Stroke

" Thoughtful", by Susie Mallett, 2004

Someone told me that my "Questions“ posting of a few days ago is one of the best accounts of an adult’s CE group ever!

I replied that I don’t know about that but if it is any good then it must be because this is perhaps the best adults’ group that I have worked with, ever, anywhere! One reason for this just has to be that it is a long-term group with one of its original members still regularly taking part after twelve years of Conductive Education.

I have never seen anything about this written down about this before perhaps it is time somebody began to discuss it: long-term groups.

Yes I know there are exceptional circumstances calling for a different kind of provision but the same must be true for adult CE in general as it is for children’s CE: as a general rule Conductive Education for chronic conditions just has to be long-term. Quick one-off blocks and courses make me wonder what people think it is all about.

I think that my own four-times three weeks each year works perfectly. The adults do not become dependent on me, on the group or on being "therapied". My clients have time between blocks for their lives, to practise what they learn, to develop new interests. Time to live their lives without always driving from one appointment to the next.

I think that this intermittent way, with bits-in-between, is probably a good way for setting up a conductive life style.

This subject could be an important consideration in research projects in Conductive Education with adults: to look at how successful the different models are, which of the models encourage dependence, which of the clients consider themselves ill, with a need to attend "therapy" on a weekly basis, and which models encourage independence, with the clients living conductively, their sessions becoming a small part of the whole that is their lives and not a separate element, or even worse "therapy" becoming their whole lives.