This is a translation from Russian, using Google Translate, of an article link posted by Andrew Sutton on Facebook, for which there is not otherwise an English language version. (https://www.facebook.com/conductive.world/posts/10225360546550893).
Andrew, the author, comments on Facebook that the article, written in 2008, was “a little optimistic in the event”.
For those who may be interested, the original article, with its accompanying photographs, can be found at
Here is the article in English translation (with American spelling!):
Andrew Sutton, psychologist, honorary doctorate in education, pioneer in the practice and theory of conductive education outside Hungary. Works at the Conductive Education Center in Birmingham, England.
Conductive education:
a revolution for families with children suffering cerebral palsy
Imagine this picture: several children are sitting on mats with their parents and playing. Laughter and singing fill the room. Such relationships are familiar to any family. In this case, parents also dress their children, eat with them, play. Kids do not just sit, but behave actively, decide what they want to do and what not.
What is happening is a product of interaction between a child and an adult. It is not surprising that within the framework of a child-parent pair (dyad), a child and an adult will perform any action in a special way - in their own rhythm, achieving an individual result and accompanying the actions with their characteristic emotions. Together with their children, parents learn to learn: they master a special form of upbringing, called “conductive upbringing”.
Such harmonious interaction does not arise by chance, for example, in the course of a role-playing game, it is the result of a special conductive pedagogy developed under the guidance of (two) professionals.
Conductive point of view
In this case, the room was attended by children suffering from cerebral palsy, which is often associated with intellectual disabilities. Many parents who started attending such groups have already encountered difficulties in teaching children who were unable to master even basic skills. Parents often described the developmental process with the words “I can’t do this,” rather than with phrases like “I will do this,” which, in turn, affected the motivation, effort, and relationship between the child and the parent. Instead of hope for the future, adults showed disappointment, humility, despair, which led to a violation of the main area of learning - teaching the ability to learn.
It is known that the upbringing of children with hearing or vision problems should be based on developmental workarounds that allow avoiding the negative impact of the initial disturbance on the development of the child's psyche. Now experts admit that the mental development of children with motor disorders (which seems to be a separate area not directly related to thinking, perception or imagination) may not be successful. Without the help of a specialist from outside, parents can come to terms with the child's physical abnormalities and even treat inappropriate behavior as normal. In turn, the child can learn to take advantage of such an attitude - from indulgence and pity, the child can develop a syndrome of “learned helplessness,” and he will depend on others for his whole life.
Conductive pedagogy, despite its European origin, is not accepted by modern psychologists, most of whom are focused on cognitive psychology. It is based on the ideas of L.S. Vygotsky on social and psychological development, A. Wallon on the dependence of movement and emotions, R. Fuerstein on the role of adults in learning.
It is known that movement is an integral part of psychological development. Motor impairments can distort or even hinder the child's ability to interact with the social and material world; affect the skills of the child, to change position in space, direct or look away, reach out, point out, manipulate an object, initiate contact, develop facial expressions, make sounds, etc. Accordingly, parents lack the child's response (voice, gesture, facial expression) required for normal interaction. For example, children with impaired motor development may not react or even get scared in response to a hug.
The traditional cognitive and emotional mechanisms that operate within the parent-child dyad do not always work with sick children. The normal cycles of interaction are disrupted, which leads to negative consequences: the efforts of the adult are broken against the wall of misunderstanding on the part of the child. The task of conductive teachers is to establish communication with the child through appropriate methods of compensation. Teachers in every possible way encourage the success of the baby. which is first led by an adult, and then, gaining confidence, the child himself demonstrates a desire to learn and interact with others.
Adult and child
Conductive groups can consist of four dyads and one teacher, or they can combine up to twenty dyads under the guidance of several teachers. It is important that children and adults communicate with each other, in this case they receive additional evidence of possible achievements and support. Group work is not about treating children in a special way and not in special physical exercises that kids do, and in the fact that children and parents gain experience of joint learning in a situation of shared joy, which is supported by teachers. Adults and children learn to “connect” the disparate parts of the childhood experience into a coherent whole. Conductive pedagogy gives parents the opportunity to experience success they did not hope for.
It is often very difficult for parents to say “no” to a child with disabilities. In some cases, it is necessary to say “no”, otherwise it will be difficult for the baby to become an independent person. Therefore, one of the directions of conductive pedagogy is associated with the correction of relations between children and parents.
Of course, such weekly activities do not bring immediate results, but a change in the relationship between a child and an adult significantly stimulates the development of children: parents gain faith that their child can achieve success in development, learn a lot. A child suffering from one or another motor impairment becomes more self-confident and then successfully learns in a group with normal peers.
World revolution
Conductive pedagogy and conductive education were developed within the framework of the Institute of Conductive Pedagogy and Rehabilitation Movement Therapy named after V.I. Pete in Budapest. In 1986, the whole world learned about the conductive approach. Over the past twenty years, many parents of children with motor impairments and adults suffering from certain motor impairments have become convinced of its effectiveness. Currently, there are more than 200 centers of conductive pedagogy in operation, most of which are funded by parents. In the USA, China and in a number of European countries, specialists began to refuse to understand physical developmental disorders in physiological terms; Conductive pedagogy has actually shown the legitimacy of the approach of L.S. Vygotsky, who spoke about the role of the social environment in the mental development of the child.
Although conductive education has not yet become so popular in Russia, its basis is closely related to Soviet defectology, psychology and pedagogy. In 2006 at the Institute. Russian parents with children suffering from cerebral palsy underwent training for Peto. Together with the Moscow Government and the Globus XXI Century company, the Peto plans to open his center in Moscow.
Side Panel 1
The upbringing of children with hearing or vision problems should be based on developmental workarounds to avoid the negative impact of the initial disorder on the development of the child's psyche.
Side Panel 2
If we translate literally from Latin (conductive) and Greek (pedagogy) languages, we get something like “accompanying upbringing of children”. The method of conductive pedagogy was developed by the Hungarian doctor Andras Peto immediately after the Second World War and is a complex of special training programs aimed at the rehabilitation of children and adults who, due to illness or injury of the central nervous system (CNS), motor skills are impaired. As the name suggests, the method of conductive pedagogy is based not so much on treatment as such (which, of course, has not been cancelled), but on teaching a person basic motor skills.
Side Panel 3
It is often very difficult for parents to say “no” to a child with developmental features ... Therefore, one of the directions of conductive pedagogy is associated with the correction of relations between children and parents.
