C.E. Jottings

A Fitbit for orthofunction and healthy lifestyle? Maybe. #CondEd

A Fitbit. For someone who doesn’t walk or take the stairs. Is there any point? Discuss, please. So asked Glenda Watson-Hyatt on Facebook a few days ago. Glenda’s interest was in how much, as an electric wheelchair user, she actually moves. If you’d like to read the whole fascinating series of comments and discussion that followed, you can find it here. Some of the comments focused factually on what a FitBit can actually do: from the maybe well-known such as... Read more →

We do things differently in conductive education, it seems

West Ham beat Newcastle Untied 2-0 at the weekend. I watched the first half on TV. To be honest, I wasn’t terribly interested in either side and it wasn’t a top game. When West Ham went 2-0 up just before half-time, I switched the TV off. Nothing much happened in the second half, it seems. No goals anyway. Actually, I was only filling time, waiting for my grandson to contact me on FaceTime. He’d just got the results of an... Read more →

On Purpose ..... and lessons from Premier League Soccer

I wrote last about Trusteeship ... on Trustees' role as Guardians of the definition of success and how soccer clubs treasure "a sense of what they stand for, what they are and a respect for those who have 'gone before’" Another way of saying the 'definition of success' is 'Purpose'. So how about this from today's Independent? "Never underestimate the power of a purpose. From Klopp’s Liverpool to Warnock’s Cardiff, from Pep’s City to Pulis’s Middlesbrough, the modern club -... Read more →

On Trusteeship ... and lessons from Premier league soccer

A few days ago, I had a brief email exchange with Andrew Sutton about Trusteeship. The topic was prompted by Stick 'n Step's detailed description of the Trustee role which they were seeking to fill (not an easy task at the best of times - so good luck). I happened to comment to Andrew that the best summary I'd ever been told of what it was to be a Trustee was also the briefest: "Trustees are the guardians of the... Read more →

"Air, Food and Experience" ... and Conductive Education

A moment ago, I was on Gill Maguire's Conductive Education Information website searching for something, and was reminded of this posting "Air, Food & Experience" by Judit Szathmary. If you've not read it, you should. If you did read it when Judit published it November, then I urge you to read it again, as I have just done. "There is a significantly different experience between mainstream special education combined with therapy and conductive movement pedagogy. Conductive movement pedagogy is about... Read more →

"It's a poor craftsman that blames his tools"

To the eye of this parent and English-trained teacher, the Petö Institute could be a challenging environment. One of the more curious features of conductive education as practised at Kútvölgyi út was the responsibility taken by Conductors for the equipment they worked with and the rooms they worked in, including responsibility at the end of one working day for cleaning and setting up their room for the next day's session. As I came to understand Conductive Education, or Conductive Movement... Read more →

Where's the Bowling Alley? Thoughts on the design for Paces Sheffield's new CE facility.

A week ago last Wednesday, I spent a very pleasurable and interesting 30 minutes at the presentation by Masters' students from Sheffield University Architecture Department, of a design for a new facility for Paces Sheffield "to create one of the leading purpose-built conductive education centres in the country." (Andrew Sutton's Facebook post "Something of wider significance at Paces Sheffield" has some useful links.) The students had clearly put a lot of work into their proposed design and presentation. The 3-D... Read more →

Designing companionable spaces for adult continuing conductive education

Four unrelated events have recently come my way : One: I've recently been working to recover the website for the Sheffield Symposium on adult and continuing conductive education that was thought to have been 'terminated' (I'll let you know when it's back online); Two: The report of the year long EU Erasmus Project on adults and conductive education is imminent. I'm looking forward to reading it; Three: Paces Sheffield, working with architecture Masters' students from Sheffield University is undertaking a... Read more →

Transition to adult services - and so it goes on, unending, unchanging. No? Tell me different, then!

Searching for something else, I came across this earlier today. Written when our daughter Sarah was 18 (so about 2000), for a purpose long since forgotten, possibly publication, its subject is the transition from children' services to adults' services, from childhood to adulthood. It's a bleak picture as bleak as the Joseph Rowntree Report that it refers to "Hurtling Into A Void?" Would that someone could tell me how much better transition is for young people and their families today,... Read more →

Designing spaces for adult and continuing conductive education

I'll keep this brief: Have you or anyone you know ever had the opportunity to design dedicated spaces specifically for adult and continuing conductive education services? If so, I'd love to hear from you at [email protected] Many thanks. Read more →