lived world. This is not a factual world outside or lying behind the text, but rather a world in front of the text, a world revealed by the text. Through lived discourses we participate in the CE world, and through the texts, narratives we come aware of this participation. Narratives touch us and move us when they shed light on our or the participants’ lived experience of discourse participation. Being touched and moved may reveal the essential meaning of this participation, this being in the world. Being touched and moved by essential meaning leads us toward the truth. Towards the lived truth of CE.

Encounter

Today I had a great opportunity to spread Conductive Education at a higher level. I had a chance to meet with Jonathan Shaw MP, Minister for Disabled People (UK) and Minister for the South East.





... and a representative of the “new” Care Quality Commission.
The Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of health and social care in England. Their aim is to make sure better care is provided for everyone, whether that’s in hospital, in care homes, in people’s own homes, or elsewhere.
They regulate health and adult social care services, whether provided by the NHS, local authorities, private companies or voluntary organisations.

Alan's speech at the exhibition through his communication aid

Hello.
Thank you all for coming to the opening of this exhibition. I'm Alan Martin, and you may recognise me from some of the photographs here today. I was delighted to be asked to pose for these works. It’s not the first modelling I've done!
Over the past few years, I've been attending sessions of conductive education with Lotszi. I know that using this technique with adults, like myself, is still very rare, but, in my case, it was really beneficial. Although its nearly a year since I had the chance to attend a session, I can still feel the benefits. At each session, I gained more awareness of my body, and learned techniques to ease stiff joints, get better control of my movements, and increase the range and strength of those movements. I feel it should be much more widely available.
As well as physical improvements, I feel more confident in my abilities, which comes in very useful in my line of work, namely, inclusive dance. Dance has been my passion for several years now. Some of you may just remember me at the start of my career, providing the entertainment at the Glaxo A.G.M. That was a long time ago!
I'd like to recommend conductive education as a whole person approach. My experience was not just about improving physical issues; it was about me, as a whole individual. See the person before the disability, is a quote I like, and I think that's true of this therapy. I hope you enjoy the work of Eva, Rachel, and Phil.
THANK YOU.

An exhibition I organised to Liverpool Neurosupport Centre

Ladies and Gentlemen! My Friends!

I have chosen this piece of music to get started, the g-moll Presto by Vivaldi, because it represents great power and force. Also because it links what we will experience here tonight at the Neurosupport Centre.

Mr. Alan Martin, who is an example to all of us; despite his severe physical and speech disabilities he lives on his own without any government support, runs his own business as a dance performer, dance teacher and lives a full and independent life. Our community, and all of us, should learn from his ability. We will also see the art of the photographer Eva Erdi-Krausz, whose photographs illustrate this power of spirit. And through her camera enable us to see these forces of hope.

The documentary photos of Rachel and Phil Hibberd also show the power of Conductive Education, delivered by Megan Baker House, which is teaching and rehabilitating children, adolescents and adults to get to the level of Mr. Martin. And last but not least the Neurosupport Centre which has got the power to organise, introduce and spread ideas and to mediate between people and organisations.

If we take a second and think a little bit about of all these factors and activities we realise that Objective Conditions are tricky. Objective conditions do not tell us much regarding of the quality of life we live. Objective conditions limit our freedom but according to John Dewey, the famous educator and author, they cover a wide range of existence. An existence which is mostly based on our life experiences. Every experience is a moving force. Its value can be judged only on the ground of what it moves toward and into. Conductive Education is one of those powers which takes experience very seriously and enables people with motor disabilities to increase their quality of life by giving them the most complex experiences in an emotional, social, physical, and functional way of life.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please enjoy Eva’s elementary photographs showing Alan’s dancing art, and Rachel and Phil’s documentary photographs about the hard work that provides a higher quality of life to adolescents and adults through Conductive Education at Megan Baker House. In the meantime, please listen to Alan’s composed music and enjoy the beverages.

Thank you for your interest!

www.meganbakerhouse.org.uk

www.mouseonthemove.co.uk

www.alanakagraham.blogspot.com

www.evaerdikrausz.hu

From my personal, professional interest to qualitative research methodology

My personal journey from a primary school teacher to special education, education psychology and therapies to a “multidimensional”, “holistic”, “transformative” rehabilitator, i.e. ‘conductive education teacher’ was long but direct. The focus on that ‘slice’ of the society which suffers a lot and struggles to find friendly and reliable professional help, evolved from an empathetic personality and a personal interest. Once I had learnt Conductive Education (CE), my mind slowly moved from a sceptical empiric dualist position increasingly towards a holistic one, where things can be looked at “in the round”. During studying CE at the International Peto Institute, Hungary, something very simple to the eyes but constructively so complex to the mind was unfolding in front of me. One very interesting thing I realised was that ‘Butterfly-effect’ (introduced first by Edward Lorenz in Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas 1972 which highlighted that small variations of the initial condition of a dynamic system may produce large variations in the long term behaviour of the system) was real in terms of the holistic links between the various parts of the World. In the World we humans participate as part of the whole whilst functioning individually as a whole. The ‘whole’ builds up from many smaller “elements”. These elements can be found in the smallest and largest parts of our body and brain. Where, de facto, numerous simultaneous inputs can cause turbulence and change output, the overall system is able to accommodate such changes. Put simply, a global approach which is able to get in touch with the physically disabled person’s complex needs is more likely to bring about change in their condition than any other method. I thought I would find this approach in CE.

As a young professional in the field of rehabilitation I shortly realised that CE was very different from any traditional services as it takes for granted the use of pedagogy and deals with the person as whole and not only their physical needs but emotional, social and often any other needs as well. The new, unknown, professional position of the rehabilitation of the central nervous system damaged patients produces a professional loneliness and a sort of ‘professional racism’ for CE providers. The feeling of the loneliness and not being accepted, forced me into thinking harder about my own position and that of my fellow professionals. I noticed much misunderstanding about CE and I also found a colossal lack of adequate research in this area. All of these factors challenged me to look critically into the characteristics of CE again as experienced conductive education teacher and try to choose an adequate methodology to explore it.


“The holistic science includes more 'participatory methodology'. It validates the inner subjective experience as well as objective physical sense data. The worldview of wholistic science does recognize the intrinsic nature and value of the human inner life. With the scientific recognition of the inner life, the wholistic worldview permits a global view of the human being as a 'totality of body, soul and spirit.' Scientific discoveries of the interrelations of body, soul and spirit are reflected in a new educational paradigm. The new pedagogical methodology recognizes that the child's learning experiences and learning difficulties are global in nature. The global view of the child and the learning process can provide a secure theoretical and practical foundation for a holistic education that directs itself to educate the whole person for the whole of life." (Gerald Karnow, "Educating the Whole Person for the Whole of Life," Holistic Education Review vol. 5 no. 1 (Fall 1992): p. 64)

I suggest taking Karnow’s approach towards a better understanding of education of the person, and transfer it to the education of adults and hence to the rehabilitation of disabled people.

Thus, this methodology should fully support the alternative view of the self, which is responsive to issues of relationship, emotions and bodily functions etc. Such a concept would highlight the less visible aspects of the studied object as a result of the research.

An holistic way of thinking comes from the philosophical position of the researcher, which has an impact on the choice of methods used to gather and analyse data for the research. Martin Heidegger, the german philosopher, believed that one makes sense of the world by being in it, and not by being detached from it (Maggs-Rapport, 2001). “Dasein”, i.e. ‘being in the world’, is one of the main concepts of his hermeneutic phenomenology. Dasein is the experience of time and space. It is the experience of the whole without separation between the person and their life-world and where relationships are counted as part of the existance. Hermeneutic Phenomenology as research method, however, needs to be expanded.

Discovery has been the aim of science since it was first practised, but how those discoveries are made has varied with the nature of the subjects being studied and the era in which they took place. Knowledge and understanding have taken many forms. In areas ranging from sociology and education to healthcare there has been a move towards qualitative paradigms since the World War II. Out of the quantitative – qualitative paradigm battles of the 1980s, qualitative researchers took their place at the table. Qualitative methods of data gathering and analysis have gained popularity. (N.K. Denzin 2009) “Qualitative research - according to A. Strauss and J. Corbin in Basic Qualitative Research (1998) – [we mean] any type of research that produces findings not arrived by statistical procedures or other means of quantification. It can refer to research about a person’s life, lived experiences, behaviour, emotions and feelings as well as about organisational functioning, social movements, cultural phenomena, and interaction between nations. Some of the data maybe quantified, as with a census, or background information about the people or objects studied.“

In addition to the measurable benefits of Conductive Education -Brittle N, Brown M, Mant J, McManus R, Riddoch J, Sackley C. at the School of Health Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK. Short-term effects on mobility, activities of daily living and health-related quality of life of a Conductive Education programme for adults with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and stroke, Clin Rehabil.2008 Apr; 22(4):329-37) - I believe it is important to investigate research which might shed light upon the other possible benefits of the method, therefore, qualitative research methodology seemed to be a promising methodology to use. The key difference between quantitative and qualitative methods is flexibility. Qualitative methods allow greater spontaneity and adaptation to the interaction between the researcher and the study participant(s). The relationship is less formal than in quantitative research. Participants have the opportunity to respond more elaborately and in greater detail than is typically the case with quantitative methods. In turn, the researcher has a greater opportunity to study the possible variety of dimensions of lived experience of the participants without prejudging the format of the result, and can respond immediately to the answers by tailoring subsequent questions to information the participant has provided.
For more than a quarter of century narrative and dialogic methods have reshaped qualitative inquiry and can offer an alternative solution for scholars investigating the lived experience of the individual at a deeper level. Since CE is aiming to develop the physically disabled person as a whole in group setting, I consider that a combined use of narrative and dialogic methods could well facilitate the investigation the relationship between the cognitive, social, emotional and functional dimensions of the delivery.

Clandinin and Connelly in Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative Research (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2000), 3 define Narrative Inquiry as a method that uses the following field texts as data sources: stories, autobiography, journals, field notes, letters, conversations, interviews, family stories, photos (and other artifacts), and life experience. It implies that knowledge itself is considered valuable and noteworthy even when known by only one person. Donald Polkinghorne writes in Narrative Knowing and the Human Sciences (Albany: SUNY Press, 1988), 132. that Jerome Bruner, the american educational psychologist’s approach places the narrative in time, to “assume an experience of time” rather than just making reference to historical time. Thus narrative captures the emotion of the moment described, rendering the event active rather than passive, infused with the latent meaning being communicated by the teller.
Narrative ,therefore, could shed light onto a person’s lived experience and emotions.
John Dewey explains Narrative Inquiry in terms of the nature of experience. Dewey viewed experience as having both social and personal meaning, believing that people should be analyzed both as individuals and as part of a group or in a social context. In his view nothing and no one exists in isolation. His ideas directed me towards dialogic inquiry. In as much as the paricipants working in group setting have a similar experience of the delivery of CE, they are probably best placed give a view on the investigated dimensions and the link between them.
In David Bohm’s opinion, dialogue is a process of direct face-to-face encounter that insists on facing the corporeal lived experience. “It really means to break things up. It emphasizes the idea of analysis, where there may be many points of view, and where everybody is presenting a different one – analysing and breaking up. That obviously has its value…” in On Dialogue (London and New York, 1997) 6-7.
Richard Kearney in Strangers, Gods, and Monsters (Routledge, 2003) highlights the dialogic dimensions. It suggests that a narrative configuration of the self involves not only a relationship of self to self but also a relationship of self to other. This relationship of self to other maybe referred to as intersubjectivity – relation and response between the subjectivity of the self and subjectivity of the other. This is achieved through dialogue. Through dialogic inquiry we could gain knowledge of the participant’s lived experience in the group and the emotions involved ,giving them a chance to share their individual experiences and further discuss those subjects.

I conclude that a combined use of narrative and dialogic methods could well facilitate the investigation into the relationship between the cognitive, social, emotional and functional dimensions of the delivery of CE.


The research study raises ethical matters which need to be addressed.
At most universities, and certainly at LJMU, before beginning research we need to obtain ethical approval for our research.

“In many ways, this process of obtaining to negotiate our inquiries works against the relational negotiation that is part of narrative inquiry. However, as an institutional requirement, obtaining ethical approval is necessary. This places inquires in a catch-22 position.”
Clandinin and Connelly in Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative Research (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2000) 170

“For decades, oral historians have promulgated high ethical and professional standards, including their ethical requirement to obtain informed consent prior to conducting an interview and a signed legal release at the conclusion of the interview. … A humanities-based, interpretive inquiry model…would stand alongside a revised biomedical model. A radical rethinking would produce an inclusive, ethically empowering model that would be applied to all forms of inquiry.”
Norman K. Denzin in Qualitative Inquiry under Fire, Left Coast Press Inc, California, 2009) 297

“Indeed, ethical research is perhaps best understood as part of an ongoing dialogue which not only precedes the investigation but, while participants and researchers alike my contribute to the ‘conversation’ for a short time, will also continue after it. Greenop Darren, LJMU, 2008

I am at the stage of obtaining ethical approval for my proposed research and, like many other qualitative researchers, I simply try to follow the format of the given form and fill out the required sections. However, during this exercise I have come across some difficulties. To me, one of the biggest concerns is how to outline narrative and dialogic interviews. I would be more interested in what the participants will say rather than giving them suggestions as to what to talk about. The ethical form requires an outline in advance I look for guidance on the subject of obtaining ethical approval in case of narrative and dialogic inquires.

Comment

As you often say to me, “You took the words right out of my mouth”!Sitting, standing or kneeling on plinths is a pet subject of mine too. One which until now I have not really discussed with anyone.I have done all of these today, the standing, the kneeling and the sitting on plinths. Not because of my age, although I do now belong to the older generation of conductors, but because of what you described as “health and safety” regulations. It was the only way to do my work so I could stay in one piece. The only way to do my work so the client felt safe too.The broader issue here however is giving consideration to the private space which is our client’s. Whether they are on a plinth or on a chair, standing or walking, they have a space around them which we need to respect. We must respect the fact that although we enter that space to help clients achieve their goals we must be careful not to encroach on their personal space unnecessarily.There is a very fine balance between keeping our own bodies healthy while giving the help needed for our clients to achieve their aims and at the same time keeping our distance. This is what we learn through experience.Yes, we had a rigid training at the Petö Institute. We were told not to sit on plinths. We were told lots of other things too which took us a long time to understand and interpret in our own individual ways.Years of experience allow us to become flexible. The experiences give us confidence in our movements and behaviour in the presence of our clients. Through experience and observation we learn when we can enter that personal space and when we can not, and we also learn how best to do it.If I need to sit on a plinth to do my work properly I will do it, respectfully keeping my distance.If I want to sit down because I am tired, or because I want to talk to my clients at the same level, the plinth isn’t the place for me. I can pull up a ladder back chair for these purposes, there are always plenty of them about.Thanks for this posting Laci, it gave me lots to think about at work this week and opened up some interesting discussions with my clients. I expect I will report on them at a later date on my own blog.Susie
22 June 2009

To sit or not to sit that is the question...

This little ‘sitting’ thing has grown into a big dilemma in my mind throughout many years of CE experiences working in different places and countries. Now I have decided what it is I believe and I have decided that I will stick to my own ideas whatever the absolute truth is.
The question is: to sit or not to sit on the plinth during CE delivery. Well, I will answer it first as I learnt it and then, think about it twice. This little problem has different angles from which to approach it. During my training at the Peto Institute, Hungary, I was taught not to sit on the plinth in any circumstances because the plinth belonged to the client’s personal territory and it was his/her personal education tool and this we highly appropriated in the conductive education system. Parallel to this I worked as a teacher at the State Institute of the Motor Disabled, Budapest, where there was a CE department and where I met great, enthusiastic, passionate older generations of conductors who learnt from Andras Peto himself. I learnt a lot from these conductors and it was here that I feel I was “made” into a conductor.
Some of these conductors were, interestingly, occasionally sitting on the plinth during lying programs or when clients were also sitting on it in order to facilitate them. When I asked them why they were doing so they would tell me I would learn why after 20 years of service. Their answers were, of course, indications of their own state of health.
Since I am graduated from Peto Institute, I worked in different CE environments in Hungary, Germany, Singapore, USA and in the UK. I met many different points of views. At the majority of places it was taken for granted that to sit on the plinth was OK in any circumstances and there was just no need to open up a discussion about it. In my opinion the worse has happened here in the UK when one of my former colleagues sat on the plinth when it was being used as a table with children sitting around it.
So after many years of experience, I decided to put this little thing in its rightful place. On the one hand, I highly appropriate the philosophy of CE and I try most of the time not to sit on the plinth, however, as the older conductors led me to imagine, there are some very questionable parts of this philosophy from the point of few of a conductors’ health.
Just imagine how unhealthy it is to lean forward and maintain this position for longer periods of time while facilitating, when the client is on a low plinth or when the client is very heavy and you actually propose to lift parts of his body in this position. The health and safety based manual handling book says that you must avoid such movements. Unfortunately, I know of many conductors of my age, or older, who have been sentenced to follow a career other than CE because of terrible spine or other CE related health conditions.
A couple of years ago I did a short search to find out what has been written in our training books or what can be read about it on the Net.

The result was strange. There was no such rule written down anywhere. Nothing to say that you are not allowed to sit next to your client. So, I decided the following that I wish to declare state now:
I totally believe in the philosophy of CE. However, we need to enjoy it responsibly. If the plinth functions as a bed or a tool on which people sit or work I would consider sitting on if it is easier for me to facilitate in this way. This is not supposed to mean that I am looking for the first opportunity to sit on the plinth ‘because I am tired’ and also not supposed to mean that I put my shoes into the client’s face, etc., but it means that I have to be confidentially responsible for my own health as well as that of my client.
Why am I posting this now? Things have changed in my professional life and turned full circle so that I am now working with freshly graduated conductors. They now tell not to sit on the plinth. Why? For all the same reasons I was told before. It feels like I am looking into a mirror. I see myself a decade ago when I was also 'fighting' for all of those things I was taught. They are great people and I assume great professionals too. Still, I think they do not yet have the kind of independence or the confidence that one acquires through years of experience. This confidence often brings with it flexibility and the ability to move beyond different boundaries. I strongly sense the rigid training effects behind the issue. We all know that. It is really so sweet to discuss such things.
Similar situations have occurred on official university research registration documents. I called clients patients. I had to do this for several different reasons. The freshly graduated conductors started to tell me that the clients were not patients but participants. :)

Between Satisfaction and Pleasure

Passion lives somewhere between two very positive emotions – satisfaction and pleasure. We often do not distinguish between these two similar emotions. A massage or a bottle of red wine produces the positive emotions of pleasure, however, satisfaction points to something much deeper. Buddha suggested that the things that seen to lead to real satisfaction have something of investment quality to them, such as building a house, creating a child, or writing a book. Some people experience this feeling of satisfaction and passion they produce. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi a psychologist who interviewed thousands of people of all ages and asked them to describe their highest moments of satisfaction. According to Csikszentmihalyi, when people experience their highest moments of satisfactions and are experiencing ‘flow’, they describe the psychological components as: ‘The task is challenging and requires skill’, ‘We concentrate’, ‘There are clear goals’, ‘We get immediate feedback’, ‘We have deep, effortless involvement’, ‘There is a sense of control’, Time stops’.
Interestingly, none of these components are about the experience of pleasure per se. Rather, when we are absorbed in flow, it is about total engagement and a loss of self-consciousness. In other words, when we are wrapped up in flow we are investing in building emotional capital that we can draw on to sustain our passion and therefore our energy. In contrast, to seeking the immediate rewards of pleasurable experience, to build your emotional capital you need to pay attention to the elements of the flow experience that fuel your passion and produce your most rewording satisfactions. People whose motivations are intrinsic exhibited more interest, excitement, and confidence, as well as greater persistence, creativity, and performance than those who motivated largely by external demands and rewards. Passionate people are productive, persistent, high performers. These people look for creative challenges. They also display a constant energy for discovering how things can be done better. One thing is sure, if you have passion for what you do, then what you do is powerful. I saw conductors to have that power, passion when I enrolled Peto Institute in the early nineties. They absorbed me into ‘flow’ several times and that was an extraordinary experience. Then, later, I missed them for long. It felt like; they would have died out. I worked at different work places where individuals were strongly fighting for their individual aims and somehow they lost energy, concentration, effort, but most importantly self control on human strength. It made me really happy to meet someone again, in last November, who was young, powerful and passionate - somwhere between satisfaction and pleasure. Even more happy now, I have been working with some of those....

CE research

A konduktiv pedagogia tudomanyos vizsgalatara keszulve, osszeszedve gondolataimat, el kellett dontenem, hogy mibe is kezdjek. Nehany dolog a kezdetektol fogva vilagosan, komoly teret nyerve elmemben, eloretolakodva arra "kenyszeritett", hogy ne hagyjam ki oket, vagy bele se fogjak "holmi" kutatasba. Megis, szamtalan dolog befolyasolja ilyen helyzetekben dontesunket. A tajekozottsag, olvasottsag jol jon(ne) ilyenkor, de azzal kerulunk legkevesbe kozelsegbe, amit nem ismerunk:), tehat sokszor tenyleg a tanulasban es kutatasban is a szerencse legalabb akkora szerepet jatszik - meglatasom szerint- mint barmely biologiai jellegu kiserleti kutatasban. Azzal tobbe, kevesbe tisztaban vagyok, hogy amiota a konduktiv pedagogia rendszerevel talalkoztam (1991), egyre tagulo holisztikus felfogasban elek. Azzal viszont kevesbe szembesultem, hogy masok egeszen tavol lehetnek ettol a nezoponttol. Egyszeru megfogalmazasban barki lehet holisztikus, ellentetben a professzionalis valosaggal: kevesen akadnak, akik tokelyre kepesek ezt a napi viszonylatra is munkassagukban 'redukalni'. Minden, mindennel osszefuggesben all. Igen. Ezt azonban nagyon nehez a dolgok melyere hatolva, a dolgok osszesegere alkalmazni a hetkoznapi valosagban. A komplexitast meg lehet ismerni, akademikusan tanulni, megis; semmi egyeb nem vezet a totalis megerteshez jobban, mint a tapasztalati praxison keresztuli megismeres. Ennek a nezetnek es eletfelfogasnak kialakulasahoz jelentosen jarult hozza a Peto Intezeti kepzesem, az akkori kepzesi modell ( elmelet es praxis egyensulya szamomra), valamint akkori eletformam: szaktanari tanitas a Mozgasserukltek Allami Intezeteben, sok es mindenfele onszorgalombol vegzett gyakorlat a Peto Intezet szamtalan csoportjaban + termeszetesen a kotelezo kepzesi gyaklorlatok es tanorak. Itt mindefelekeppen megjegyzendo nehany kollega emberfeletti, vagy inkabb abszolut sallangmentes, nyiltszivu emberi szolgalata; a tudas feltekenyseg nelkuli, emberbarati atszarmaztatasa. Ha neveket kezdenek el sorolni, akkor ez az oldal mara nem fejezodne be, s ha valakit veletlenul kihagynek a sorbol, akkor nagyon nehezen esedezhetnek bocsanatert. Tobben ugy lenditettek at valoszinutlen, nem aposztrofalt krizis, vagy tanulohelyzeteken, hogy eszre sem vettek (vehettek) dialogusuk nagyszeruseget. Megis engedtessek meg kulonos tekintettel arra nezve, hogy nelkuluk aligha valhattam volna konduktorra, hogy Makkai Erzsebet es Horvath Jantje nevet es faradhatatlan munkassagukat emlithessem az elsok kozott...

A holisztikus, komplex eletfelfogas, a kulonbozo elethelyzetek ismerete, iskolak, rehabilitacios intezetek mindennapi praxisa, nehany elottem es ismeretemben vegzett kutatas es azok eredmenyei, ugymond predesztinaltak arra, hogy valasszak. Ez szamomra fekete-feher uggye nott. Valasszak kutatas egy uj iranyban, vagy nem kuatas kozott... folyt. kov.

I met with this just recently

Sorry, I have never found who wrote this bit but I felt to share it because I feel it is so truth.

“…when Freire talked of love, he suggested it was an energy that extended to a love for all humanity, an energy that fuelled the determination to sustain action for social justice: ‘Love is an act of courage, not fear …a commitment to others …[and] to the cause of liberation’ (1972:78). His belief was that the process of dialogue, so central to the transformative project, could not exist ‘in the absence of a profound love for the world and for people’ (1993:70).”

We need our risks

They want us to avoid risks, however, WE NEED our risks at CE: because this is the only way to learn orthofunction...

Ethical Implications

I am dealing with an ethical application form recently and some thoughts have grown in my mind.

Although there is a strong tendency to focus on doing no harm to CE participants, the long term consequences are not always easy to calculate. Summer (2006) writes of the rights to privacy, informed consent and confidentiality in social research as being some of the most difficult assurances to give to any participant. Conductive Education is particularly one of those development ideas which might cause some (if not more) harm. Ethical dilemmas are endemic in all methods, and we must show as CE professionals some concerns, too. Of course, numerous guidelines have been published and are available for professionals. However, guidelines are just that: they are not obligatory and are difficult to police, bearing in mind that they are open to individual interpretation and application. CE is a complex development system and it meets complex possibilities of causing harms.

Though, it is luck that ethical values themselves are not absolutes, and one can understand the problems of translating abstract and disputable principles into a set of practical and relevant guidelines to suit a variety of settings. It could be argued if we should ethical implication at all. I am afraid, however, we must. In conjunction with participants, parents, colleagues, make some moral judgements about the balance between the benefits of CE and the rights of others.

SCIFI

My father is 71. He was a history, literature teacher before he retired. He loves and closer to the classical literature than the modern but he used to enjoy to read Istvan Nemere's ideas of scifi. He came up with the idea this morning to relax CE community that the missing Airbus probably was taken by aliens to make a great bridge between our and their civilization. Since there is no evidence of a crashed plain anywhere and there were a wide range of great different professionals on the plane it seems to be a good reason to think the above mentioned thought.
I know this is like a befuddled idea but it depicts how many ways of hope is available. If he was right than our missing colleague has a huge job.

A margora irva...

Ugyan tenyleg teljesen komolyan gondolom, hogy blog oldalam elsosorban, es csakis a kondukciorol szoljon es hogy szemelyes erzeseimet, velemenyemet, stb. felreteve tenyleg csak a szakmaval foglalkozzon, ma megis arra vetemedek, hogy eloszor is magyarul, masodszor, inkabb valojaban rolam, pontosabban erzeseimrol irjak - persze kondukltiv pedagogiat illetoen.

Hadd kezdjem azzal, hogy a blogom irasanak kezdete ota sokkal kevesebbet irok le barmelyik temaban, mint amit arrol gondolok az angol nyelvu megnyilatkozas miatt.

Hatalmas dilemma.

Azert kenyszerultem arra az elhatarozasra, hogy angol nyelven irjak, kifejtsem gondolataimat a konduktiv pedagogiat illetoen, mert ezt mas nem tette meg elottem, s ugy gondoltam, hogy legalabb egy magyar szarmazasu konduktor blogironak lennie kell. Ez persze egy ido utan jelentos konfliktusba torkollhat. Sajat konfliktusomba, mondhatnam frusztraciomba. No, azert nincs krizis, de megis mellyebben gondolkodtam el a dolgon Szatmary Judit visszalepese es kolleganonk tragikus repulobalesete utan bejegyzett irasok utan. Az angol nyelvtudas - mint tanult kepesseg, amelynek szitjet a szuletett nyelvi keszsegunk, a nyelvhasznalat szintere es egyaltalan lehetosege, es persze sok minden mas is befolyasol - erosen behatarolja megnyilatkozasaim melyseget es terjedelmet is egyben. Befolyasolja minden leirt szavam. Az angol nyelven valo megnyilatkozas nehezsegerol, irodalmiassagarol, visszasagarol tobb kivallo magyar anyanyelvu kolto, iro is megnyilatkozott mar, amit tehat nem kell reszletezzek, amely 'nehezsegek' ram eppugy vonatkoznak, mint barki masra.

Vegtelenul szuknek erzem nyelvi es az idobeli korlataimat. Gondolatban szamtalan bejegyzesre referalok, amelyre irasban alig- alig kerul sor.

Dilemmat legyozve ma inkabb magyarul - mert sokkal gyorsabb es a szavak tiszta utjan melyebb ertelmet kolcsonoz gondolataimnak.

Susie Mallett es Andrew Sutton is irtak a "konduktiv csalad"szervezetten kevesbe tettenerheto, de nagyon is jol kitapinthato letezeserol, Szarvas Rita szomoru es tragikus elvesztese okan. Mennyire vagyunk mi egy "csalad"? Leszamitva azt a tenyt, hogy a szamossagot illetoen valoban kis kozossegrol van szo, rendelkezunk-e a csaladokat jellemzo tulajdonsagokkal, vonasokkal? Mennyire respektaljuk valojaban egymast es a szakmat magat? Mennyire tudjuk humanumunkat megtartani egymas kozott? Tudjuk e tisztelni hallgatoinkat, diakjainkat, clienseinket? Es viszont ok kepesek e emberileg megbirkozni a mi altalunk teremtett helyzetekkel? Milyen a kapcsolatunk kollegainkkal a hetkoznapokban? Milyen a generaciok egymas mellett munkalkodasa? Nem folytatom. Attol tartok, onmagunkba kell neznunk nehany esetben.

Szatmary Judit blogjanak bezarasat ennek a csaladnak latszolagos erdektelensege okazta. Mennyire vagyunk erdektelenek? Ha arra gondolok, hogy szamtalan kollegamrol tudom, hogy hanyfele es szerteagazo iranyokban tanultak tovabb, vagy tanulnak most is tovabb, akkor ez a teny azt jelzi, hogy erdeklodoek vagyunk. Ha azt is vizsgalnank persze, hogy mennyire szakmai iranyu ez az aktivitas, akkor lehet, hogy meglepo eredmenyt kapnank. Arra gondolok, hogy sokan talan eppen kiutat keresik a tovabbtanulas jovoltabol, hogy aztan profilt valtva mas teruleteken dolgozhassanak. A konduktiv pedagogiaban aktivan letoltott 5-10-15 ev utan valoban tobben valasztanak uj, mas, vagy kapcsolodo szakmakat.

Az uj generacio es a maradok viszont szazalekaranyban latszolag nem aktivak a szakmai erdeklodes tekinteteben. Azert irom, hogy latszolag, mert bizonyos egyaltalan nem lehetek abban , hogy en megfeleloen latok bele innen Angliabol. Mindesetre itt a neten a kommenteket figyelemmel kiserve, szinte alig van hozzaszolo. Cafoljanak, cafoljatok ra!

Bloom's Taxonomy

The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, often called Bloom's Taxonomy, is a classification of the different objectives that educators set for students. The taxonomy was proposed in 1956 by Benjamin Bloom, an educational psychologist at the University of Chicago. Bloom's Taxonomy divides educational objectives into three "domains:" Affective, Psychomotor, and Cognitive. Like other taxonomies, Bloom's is hierarchical; meaning that learning at higher level is dependent on having attained prerequisite knowledge and skills at lower levels (Orlich, et al. 2004). A goal of Bloom's Taxonomy is to motivate educators to focus on all three domains, creating a more holistic form of education. Most references to the Bloom's Taxonomy only notice the Cognitive domain. There is also a so far less referred, revised version of the Taxonomy, published in 2001 under the name of "A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing."

"Taxonomy” simply means “classification”, so the well-known taxonomy of learning objectives is an attempt (within the behavioural paradigm) to classify forms and levels of learning. It identifies three “domains” of learning (see below), each of which is organised as a series of levels or pre-requisites. It is suggested that one cannot effectively — or ought not try to — address higher levels until those below them have been covered (it is thus effectively serial in structure). As well as providing a basic sequential model for dealing with topics in the curriculum, it also suggests a way of categorising levels of learning, in terms of the expected ceiling for a given programme. Thus in the Cognitive domain, training for technicians may cover knowledge, comprehension and application, but not concern itself with analysis and above, whereas full professional training may be expected to include this and synthesis and evaluation as well.
Cognitive: the most-used of the domains, refers to knowledge structures (although sheer “knowing the facts” is its bottom level). It can be viewed as a sequence of progressive contextualisation of the material. (Based on Bloom, 1956)
The model above is included because it is still common currency, but Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) have made some apparently minor but actually significant modifications, to come up with:
Revised taxonomy of the cognitive domainfollowing Anderson and Krathwohl (2001)
Note the new top category, which is about being able to create new knowledge within the domain, and the move from nouns to verbs.
Affective: the Affective domain has received less attention, and is less intuitive than the Cognitive. It is concerned with values, or more precisely perhaps with perception of value issues, and ranges from mere awareness (Receiving), through to being able to distinguish implicit values through analysis. (Kratwohl, Bloom and Masia (1964))
Psycho-Motor: Bloom never completed work on this domain, and there have been several attempts to complete it. One of the simplest versions has been suggested by Dave (1975): it fits with the model of developing skill put forward by Reynolds (1965), and it also draws attention to the fundamental role of imitation in skill acquisition.

ATHERTON J S (2009) Learning and Teaching; Bloom's taxonomy [On-line] UK: Available: http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/bloomtax.htm Accessed: 2 June 2009

Deep Sympathy

The journey from sorrow to peace is one we all take at our own peace. The sympathy of loved ones help guide the way. Let me express my deepest sympathy to the loss of our CE community on the crashed Air France aeroplane from Brazil to France, earlier today.

According to http://www.nol.hu/

Két felnőtt és két gyermek tartott Brazíliából Párizsba azon a francia repülőn, amely valószínűleg az Atlanti-óceánba zuhant.
Az asszony a Nemzetközi Pető Intézetben dolgozott, és egy három hetes tanfolyamot tartott a dél-amerikai országban. Volt férje felvette a kapcsolatot a Külügyminisztériummal, ahol a nevek alapján megerősítették, hogy valóban az ő kisfia és elvált felesége neve szerepel az utaslistán.

Kesobb, a www.origo.hu -n

Négy magyar volt a gépen
Négy magyar utazott az eltűnt francia repülőgépen - mondta az [origo]-nak Mátrai Zsuzsanna külügyi szóvivő. Az eltűntek személyazonosságáról személyiségi okokból nem árul el többet a Külügyminisztérium. Magyarországot a francia külügyminisztérium válságkezelő központja tájékoztatja hivatalos diplomáciai úton, eddig egyetlen üzenetet kaptak, ami arról szólt, hogy négy magyar szerepel az utaslistán. Már több hozzátartozó is jelentkezett a Külügyminisztériumnál - mondta az [origo]-nak Mátrai Zsuzsanna.
A Pető Intézet kedden megerősítette, hogy munkatársuk, Szarvas Rita konduktor volt az eltűnt gép egyik magyar utasa, aki brazíliai kiküldetéséből volt hazatérőben. "A tehetséges és nagyreményű fiatal kolléganő hivatásszeretetben végzett munkáját mind a Pető Intézetben, mind pedig nemzetközi projektekben nagyfokú elismeréssel illetik, kedves személyiségét megbecsülés övezi" - írta közleményben az intézmény rektora, Schaffhauser Franz.
A Hír TV korábban közölte, egy nő és élettársa, valamint két magyar kisfiú utazott a gépen - közölte a televízió az egyik magyar kisfiú édesapjára hivatkozva. A Hír Tv szerint a gépen utazó nő volt férje felvette a kapcsolatot a Külügyminisztériummal, ahol megerősítették, hogy volt feleségének és kisfiának a neve szerepel az utaslistán. A nő a Nemzetközi Pető Intézetben dolgozott, és egy három hetes tanfolyamot tartott a dél-amerikai országban - közölte a Hír Tv.

Strengths of Humanity

People who are naturally strong in "strengths of humanity" are those who care for their relationships. You probably know people like this: folk who always send a thank you card, who call occasionally "just to check up", and who are kind and pleasant to be around. For these individuals, caring relationships are important, and their strengths play to developing and maintaining friendships, marriages, and workplace collegiality. In return we often feel a sense of loyalty to and appreciation for these types of people. We admire their empathy, sensitivity, and compassion. They are the people we commonly turn to when we have problems. It may have occurred to you that that many of the people we think of as paragons of these virtues are women. There is a stereotype that women are, on average, more focused on relationships and more kind and considerate than man. This might be true - on average. However, if I think of my professional past, present, I just can not totally confirm this in our community. Despite that the ladies who involved with conductive education are immaculately giving their caring love to children, clients, they can be real disastrous to each other. Why is that? I do not know any good reason, but maybe some good answers can be collected.

Developing Empathy- Buber again - Person centered relationships - Empathy

Basic empathy enables the conductor to relate to the participant more completely, viewing the person as a whole. This more complete way of relating to the participant can be referred to as the I-Thou position (Buber, 1958). The incomplete experience of the self and other is known as the I-It attitude. As Brient and Freshwater (1998) comment: " The I-It attitude is one in which the other person is never viewed as a whole being. It can never be the basis for a holistic relationship". The I-It positio0n is one that has been found to exist widely within nursing. Menzies-Lyth (1970), in her research into social systems, found that nurses view patients as objects as a way of coping with the intense anxiety that such intimate relationships give rise to. The I-Thou approach to relationship is based on equality, with one individual in their totality relating to the other in their totality. Much of what takes place in CE can be related to the person centered approach: I-Thou. Person Centered relationships usually referred to as Rogerian counselling after its founder Carl Rogers, the person centered approach sits very much in the humanistic tradition. Rogers, influential as both as a psychologist and a counsellor, became convinced during his career that human beings are esentially positive, forward looking and realistic by nature, which he referred to as the actualising tendency. Rogers believed this was the motivating force driving all human beings to achive wholeness.

Empathy is a term that is employed variously in counselling, psichotherapy, nursing and across the helping professions. It is used to describe a particular characteristic that helpers should possess in relation to their clients. Here I am relating it to the skills of the conductor, who need to create a safe and enabling relationship to maximise the potential of the participants. In broad terms empathy is a state of being between two people, where one is entering the world of the other whiole maintaining an awareness oh his or her own world. It is the ability to see the world from the point of view of on other individual or group of individuals, through their frame of reference, which in turn describes the ability of the conductor to enter into the true feelings of the other person or group of people.

It is not an attempt to be that person, and try to envisage how it might feelto be them. It is the 'as if' quality that makes empathy different from sympathy. Sympathy, whilst concerned with feelings of pity, compassion and tenderness for the other person, involves collusion, whereas empathy requires much more effort, concentration and discipline. Empathy is expressed or communicated through a number 9of key skills, including active listening to both the words and feelings that are being conveyed by the participant.

Holistic Learning

Engage the mind - Touch the heart- Feed the soul Publicity notice, Edinburgh International Festival 2005

The term 'holistic learning' signifies an approach to learning which is predominantly 'whole person', i.e. it seeks to engage fully all aspects of the learner - mind, body and spirit. (See also Whole Brain.) The underlying holistic principle is that a complex organism functions most effectively when all its component parts are themselves functioning and co-operating effectively. And this idea relates very closely to the concept of synergy, with the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. In terms of mainstream education a 'whole person' approach to learning is much more likely to be observed within the sensory-rich nursery or primary school activity room than in the intellect-dominated university lecture theatre.

John Heron's Model of Holistic Learning

John Heron, Founder of the Human Potential Research Project. A powerful pyramid model presents learning as an interaction between four distinct modes of psychological being: feeling, imaginal, thinking and practical. These are normally represented in the form of a pyramid with feeling at the base and practical at the top. And so what is especially unusual about the model is that feeling is presented as our fundamental mode, rather than thinking. This contrasts sharply with much of mainstream traditional education, where cognitive thinking and the pursuit of intellectual competence have the pre-eminent role. The significance of this alternative orientation is that the crucial requirement for each learner is to establish a relationship with their total learning situation which is intimate, resonant and positive (i.e. in the feeling mode). Only when this is firmly in place is it considered that the learner will be free to tap fully into the other three modes of the learning model, viz. imaginal, thinking and practical.

Source

http://www.jwelford.demon.co.uk/brainwaremap/holist.html

A book which is available in English

I was writing about books two weeks ago, written by Hungarian authors and wished to be translated to English. Now, by contrast, let me suggest one which can be already read in English and which I recomend with pleasure.

Dr. Erika Medveczky

Conductive Education

as an educational method of neurohabilitation

Budapest, 2006.ISBN 963229819 5

A short part from The precondition for succesful conductive education p.:17-18

Peto’s educational aims more than 60 years ago included learning, information in its broadest sense, living with others and an independent way of life. These very same aims were stipulated in the International Law of Human rights (1994) and a few years later in the Commission Report of UNESCO (1997). Society and national culture are involved, namely the environment influences education, the process of learning and socialisation. The developmental approach must be adjusted to the society and culture in different ways by different nations. By now, when conductive education is internationally applied, its principles have proved to be applicable successfully in different national cultures.
Suitability for CE is to be determined by the conductor’s operative observation, since just looking at a person with dysfunctions is already informative. It is even more important to state what the person with dysfunction would be able to do should he receive conductive education. It also must be seen whether contact can be established. The conductor’s responsibility is further increased by her having to give a prognosis concerning the conductive educational future for the person with dysfunctions. Then an individual development plan must be drawn up. The assessment must also answer the question how this educational method can help the disabled person’s development. The conductive education teacher intends to see what the child with disabilities would be able to if development changed his environment, the scene of his education. The conductor considers and documents the results of medical reports and the pace of development which could be registered until this first assessment.
The conductor also wants to see by future operative observation whether an interaction has been formed between the conductor and the child, which may help the learning process. While a paediatric neurological examination focuses on the pathological neurological and neglect symptoms, the conductor’s observation considers the possibility of utilising the existing reserve capacities. She is looking for the preconditions of complex performance in every day situation. Then she wants to see concrete ways of task solutions which can be applied individually in the given case. Thus she must see whether the method is suitable for developing the child with disabilities.
The conductor never sets up a diagnosis – it is not needed- since patients come to conductive education already after a medical check up and diagnosis. However, she tries to explore the abilities which make the patient suitable to be developed by conductive education. This does not always correspond to anatomic extension of brain damage. Experience shows that no cases of damage to the central nervous system with identical origin produce the same loss of functions, symptoms and prognosis.
As shown above, the preconditions for conductive education include a well trained and experienced conductor and operative observation (conductor’s assessment). It is also essential to have a conductive group, to have early development begun in infancy which can be established. A determining factor is that conductor does not work in an isolated position but as a member of homogenous conductor’s team, especially in the early, intensive phase of development.
As the scene of development a peer group is vital, which also influences personality development favourably and prevents early social isolation. The group develops a need to establish contact with peers and the social environment, and also enhances communication. ...

Reaction

This is a reaction post to the new posts of Andrew Sutton and Judit Szathmary. Those posts had a meeting point in my mind. Andrew was questioning who would be responsible for getting CE a goverment recognised system in UK and he has list of the bodies who have not succeeded so far. In the meantime Judit was writing about Sir Ken Robinson who was invited by the government to to establish and lead a national commission on creativity, education and the economy...
Isn't it strange? Well, of course not. The government decides who to invite and what to do which is normal in democratic countries. It seems to me that if the British government did not want to recognise CE in the past 30 years, it probably won't happen in the near future either. No, I am not negative, I am not pessimistic but we have to realise the reality at some point. There were countries that did not know about CE up till the late nineties, but now use the system. We are sentenced to be in the private sector in the UK without any help from the goverment. The society of people who are interested were never big (thanks God) and strong enough to make a real push or start a "civil war". The government itself is not interested! It is a pity. I thought scientific actions might develop this problem. So far however, nothing has happened. There were recently positive PhDs and good results of studies published on CE - yet there has still been no response! The UK is not interested, and those who are involved seem to be met with obstacles at each turn.

In the Petö Institute / Easter 09

I have been staying in Hungary for my Easter Holidays and had a possibility to visit the "alma mater" (Petö Institute). I visited the Maria Hari Library for the first time since its opening and it was very nice to see a "normal" library. It has been needed for a long time. The little museum what can be found attached to the library also gives us a great memory of Hari Maria's work and reminds us of her the legacy. How nice! Thank you for all who made this possible.
There, in the library I was advised to read one of the new books published by Petö Institute.
The title is Feladatsorok a Konduktív Nevelésben /Task series in CE/ written by Frencné Beck one of our Budapest trained conductors. The contents of the book have been taught and available as a teaching peaper at the Institute for some time, but I was really happy to get it in a well presented book. Well done! We really needed this, too. The author, Eva, asked me if it was useful to translate it to English. I said such a translation was needed as it is still not avaiable in English, along with the 'The Little Green Book'. I am sure someone, person or company, would donate to enable a translation to be made.
I have just read Andrew's last blog mentioning the financial problems of Hungary and the impact on the Petö Institute and conductors all over the world. Well, it is really a scary situation for all of us and we can have only a good hope that we will sustain and survive the crisis.

Note

There is going to be a CEPEG Conference on 13th of March at Horton Lodge, at which I am going to give a foreword about the history of UK's adult CE. It is planned to be based on Andrew Sutton's article on the same case.
He mentioned Ronni Nanton's name there, and in his knol as well.

How will I find out about such things in future, without Gill and her library? How will other people at the conference manage?

???

I wish to keep my appearance

Turns out, I am too busy recently - but because I wish to keep my appearance here on the blog I thought to share one of my activities which keeps me away pretty often from writing it.

I work on an investigation:

Title:
An exploratory study of the rehabilitation of physical disabled adults in a group setting with particular reference to Conductive Education


Aim of the investigation:

1. To explore the characteristics of the delivery of adult CE in a group setting
2. To investigate the relationship between the cognitive, social, emotional and functional dimensions of the delivery of Conductive Education in a group setting and its impact on the experience of rehabilitation amongst a group of physically disabled adults
3. To examine the experience of rehabilitation in a group setting in another rehabilitation context
4. To compare and contrast the two settings.

Engel's Biopsychosocial Model

Have you ever heard about the Biopsychosocial Model? It is almost a 50 years old challenge. At the practical level, it is a way of understanding the patient’s subjective experience as an essential contributor to accurate diagnosis, health outcomes, and humane care.

The (late) George Engel believed that to understand and respond adequately to patients’ suffering—and to give them a sense of being understood—clinicians must attend simultaneously to the biological, psychological, and social dimensions of illness. He offered a holistic alternative to the prevailing biomedical model that had dominated industrialized societies since the mid-20th century. His new model came to be known as the biopsychosocial model. He formulated his model at a time when science itself was evolving from an exclusively analytic, reductionistic, and specialized endeavor to become more contextual and cross-disciplinary. Engel did not deny that the mainstream of biomedical research had fostered important advances in medicine, but he criticized its excessively narrow (biomedical) focus for leading clinicians to regard patients as objects and for ignoring the possibility that the subjective experience of the patient was amenable to scientific study. Engel championed his ideas not only as a scientific proposal, but also as a fundamental ideology that tried to reverse the dehumanization of medicine and disempowerment of patients. His model struck a resonant chord with those sectors of the medical profession that wished to bring more empathy and compassion into medical practice.

Source: http://www.annfammed.org/cgi/content/full/2/6/576

George Engel (1913 - 1999)

When these ideas were forming in the early 1950s, he had already made a name for himself in neurology and medicine through his studies of fainting, delirium, and ulcerative colitis and was beginning the studies that would document the correlation of loss with the onset of a variety of diseases.

Treatments of CP and Motor Delay

"Physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, teachers, and nursery nurses welcome indisciplinary groups as they can then see the total child and the relationship of their speciality to those of the others in total function. On planning and using structured group session the different disciplines are enabled to share their knowledge with one other so that practical integrated group activities can be created. Different disciplines have then to clarify their main aims with each child and make certain they are understood by everyone in the planning of the programme and in its execution. It is not possible for each professional to convey all her expertise to the other different disciplines, but rather to learn how to discover the overlap of her particular discipline with others. In this way the overlap becomes a practical achievement and enriches the teamwork."

Written by Sophie Levitt in Treatment of Cerebral Palsy and Motor Delay, (p. 268-269) Blackwell, Fourth edition, 2004

....and how lucky to be trained as a Conductive Education Teacher. You do not necessarily need the time to discuss main aims and share those knowledge before puting structured group into action. You are able to see the "total child"....so on

Comment

I have found this in between the comments, so I thought to make it more public to put it as a post.


Dear László,

Is it right to regard it merely as a (suspicious) business enterprise when someone tries to help people deal with real problems? As well known to you, the Pető Institute has achieved great success in adopting conductive education for adults, especially those with Parkinsonism and MS. Probably due to our results, the interest has grown considerably in the UK as well.
Thus we would like to provide the opportunity for those interested, rather than learning about our work from hearsay, to make an organised, active “visit” to Budapest and apart from getting information on conductive education and the related options on the spot, see the beauty and visit the baths of our capital.
For the time being, there has only been some conversation about this possibility. We certainly seem to interfere with business interests if concerning the “talks” which in fact was only a lunch among friends, we have to encounter presumptions of shady ideas with miss-spelt names.

What do you think?

Interesting

Regarding to the "advertisement of the Able magazine" issue, here is what I have found:

First, I made a phone call using the given number 07968598281.
Surprisingly, there was a Hungarian young lady on the other side of the line, called Timea Zuranyi. She is not a CE professional but wants to create a business through Conductive Education. She is a representative of the New Start Employment Agency UK, as she has described to me, and tries to set up as a travel agency adult CP, Head injury Parkinson or MS groups to visit Budapest & have Conductive Education during the summer school holiday period in Hungary. She has just returned from Budapest. She visited Villanyi ut, Budapest on Friday and talked about the possible business with Tunde Krokko (??), Laszlo Onodi and Andras Krokovai (??) - sorry I am not sure about the spelling of the names.
So, this is all, just an other business who would like to live on CE on its own way.
What do you think?

I was told to look up some information on the website for csci under directory of care services.

http://www.csci.org.uk

Here is the comment...

I will keep very short this comment since I have very limited time to spend by my computer this evening but I really wanted to express couple of my thoughts regarding that advertisement.


It seems that the author has not got a clue at all what he/she is writing about. He/she must have heard only recently about “the world famous”. - Ok, that is not unique in the media.
It depicts as adult conductive education would not have known at all in UK and people have never had any experience of “highly skilled and experienced staff” of conductive education having “cerebral palsy, and other muscular weaknesses”. In fact, they have. I think adult conductive education is a boosting area of CE in the UK recently as after a long lonely work of NICE new services can be found throughout the country offering the possibility of CE in Britain for adults, too. Beside NICE’s great approach Percy Hedley, New Castle, Magan Baker House, Moreton Eye, or Independent Conductive Education Services in the North West area just launched (in the last two years) their services for Parkinson diseased, head injured, MS conditioned adult people.

Visit:
http://www.i-ce-s.com/
http://www.meganbakerhouse.org.uk/
http://www.percyhedley.org.uk/
http://www.conductive-education.org.uk/

ABLE news

I have just come across with this little advertisement in the January - February issue of the
“ABLE”
magazine.


"Do you want to visit PETO Institute?

The famous Peto Institute in Hungary, which has provided conductive education for children with Cerebral palsy, and other muscular weaknesses for more than 60 years, is looking to welcome its first adult guests from the UK this summer.
Hundreds of British children have already enjoyed the services of the institute, located near Budapest, but this will be the first time adults will be able to benefit from the care and support on offer from its highly skilled and experienced staff".

Comment later.

Source: ABLE magazine, Issue January - February 2009, page: 10

By the way, in contrast of Susie, This is my first post with image. :)

Goals

Happy new year to everyone!
Sorry about the longer pause I had some difficulties around…

GOALS

By the start of a new year many people set their “goals” either for the near future or longer term. Also, we set goals for ourselves in different levels.
Can you remember when you were a child, and thinking about what you wanted to be when you grow up? What occupation attracted you?
Whatever you answer, the appeal of a particular type of adult work is, for many of us, our first hint of the power of goals. Perhaps it is this vision of future outcomes that filled your daydreams, kept you awake during all-nighters in college, or helped you persevere when there were troubles. Goals – whether they are occupational, material, relational, or personal – are the natural motivators of life. Further, many positive psychology researchers have found a direct link between goals pursuit and happiness.
It has been always much emphasis placed on goals by conductors. Most of us have at least an intuitive grasp of their importance: Goals are vital to people because they help them organize their lives to meet crucial existential, social, personal and psychological needs. What’s more, goals are very important to the conductive endeavour because they provide a direction for our work and a baseline for evaluating the effectiveness of our service. Personal goals, those wished or attractive future outcomes we all strive for, have long been the Holy Grail of Conductive Education. Chances are, our clients love working on and toward goals and have an understanding of their motivational power. Likewise, “seasoned conductors”, “family conductors” tend to focus heavily on goals, establishing aims for individual tasks, helping clients to clearly articulate goals, and conducting visioning exercises in which clients set long-term goals. The profession of Conductive Education has, to a large degree, been built around goal setting, and for a good reason. Goals are both functional and important. They give us direction, they motivate us, and they structure our time, actions, and decisions. Working toward goals gives us a sense of accomplishment. Personal and social aspirations are the yardsticks by which each of us can chart a course and measure success.

Goal orientation is the way in which individuals think and talk about their goals. The goal orientation that has received the most research support for being important to happiness is the degree to which people strive for positive goals or strive to avoid negative goals. This dichotomy is commonly referred to as “approach” and “avoidance”. Approach goals are the positive outcomes that clients strive for such as “spend more time with the kids”. Avoidant goals, by contrast, are those negative outcomes that individuals work to avoid or prevent like “avoid gaining weight this winter”. There is a preponderance of research evidence linking avoidant goals to increased distress and anxiety, decreased levels of happiness, lower level of social satisfaction, and poorer perceptions of health.
We all have heard about the glass which is half empty or half full judged by the negative or the positive thinkers. Here is an explanation through parents whom watching their child play in the yard. The approach-oriented parent allows his child to climb a tree because he values exploration, balance, physical strength, or excitement. The avoidant parent, by contrast, tells his child not to climb the tree because there is a legitimate risk of the child getting hurt, and the parent values health and safety. Both parents have a valid set of values, and both have a fine argument backing their respective decisions.
The avoidant orientation is a slightly more negative way to look at the world. As conductors we (should) tuned to listen approach- and avoidance related language of our colleagues and clients, too and make the “magic transformation” (pull the angel out from the people) by reframe negative and work towards success. Conductive Education, as a whole, is based on to avoid of avoidance and “health and safety” employs a higher standard of understanding by CE which allows the child to climb the tree.