...its been too long since I've blogged.... but in my defence I have had a baby.....
But I feel compelled to write again...
After completing the 1st week of the first summer camp I've done in about 6 years I am thrilled at how brilliantly it has gone and how much progress the children made.
In all honesty I'd forgotten quite how much a bit of intensive CE could do as I had become so accustomed to sessional CE..... it has inspired me, and members of my team, a HUGE amount and shown everyone involved the real potential of 'proper' CE when it is done well!
Just a short post for now but I will aim to increase frequency when it comes to Blog writing in future!
Monday, 6 August 2012
Thursday, 2 September 2010
If Tesco sold bottles of Conductive Education...
Firstly i apologise for the lack of blogs in the past few months - no good excuse really but i resolve to do better from now on!
a while ago a young adult with whom i work wrote a speech for a fundraising event and i absolutely loved his speech so feel that i'd like to share it with you.
From the horses mouth as it were....
"If Tesco sold bottles of Conductive Education I would be having them as part of my weekly shop as it provides a lifeline for anybody that has a physical or learning disability. Why? I will tell you why. My experiences of conductive education at Rainbow House has taught me and others like me, how to use our bodies and minds to overcome and conquer certain fears and challenges that have been previously huge barriers to us living our lives.
For example, when I started Conductive Education, my body felt useless, my confidence was at rock bottom and my mind was plauged with negative thoughts on how i would live my life independently. Conductive Education has helped me to control my body in times of stress and has boosted my life skills as well as my confidence in myself and in my abilities to overcome the negative thoughts created by how some people in this world see me. In my view, it is the most common sense, theraputic approach that i have come across.
I believe because of the hard work and training the Rainbow House team have done with me over the past three and a half years, my life has changed so much for the better as I am able to achieve so much more than I or others previously thought possible......without Rainbow House's support I would not have the confidence to live independently and of course would not be sitting here in front of you delivering this speech tonight...."
Thanks Jonathan!
a while ago a young adult with whom i work wrote a speech for a fundraising event and i absolutely loved his speech so feel that i'd like to share it with you.
From the horses mouth as it were....
"If Tesco sold bottles of Conductive Education I would be having them as part of my weekly shop as it provides a lifeline for anybody that has a physical or learning disability. Why? I will tell you why. My experiences of conductive education at Rainbow House has taught me and others like me, how to use our bodies and minds to overcome and conquer certain fears and challenges that have been previously huge barriers to us living our lives.
For example, when I started Conductive Education, my body felt useless, my confidence was at rock bottom and my mind was plauged with negative thoughts on how i would live my life independently. Conductive Education has helped me to control my body in times of stress and has boosted my life skills as well as my confidence in myself and in my abilities to overcome the negative thoughts created by how some people in this world see me. In my view, it is the most common sense, theraputic approach that i have come across.
I believe because of the hard work and training the Rainbow House team have done with me over the past three and a half years, my life has changed so much for the better as I am able to achieve so much more than I or others previously thought possible......without Rainbow House's support I would not have the confidence to live independently and of course would not be sitting here in front of you delivering this speech tonight...."
Thanks Jonathan!
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
A funny time of year....
Finally, i have the chance to write something new on here. It has been a strange term so far. We've been unbelievably busy which has been exacerbated by the fact that most of the staff have been off sick at some point when we are short staffed as it is.
We've got into the swing of things now with or new conductor who came to us in October. We tried to create a complicated timetable to rotate leading that would let all 3 of us conductors lead each group at some point - mainly since we wanted to ease the new conductor into things, but also (dare i admit it) because we remain quite protective of the children we have in all our sessions, many of whom we've been working with for nearly 6 years.
Having tried and failed to make this timetable work i am pleased to have admitted defeat and having now assigned conductors to lead specific groups permanently (for now anyway!), i feel massively more motivated to start the 2nd half of the spring term. In particular i think all the moving around between groups has simply confused both the kids and the assistants, and whilst all three of us conductors have similar styles of leading and similar 'conductive perspective' if you like, even with a task series in hand the inconsistencies were making it difficult for the children to learn.
I suppose this is not such a problem when you have only conductors in the group, but since this luxury is not one we can afford we have had to sacrifice a bit of control in order to make sure the kids move forward.
I think this time of year is a funny one... lots of people seem a bit down, maybe its the weather, the dark days, i don't know but it seems to have impacted the kids a bit too. Hopefully a half term break will refresh everyone and we can go into the next half of term with more motivation - staff and kids alike.
I myself, somewhat the eternal optimist, remain motivated and am glad to continue to have a job that i adore. I just wish i had a bit less nonsense to deal with and had a bit more time to concentrate on the real 'conducting'!
Since spring is on its way lets hope a spring-like attitude begins to emerge with the new growth!
We've got into the swing of things now with or new conductor who came to us in October. We tried to create a complicated timetable to rotate leading that would let all 3 of us conductors lead each group at some point - mainly since we wanted to ease the new conductor into things, but also (dare i admit it) because we remain quite protective of the children we have in all our sessions, many of whom we've been working with for nearly 6 years.
Having tried and failed to make this timetable work i am pleased to have admitted defeat and having now assigned conductors to lead specific groups permanently (for now anyway!), i feel massively more motivated to start the 2nd half of the spring term. In particular i think all the moving around between groups has simply confused both the kids and the assistants, and whilst all three of us conductors have similar styles of leading and similar 'conductive perspective' if you like, even with a task series in hand the inconsistencies were making it difficult for the children to learn.
I suppose this is not such a problem when you have only conductors in the group, but since this luxury is not one we can afford we have had to sacrifice a bit of control in order to make sure the kids move forward.
I think this time of year is a funny one... lots of people seem a bit down, maybe its the weather, the dark days, i don't know but it seems to have impacted the kids a bit too. Hopefully a half term break will refresh everyone and we can go into the next half of term with more motivation - staff and kids alike.
I myself, somewhat the eternal optimist, remain motivated and am glad to continue to have a job that i adore. I just wish i had a bit less nonsense to deal with and had a bit more time to concentrate on the real 'conducting'!
Since spring is on its way lets hope a spring-like attitude begins to emerge with the new growth!
Monday, 18 January 2010
L-Dopa for CP
Any conductors, parents, other professionals out there? Does anyone have any experience in the use of L.Dopa for a child with athetoid CP? it has recently come up as a suggestion for one of our kids and i'm a bit bemused about it and had never heard of it being used for CP before. I am aware of its use for people with PD but never CP. Does anyone have any knowledge, exprience etc...
Jules
Jules
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Just Do it - NICE Graduate Book
Happy New Year Bloggers!
One of the new arrivals this year was my copy of the new publication 'Just Do it' about NICE conductors' experiences since graduating. I have co-authored a chapter which i hope is not as painful for others to read as it was for me! Aside from that i feel compelled to comment on the publication as i thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Firstly i thought that all the chapters (except my own - its never nice reading your own stuff) were well written and engaging. It was interesting to see the differences and similarities between different graduates and the massive variety of experience for those more, or less, recently graduated.
I wanted to reassure some of the conductors who commented that they were not sure if the opinions and experiences they had were 'proper' CE, or if they had done things correctly. For example the conductor who had tried to run CE services in Vietnam was unsure that she had still provided 'proper' CE as she had to make huge changes in how she delivered the programme in such a different culture - but from what she had written i felt she was doing very 'proper' CE as the children should not be made to fit the system but the system must create a learning environment for the child. It sounded excellent although extremely challnenging.
There seemed to be some common themes in people's experiences; group sizes, conductors working on their own, language barriers, working within limited organisations (financial, space, resources etc...) and these similar issues seem to run through many conductors experiences across the world. I could certainly relate to this as i work for a charity and for a long time, worked most of the time on my own as a conductor.
I would be interested if anyone who has read the book has any feedback on my own chapter. Myself and Becky discussed all the things we wished we had known more about before starting work as conductors (not that we can know everything but we can try!). Also, since it has been a while between writing and publication of the book i feel i would have written different things about my experiences since we wrote the chapter.
I recommend anyone working as a conductor, or employing a conductor should read the book as it is an insight into the workings of CE; its challenges and achievements - and brilliantly the thread that runs through all the chapters is the continuing love and passion for the participants and the system that all the authors feel!
One of the new arrivals this year was my copy of the new publication 'Just Do it' about NICE conductors' experiences since graduating. I have co-authored a chapter which i hope is not as painful for others to read as it was for me! Aside from that i feel compelled to comment on the publication as i thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Firstly i thought that all the chapters (except my own - its never nice reading your own stuff) were well written and engaging. It was interesting to see the differences and similarities between different graduates and the massive variety of experience for those more, or less, recently graduated.
I wanted to reassure some of the conductors who commented that they were not sure if the opinions and experiences they had were 'proper' CE, or if they had done things correctly. For example the conductor who had tried to run CE services in Vietnam was unsure that she had still provided 'proper' CE as she had to make huge changes in how she delivered the programme in such a different culture - but from what she had written i felt she was doing very 'proper' CE as the children should not be made to fit the system but the system must create a learning environment for the child. It sounded excellent although extremely challnenging.
There seemed to be some common themes in people's experiences; group sizes, conductors working on their own, language barriers, working within limited organisations (financial, space, resources etc...) and these similar issues seem to run through many conductors experiences across the world. I could certainly relate to this as i work for a charity and for a long time, worked most of the time on my own as a conductor.
I would be interested if anyone who has read the book has any feedback on my own chapter. Myself and Becky discussed all the things we wished we had known more about before starting work as conductors (not that we can know everything but we can try!). Also, since it has been a while between writing and publication of the book i feel i would have written different things about my experiences since we wrote the chapter.
I recommend anyone working as a conductor, or employing a conductor should read the book as it is an insight into the workings of CE; its challenges and achievements - and brilliantly the thread that runs through all the chapters is the continuing love and passion for the participants and the system that all the authors feel!
Friday, 23 October 2009
re-reading Dina...
I read Dina recently and noticed a sentence that i found a little suprising... having discussed it with my colleagues they agreed that they had never heard of it and hadn't noticed it before in Dina. I'd be interested to know if any conductors had any thoughts on the following....
(sorry i forgot to note the page number for this quote but wrote the quote down - if anyone finds it then please comment on the post to let people know)
I can see the logic of this but as a student conductor was never told this and have seen many children who tend to stand on their toes use crossed-leg sitting and crawling. And have used these positions with such children many times - i feel appropriately.
so.... any thoughts?
(sorry i forgot to note the page number for this quote but wrote the quote down - if anyone finds it then please comment on the post to let people know)
'with a child who has a tendency to stand on his toes, positions in
which the foot is not at a right angle to the leg should be avoided. This
applies to crawling as well as, for example, cross leg sitting'
which the foot is not at a right angle to the leg should be avoided. This
applies to crawling as well as, for example, cross leg sitting'
I can see the logic of this but as a student conductor was never told this and have seen many children who tend to stand on their toes use crossed-leg sitting and crawling. And have used these positions with such children many times - i feel appropriately.
so.... any thoughts?
Sunday, 11 October 2009
A Conductive Upringing in YouTube
Sad as it is, on a friday night over a glass of wine with a conductor friend we started looking up CE and other terms on YouTube and in doing so came across lots of links from a woman called Ellen Moore - who i assume is the mother of the child in the videos - Catherine.
There are a number of clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuI1EF60ZD4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMaMbA5Lgsg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_Mpb3ZCEdQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuL_stPkfYA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJnL4s0y2eQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP8-M-NkxZk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBCL3hZShsY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP1v_FwXq7g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oIgdrcS9u4&feature=related
... and i think there may be more too.
We were so impressed by the way in which Catherine's mother gave her help when she needed, motivation, rhythm and praise - a model of of a parent practicing a conductive upbringing.
I think, from one of the descriptions that Catherine accesses CE at OMOD in which case i think there must also be praise to the conductor(s) that helped this parent to discover a conductive upbringing.
as for our friday night - So much for a CE-free evening!
There are a number of clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuI1EF60ZD4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMaMbA5Lgsg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_Mpb3ZCEdQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuL_stPkfYA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJnL4s0y2eQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP8-M-NkxZk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBCL3hZShsY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP1v_FwXq7g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oIgdrcS9u4&feature=related
... and i think there may be more too.
We were so impressed by the way in which Catherine's mother gave her help when she needed, motivation, rhythm and praise - a model of of a parent practicing a conductive upbringing.
I think, from one of the descriptions that Catherine accesses CE at OMOD in which case i think there must also be praise to the conductor(s) that helped this parent to discover a conductive upbringing.
as for our friday night - So much for a CE-free evening!
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