"Post with pogácsas"
Spina bifida
I have found very little to read about spina bifida and Conductive Education, I believe that there is no longer a specialist spina bifida group at the Petö Institute and as far as I know it is the same at the Conductive Education Learning Centre in Grand Rapids, USA. I have been told, though, that there are mixed groups at both.
Please correct me if I am wrong and also please tell me whether there are other spina bifida groups anywhere in the conductive world.
As a student-conductor I worked in the spina bifida Kindergarten at the Petö Institute and it was a wonderful experience. I believe that the leader of this group is one of the conductors now training students in Grand Rapids. I learnt so much from her, for which I am now so very grateful.
Very few conductors have experience with children with this neurological disorder and I often get inquiries from students and young conductors asking where they can gather information and/or experience. I tell them all that I can and then refer them to the conductors in Grand Rapids and at the Petö Institute, and also to a book written by Dr Erika Medveczky: “Conductive Education as an educational method of neurorehabilitation.”
New blog on the block
Today I discovered this:
http://ourlittlegibblet.blogspot.com/2009/11/conductive-learning-center.html
It is a parents' blog, written mainly by the father, about life with their almost-two-year-old son Greyson who was born with a neural tube defect. Greyson attends the Conductive Education Learning Centre in Grand Rapids. It is worth taking a look.
I find the blog especially interesting because the child is beginning his conductive upbringing at such an early age.
This could turn out to be a very valuable addition to the conductive"literature", and I hope that we will all be able to learn something by following Greyson's progress.
Best wishes to the Gibb family, and thank you for this insight.
Notes
Conductive Education Learning Centre in Grand Rapids, USA -
http://www.aquinas.edu/clc/
Greyson and his parents’ blog -
http://ourlittlegibblet.blogspot.com/2009/11/conductive-learning-center.html
Previous spina bifida postings on my blog –
http://www.susie-mallett.org/search?q=spina+bifida
Dr Erika Medveczky-"Conductive Education as an educational method of neurorehabilitation", Budapest, 2006, ISBN963 229 819 5
3 comments:
Very timely, let us hope that there will be time to save enough of this specialism for its essence to take new roots and grow, perhaps rather different in form,in new social and national contexts.
By one of those strange coincidences, only yesterday I stumbled across the following all-too-brief account:
'Pető Success at the Arm Wrestling World Cup and Hegyvidék Fit Parade
Written by Pécsi, Beáta
Monday, 09 November 2009 12:32
'Ákos Galyas finished third on 17 Oct 2009 at the Arm Wrestling World Cup where 180 contestants of 10 nations tested their strength. A day later, he took part in another competition called the Hegyvidék Fitt Parade and he finished fifth in weightlifting.
'Ákos was born with spina bifida (“open” spine) and has been using a wheelchair since childhood. He received conductive education at the Pető Primary School where he first showed an interest in ball games. Then he tried various sports, wheelchair half marathon, disabled tennis, weightlifting and arm wrestling with much success. He is four times Hungarian arm wrestling champion and six times Hungarian weight lifting champion. He was chosen “the disabled sportsman of the year” in 2007. Now he is preparing for the 2012 London Paralympics as he has qualified to represent Hungary. He returned to the Pető Institute in February 2009 to stay in the Pető Apartment Hotel and work at its reception in the mornings. In the afternoons before going to trainings, he spends his time with the primary school children to set a positive example for disabled kids. Keep it up, Ákos!'
Last Updated on Monday, 09 November 2009 12:42
I found this on the Pető Institute's website. This site is not very user-friendly for English-speakers. Go to www.peto.hu and click on the little Union Jack up toward the top-right of the page. There you will see this story, and a photograph of Ákos.
You and others might find it useful when talking to parents and young people... even perhaps with professionals.
Andrew.
Thank you Susie for this piece of information. I wish all of us in the conductive community, busy in explaining to the world what conductive education is all about, were so literate...
I believe that the leader of this group is one of the conductors now training students in Grand Rapids. I learnt so much from her, for which I am now so very grateful.
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