CE Workshop in North America

The Association for Conductive Education in North America (ACENA) and the Conductive Learning Center (CLC) in Grand Rapids are happy to announce a two day workshop in March 18-19, 2010:

Contents:

-Age and Symptom specific programs in various CE group settings including Parent & Child, Early Childhood and Adolescent groups

-General background information about the conditions of spina bifida and spinal injury at an early age

-Symptom specific goals and tasks in the heterogeneous CE group setting especially focusing on children with spinal injury/spina bifida

-Concepts such as activities during the daily routine, group work, motivation, intention, facilitation, and differentiation in a heterogeneous-symptom group setting

The workshop is suggested for:

Conductor-teachers
Related Credentialed Professionals
Program directors/Administrators who are collaborating with CETs in CE settings.

Location:

Conductive Learning Center
2448 Burton S.E, Grand Rapids, MI
Phone: 616 575 0575

Fee: $200 for ACENA members. (Includes snacks and lunch at the Center for both days)

Deadline for Application: January 10th, 2010

The course will take place under the condition that at least 5 applications are received.


Note: Information taken from www.acena.org.

Just Do It!

I received my copy this weekend. A pleasant surprise, as the estimated ship date was not until December 15. So far, I have only been able to read the Introduction and a few pages of the first chapter. I am excited to continue reading the experiences of my NICE colleagues, and will be sure to report back upon finishing the book.

Published by Conductive Education Press, edited by Andrew Sutton and Gillian Maguire, available at Blurb for US$13.50.

New Group on the CE Block

Wow, it's been so long since my last post! Cold winds and snowflakes have returned to the midwest, and it's nearly Christmas. I can't believe it!

After a little nudge, Susie M. and I have started a new project, a new Google Group called Spina Bifida and Conductive Education. Here is the group description:

This is a group for everybody who would like to see the benefits of Conductive Education extended and developed for children and adults with spina bifida, their families and their carers, wherever they may be.

Here you can share experience, ask questions, offer information and advice on CONDUCTIVE UPBRINGING at home and CONDUCTIVE PEDAGOGY however it might be applied.

The group welcomes the experiences and expertise of ANYONE who lives with spina bifida and everyone who wishes to help in a conductive manner.

Write in English, or in any language that you feel comfortable with.

Anyone can join -- Go to the right side of the page and click "Join this Group" and you will be directed to create a Google account. You can use your current email address to join.

Anyone can post, after they have joined -- Click on "Discussions" then "+ new post". Or add your comments to an existing discussion.

Please join us, and tell us your experience of Spina Bifida and Conductive Education.

Conductive Education News from North America

News regarding a Conductive Education Awareness Day and the Sixth Annual ACENA Conference has recently been posted on ACENA's website. Check out www.acena.org under "What's New" for the full information. I will give a little preview here.


Conductive Education Awareness Day
The Association for Conductive Education in North America (ACENA) will launch the first ever North American Conductive Education Awareness Day on Thursday, February 25, 2010.

A CE Awareness Day campaign ‘kit’ will be prepared and circulated to all ACENA members that will provide customizable press releases, letters to local government, Conductive Education stats and facts, sample advertisements with a common message, and a post-campaign evaluation. Look for the kit in late December.


6th Annual ACENA Conference
ACENA, in cooperation with March of Dimes Canada, will host its 6th Annual Conference in Toronto, Ontario, August 26-27, 2010. The Host Committee is very pleased to offer a forum for showcasing research, best practices, trends and specific issues related to the practice of Conductive Education for children and adults in North America.


Feel free to contact me for further information on these events or on ACENA in general.

A great day

It was a great day to be in the classroom today...

• A very serious little girl who rarely speaks (and when she does it is only a whisper) was playing, laughing, and excitedly shouting "lion! lion!" in my morning group of little children.

• One of my boys stood up by the plinth all by himself.

• A previous wheelchair-user took unassisted steps all the way across the room.
  

There was so much laughter, cheering, and some misty eyes too. What a great day to be a conductor...

ACENA Newsletter with Article on Conductor Training

The latest Association for Conductive Education in North America (ACENA) Newsletter has recently been mailed out.

Articles include: "President's Column", "Fundraising by Movie", "Conductive Education on Demand", and a brief summary of the Fifth Annual ACENA Conference.

Also in this issue is the following article called "Aquinas College Conductor Teacher Training Program" written by Andrea Benyovszky, CET, ACENA Director of Practice.

After a hiatus on enrollment to the Conductive Education/Physically Impaired (POHI) training program, due to Michigan Department of Education changes in standards, Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI, is reinstituting the only Conductor Teacher training program in North America.

The Conductive Learning Center (CLC) will be working closely with Aquinas to market and recruit students to the program. Graduates of this program will receive an elementary, K-grade 5 teacher certification, K-grade 12 physically impaired (POHI) endorsement, and a Peto certified Conductor-teacher certificate. Past graduates of the program are highly qualified in the field and have found employment very quickly upon graduation from the program.

The requirements for the degree are:

• 165 credit hours of classes (9 semesters)
• 10 lab school hours/week sophomore through senior year
• 1 semester student teaching (8 weeks general ed. and 8 weeks conductive ed.)

Potential candidates for the program are encouraged to contact Aquinas College, Director of Admissions, Angie Schlosser Bacon at (616) 632-2860, Nanette Clatterbuck, Dean of the School of Education at (616) 632-2973.

Andrea Benyovszky at the Conductive Learning Center would be happy to answer questions about the lab school requirement and Peto Institute's program at (616) 575-0575.

An American CE Video: Conductive Learning Center

Andrew's posting on Conductive World this morning reminded me of this video from the Conductive Learning Center, Grand Rapids, Michigan. I don't know if it is the same video that he was referring to as being posted on Facebook. Perhaps it is. I enjoy the video so much, I thought it should be shared further.


Notes
Conductive World. "The American Way" http://www.conductive-world.info/2009/10/american-way.html

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsgoG9XvOaM

Conductive Learning Center, Grand Rapids, Michigan: www.aquinas.edu/clc

Conductive Assistants

Since the new school year started, I have been working with three lovely ladies who come to my after school group from the local elementary school. There they work as aides in special education classrooms. Before the work began, we had a brief introductory meeting. Since then it has been on-the-job training for them. We have limited time together, really the only time we have is when we are together in the group.


I am looking for ways, advice, suggestions to improve our work together. How can I help them to understand our aims without overwhelming them? How can I help them to work more 'conductively'?


How do I train conductive assistants?

A Back Saver!

Just enough time tonight for a quick update...I'm happy to report that a local family has volunteered to help me move and put away furniture at the end of the day. My back is feeling better already!

My groups are coming together quite nicely...smoother than I had anticipated. Thanks to Judit Sz. for some beautiful advice:
"...The master peace will manifest be sure about that."

First Day of School!

And I am tired! Conductive programming started up again for me today. I have a small group of the little ones (ages 2-3), and an after school group. Five of my children are new to CE. This semester will be tons of fun, I can feel it already. I only hope my back will survive.

Blue Sky July

I first heard of Blue Sky July from Jacolyn over at Lieck Triplets. I started and finished reading it on the train to and from Chicago.

From the publisher:
"Set between the summers of 1998 and 2005 in Cardiff, Wales, Blue Sky July follows the story of a mother whose child suffers a devastating brain injury. It traces her journey into a world hidden away in society’s pockets as she battles against impossible odds to heal him.

Through her intimate day by day musings, the book explores the impact of the tragedy on her home life, love life, friendships and connection to the world, as the most extraordinary relationship unfolds between them."

I thought Nia Wyn's poetic writing style was incredibly beautiful. Her style made the book a very easy read, but I found myself going back to re-read excerpts then closing the book to absorb what I had just read. She does a lovely job of describing the mother-child relationship.

Nia Wyn chronicles her quest to find anything that will help her son. Along the way she found many things including physiotherapy, speech therapy, Reiki, patterning, cranial osteopathy, healers, herbalists, massage, and conductive education. It is not a 'scientific' book by any means, and is not focused on the 'technical' aspects of CP or any of the treatment methods used.

If you have some time at the weekend, I'd encourage you to pick up a copy of this book for yourself.

ACENA Conference Wrap-Up

This week I had the fantastic opportunity to travel to Chicago, Illinois, to attend the Fifth Annual ACENA Conference. I began my travels on Wednesday by driving the hour and twenty minutes to my parents' home. From there, they drove me to the airport (train station). I caught the train (a very nerve-wracking experience for me), and enjoyed the less than 3 hour train ride to Chicago. I arrived at Millennium Station in Chicago on Wednesday evening, and checked into my hotel. I was beyond happy not to have to worry about driving into and around Chicago.

Some highlights...
Thursday morning, I arrived at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) bright and early for registration. Our keynote speaker was Dr. Jim Garofalo. His topic of interest, "Conductive Education in the USA: Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow." Dr. Garofalo was the Dean of the School of Education at Aquinas College for 25 years, during which the conductor training program was created in full cooperation with the Peto Institute.

Next, Dr. Julie Wirth presented "CEEP, Conductive Education Evaluation Project: Where We Are Now." Dr. Wirth is the CEEP Project Manager. CEEP is a randomized controlled trial designed to assess the value of CE for children aged 2-6 with CP. It was nice to hear the current status of the research project, but discouraging to hear that the lack of funds in the State of Michigan may be having an effect on the project.

David Dvorak, also ACENA President, presented "Fun with Fundraising." Topics discussed: What are the primary funding streams, funding structure, adding 'fun' and excitement to the fundraising director/strategies, benefits of fundraising, planning/execution of event, and specific examples of fundraisers. Some examples given were raffles, social events, golf outings, benefit concerts, etc. etc.

Monika Robinson, OTR/L, presented on "Educational and Medical Research Supporting Conductive Education." Topics discussed: Evidence-Based Practice (what is it, levels of EBP, randomized clinical trials, benefits of EBP); recent medical systematic review article on CE (Darrah, J. et. al. (2003) Effects of Conductive Education Intervention for Children with a Diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy: An AACPDM Evidence Report); use of educationally and medically relevant terms while searching for articles that support CE (intensity, repetition, semantic priming, verbal mediation, mental practice, neuroplasticity, ecological approach, dyad training, task-oriented, occupational life skills...). This was a 'hot topic' and had more discussion than there was time for.

And now for a little fun...
Thursday evening we walked just down the street for dinner at Quartino's Restaurant. This was the time for meeting up with old friends/classmates/colleagues, as well as meeting with new ones. I was so happy to have the chance to meet with two conductors working less than a 3 hour drive away from me. It was a great opportunity to 'charge up' for the coming year.

More presentations...
Friday morning came and Dr. Deborah Gaebler gave her presentation on "Levels of Participation of Children with CP." Dr. Gaebler also promoted the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine in Scottsdale, Arizona, September 23-26, 2009.

Then Andrea Benyovszky, CET, presented on "Traditional and Non-Traditional Cases in CE: Appropriate Candidates." Andrea presented three case studies, following three children from the initial application to assessment to admission (on a trial basis) through a four-week session, and the decision following the trial four-week session. Two of the children (with a non-traditional diagnosis) were found to be appropriate candidates for CE, and continued with CE sessions. Again, this presentation had much discussion. I really enjoyed this presentation as it reminded us to not put so much emphasis on the medical diagnosis, but to use operative observation and our best judgement when deciding if what we can offer will be beneficial to the child. Also discussed was the issue of how to best handle a situation in which we see a child who is not an appropriate candidate for CE.

Lastly was the group forum and ACENA membership meeting. Brent Page discussed the idea of a National Conductive Education Awareness Day. It seemed that everyone was in favor of the idea, but a date is yet to be determined.

At the Annual General Membership meeting of ACENA, each Director gave a report of his/her progress in meeting goals for the year.

Reflecting on 5 years...
It's hard to believe that we have been putting on a 'workshop' or 'conference' of some kind for 5 years now. I was a student when we started with the First Annual CE Workshop at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

We always have room to change, grow, and develop, but I felt good about this year's conference. Yes, participation was a bit lower comparing this year to last. (The poor economy and the later date combined to prevent some people from attending.) But many geographical areas were represented by approximately 40-45 participants:

• Illinois
• Michigan
• Pennsylvania
• Ohio
• Arkansas
• California
• Indiana
• Virginia
• Maryland
• Colorado
• Toronto, Canada
• Birmingham, UK

I enjoyed the company of conductors, Hungarian, British, and American alike, as well as program administrators, PTs, OTs, MDs, and other interested professionals. I hope to see them all again next year.

Many thanks!
I would like to thank the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and the Center for Independence through Conductive Education for hosting the conference again this year. A big, giant "thank you" to the Center for Independence staff for all of their hard work to pull this together. Also thanks to the following vendors for their support: Creative Mobility, Dynavox (Mayer-Johnson), Flaghouse Furniture, Kaye Products, Inc., Rifton Equipment, and, of course, Starbucks.

See you next year...in Toronto?

A Reminder...

It's not too late to register for the Association for Conductive Education in North America annual conference in Chicago. Go to ACENA's website: www.acena.org to find the Registration Form and full program. Fax or call-in your registration and then join us this Thursday, September 3 and Friday, September 4.

Some of the presentations include:

"Conductive Education in the USA: Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow"

"Current Research Efforts on CE: Michigan State University"

"A Format for Documenting the Effects of Conductive Education on its Clients"

"Educational & Medical Research Supporting CE"

"Traditional and Non-traditional Cases in CE: Appropriate Candidates"

"Levels of Participation of Children with CP"

I hope to see you there!

Thanks for the memories

Lately I've been thinking how nice it would be to make a return visit to Hungary. I went to Budapest with my classmates and teacher for three weeks in April/May 2006. My classmate and I had just finished our second year, and the three other girls had just finished their third year. While there, we had lectures on adult symptomology, observed in the adult department, visited some of our favorite conductors in their groups, went on a horseback-riding excursion with the integrated kindergarten, enjoyed dinners with professors, bought finger puppets at a shop in Szentendre, saw many attractions around Budapest, and so much more. I've been looking through photos from the trip, and thought I would share just a few of them with you.

It was a long trip from Michigan, but we finally arrived at the airport in Budapest...

We lived at Villanyi Ut Peto for three weeks.

My room
A park on Villanyi ut. Enjoyed more than one piece of dobos torta on the park bench.
We spent lots of time at the Peto Institute.
A view from the balcony.
We enjoyed The Marriage of Figaro at the Opera House.
Fun times on a carriage ride.
One of the most beautiful places I've ever been...

At Moricz Zsigmond Square.
The architecture was so beautiful.
On the Duna...

I do hope to be able to return to Hungary sooner rather than later...

The Keymakers

Keymakers
author unknown

Some people see a closed door,

and turn away.

Others see a closed door,
try the knob

if it doesn't open...

they turn away.

Still others see a closed door,

try the knob,

if it doesn't open,
they find a key,
if the key doesn't fit...
they turn away.

A rare few see a closed door,
try the knob,
if it doesn't open,
they find a key,
if the key doesn't fit...
They make one.

Time for a vacation...

After a summer that was absolutely packed full of CE programming, I now have a couple of weeks to take a bit of a vacation. If I could have planned in advance, I would have loved to make a return trip to Budapest, or perhaps I could have gone to visit Susie M. Alas, my summer schedule came together at the last minute, and now my vacation must be a "local" one. Below I shall describe a few of the options of how I can possibly spend my upcoming free time...

Fulton County Fair, September 4-10

• Primitive camping
• Baby animal barn
• Backseat driver contest
• Cow Milking and Costumed Animal Contest
• The Oak Ridge Boys & Charlie Daniels Band
• Elephant ears, corn dogs, and every other type of junk food
  

Cruise Night, Every Tuesday

• Classic cars lining the street
• My favorite: Blue 1969 Ford Mustang

Sauder Historic Village, Tuesday-Sunday

• Interact with history in our fully-staffed Village brimming with
  the stories, sights and sounds of a century ago.

Toledo Museum of Art, Tuesday-Sunday

• Monkey Business
• Prints of Pop II: The Art of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi
• LitGraphic: The World of the Graphic Novel
  

Of course, attempting to sleep in, catching up on some reading, dog-sitting for my parents, and attending the ACENA Conference are also on the list. Any other suggestions are more than welcome.

ACENA Conference

The ACENA (Association for Conductive Education in North America) Conference is being held again this year at the Rehabilitation Institute in Chicago, September 3 & 4. Visit ACENA's website for a Registration Form.

PROGRAM
Thursday, September 3
8:00-8:30 Registration

8:30-8:45 Welcome

8:45-9:45 Keynote - Vincent Garofalo, PhD. "Conductive Education in the USA: Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow"

9:45-10:00 Break

10:00-11:00 Julie Wright "Current Research Efforts on CE: Michigan State University"

11:10-12:15 Citlali Lopez, PhD. & Roberta O'Shea, PhD., PT "Current Research Efforts on CE: Governors State University"

12:15-1:00 Lunch

1:00-1:45 Andrea Benyovszky, CET & Vincent Garofalo, PhD. "A Format for Documenting the Effects of Conductive Education on its Clients"

Parallel Sessions
1:55-2:40 Brent Page & Donna Mackay, “Life Stage Transition Service for Teens with Cerebral Palsy: An Ontario Experience”
1:55-2:40 Lara DePoy, OTR/L, “Impact of the Sensory System on Motor Development”

2:50-3:35 Monika Robinson, OTR/L, “Educational & Medical Research Supporting CE”
2:50-3:35 Dave Dvorak, PhD., “Fun with Fundraising”

3:45-4:30 Andrea Benyovszky, CET, “Traditional and Non-traditional Cases in CE: Appropriate Candidates”

5:30-7:30 Social Event at Quartino's Restaurant

Friday, September 4
7:30-8:30 ACENA Executive Committee Meeting

8:30-9:30 Dr. Deborah Gaebler, M.D., "Levels of Participation of Children with CP"

9:30-9:45 Break

9:45-10:45 Dr. Sue Mukherjee, M.D., "Resources for Transitioning Teens into Young Adults"

10:45-11:00 Break

11:00-12:30 Group Forum: "Future Vision and Strategies for the Practice of Conductive Education" ALSO TO INCLUDE: "A National Conductive Education Awareness Day" by Brent Page
Move directly to ACENA Membership Meeting

Welcome to the world of an American conductor...

Finally, I have taken the plunge and created my own blog! As Susie M. wrote on Conductor, "A Blog should most certainly be inserted in the list of the 10 most important things a woman should have, alongside the cordless drill and the little black dress." I am happy to now have my own blog, and will work on getting that cordless drill.


References
Mallett, Susie. 8 March 2008. http://www.susie-mallett.org/2008/03/little-black-dress.html