C.E. Jottings

Déjà vu, all over again. The dysfunctional services that confront parents of children with cerebral palsy

Two news items earlier this week: the report in Charity Today “Children’s Disability Charity Launches New Occupational Therapy and Sensory Integration Service” and the announcement by Action Cerebral Palsy of the All-Party Parliamentary Group’s report “Early identification, intervention and pathways of care of infants and young children with cerebral palsy: The case for reform and Investment”. Charity Today has this to say: “CPotential is a one-stop-shop of rehabilitation services for children with movement disorders. The charity also offers physiotherapy, conductive... Read more →

Cerebral palsy and managing pain - with thanks to @chloeltear

I don't know that we talk much about cerebral palsy and pain. It's certainly not a subject that I recall much comment on in conductive education. So it is especially interesting to read a new blog posting by "disability blogger and freelance writer" Chloe Tear, about her personal experience of managing pain as an adult with cerebral palsy. "Experiencing pain when you have cerebral palsy (CP) is very common, especially in adulthood," begins Chloe, adding near the end "One explanation... Read more →

When less may simply mean less. Who speaks for the special education and upbringing of children with cerebral palsy? Not Scope, evidently

Consider this: “At the seminar, during a break, I asked one of the speakers when she had most recently heard that the education of children with cerebral palsy was a 'problem', a matter for public debate? As she appeared not to comprehend the question, I suggested she substitute autism, or dyslexia or emotional and behavioural difficulties for cerebral palsy. She then agreed that she was indeed aware of the continuing public discussion about the education of children with autism or... Read more →

Cerebral Palsy - a mere label, outdated at best? #CondEd

We all talk about "cerebral palsy" as if it exists, don't we? Or we can't get away from using the term because everyone else does. What if cerebral palsy doesn't exist? What if it's just a label, a label of convenience? What if ADHD does not exist? Or dyslexia? What if "cerebral palsy" is a "crypto-pathology" as Tom Bennett writing recently in the Times Educational Supplement, described ADHD and Dyslexia? Be reassured! No, I haven't suddenly lost my mind. But... Read more →

Cerebral Palsy - some statistics and facts (albeit from a medical perspective) #CondEd

For my first blog post for 2017 - and first for a while - here's something that came my way a while ago and which I've just found when cleaning up my email Inbox. It's an infographic of statistics and facts about cerebral palsy that might be of some use to some readers. It comes with a caveat though: the infographic has been developed by 'UKS Mobility - Healthcare Products' and to a conductive educator is inevitably and firmly from... Read more →

Two-footedness is a coachable skill - why we should keep telling the conductive education story

"Two-footedness, for example, is a coachable skill. The motor cortex and related brain areas adapt when players are encouraged to use both feet and to think in a symmetrical way." All Conductors, I hope and expect, will find nothing exceptional or exceptionable in that statement. So writes Matthew Syed, Sports Journalist of the Year, in The Times last week, in an article about English football's youth academies. What's interesting is what he writes next. "The head coach at one of... Read more →

If we can't do the maths on neurodevelopment problems, can we at least agree on the words?

So many words we use as if we had a common understanding what they mean: “inclusion” for instance, or “needs”; “special educational needs” or “learning disability”. A few months ago, we finally, after very many years, successfully, or so we thought, saw our adult daughter moved from the “physical disabilities team” to the “learning disabilities team”. Today, we learned that there was a flaw in the assessment and that she must be re-assessed – parents not invited, by the way.... Read more →

Cerebral palsy research continues to be dominated by all things medical

I suppose its the dominant discourse that we just have to live with, adapt to or carry on in spite of. Cerebral Palsy Research (CPRes) aims at nothing less than "Shaping the future of research into cerebral palsy". Hear what CPRes have to say of themselves: Cerebral Palsy Research (CPRes) is a multidisciplinary community, university and clinical research group which brings together people with cerebral palsy, their family and carers, clinicians, healthcare professionals and researchers. We work in partnership to... Read more →

Re-launch of Action Cerebral Palsy website imminent - with maybe something for CE too?

Look out for the imminent re-launch of the Action Cerebral Palsy website to coincide with ACP's registration with the Charity Commission. And maybe something for conductive education, too. A year ago, ACP was celebrating a year as the chosen charity of Whitehouse Public Relations Consultancy with the publication of the ACP report, "Enabling Potential: Achieving a New Deal for Children with Cerebral Palsy". Whitehouse continued to support ACP during 2015, bringing issues faced by children with cerebral palsy to the... Read more →

Stayin' Alive! Who cares? Friends do. We all need friends.

Loneliness kills. In that two-word summary, is the essence of a new study from Brigham Young University. With an ageing population, isolation among the elderly is becoming an ever more serious matter. Life or death. The downloadable study, published in the journal PLoS Medicine, finds that a lack of social relationships is as bad as smoking 15 cigarettes a day or being an alcoholic and is more harmful than not exercising or obesity. I, of course, think immediately of adults... Read more →