Goldfish. . .

Well, so, we set up an aquarium in Blue's room. During the "cycling" period when all the nitrates, phosphates, lactates, concubites, and Hittites were changing places in the population rankings; 8of 9 goldfish perished. The survivor has become a favorite creature of my better 3/4's and she has refused to allow me to return this hardy individual to the fish store. (They let you bring fish back to trade them in for more fashionable fins.)Apparently, the goldfish were meant to prepare the water for the more socially-beloved fish. Anyway, we have this one left; and he's somewhat of a pig. Eating everything, plants included, and getting bigger by the mouthful.

As an 'aquarist,' one learns that his status as "keeper of the tank" isn't as God-like as it seemed from the start. When everybody dies, and the only thing you can do about it is run back to the fish store and do exactly what they tell you [read 'sell you']; well the truth has come home to roost, baby.

And in similar fashion, the conductor bursts into your life all smiles and with her own unique accent; and we learn again how much we have to learn. Thank goodness! My mental aquarium has lost a few fish to this point. I need someone to toss me a flake!

Then we [Anne & I] meet another 'CP parent' in Seattle the other day ago. She has only recently learned that there is a conductor lurking in her city; so we put them onto each other. Hate to say so, but it's no surprise to hear this parent tell me, "He's learned more from an hour and a half with the conductor than in all of his therapeutic life." How crazy, that a phrase like that is actually old hat. Maybe conductive education is like that last, tough goldfish who stood the test and still stands.

Just a reminder, conductive education is moving again in B.C. Check the link on my blog list for Moving Ahead Conductive Consulting. Zsipp-Zsupp!

There IS conductive education in B.C. - go to Anna's link: open for business!

http://movingaheadconductiveconsulting.blogspot.com/


Anna's here: living in Surrey for the present. She has wheels, a phone, a blog site, and a little brother with CP! She's the best.(And remember, she's German, so it's Anna like the Spanish speaker would say, 'Ana.')

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind; . . .

Okay, so I see my boy really interested in a set of buttons. It's a toy for the really young; letters of the alphabet, push A, it says, "A." Simple. Not good enough for his brain. So, I hear about a keyboard that can be adapted for 2 buttons, 4 buttons, 8, and so on. Intellikeys, it's called. I send a message to the folks who have contacts; equipment, therapists, etc. I say, "Do you have one of these I could give a try? Can you tell me where I can buy one?"

What's the answer? Get me a referral, let's do an assessment; see what might work for him. Get the SLP involved, e t e c e t e r a. . .Find out what sort of communication thing-a-ma-bobs would be best for him. If I brought my car in for an oil change,and they told me to go get a referral from a mechanic to see what I really needed; well, you might imagine how that would transpire.

There is a word for this: bureaucrap.

ten long years, and five little days. . .

After a whirlwind visit to the family in Minnesota, and five days playing with 'able-bodied' nieces, the familiar shock of my "CP child" comes as somewhat of a welcome rest. Everything is slower and odd, as usual, but his smile and his laugh and his soldiering on into every little task is inspiring all over again.

The magic-bullet [blender] finally lost its momentum and has to be replaced, so now we're looking into the really 'spensive machine touted as the premier G-tube feeder: the Vita-mix. I had to wrangle them to let me try it before I buy it. They will do so, and not charge me for the shipping; a good sign from a reasonable business.

Blue has six fish in his tank now, and there's room for plenty more. We were sure to get the blue-est one available; a gourami. Now he has, one fish, two fish, pepper fish, blue fish! Now I have to find a way to relocate the aquarium closer to his bed so he can watch them more closely. The original location across the room and on top of the dresser is great for us 'able-bodied', eye-level mutants; but for him the view is less captivating. Hmm,. . 102 litres of water, about 220 pounds? Going to have to get Troy and Jan and Sergio and Fingers involved here.. .

And of course, in other news, Anne-Cristiane Wittig will be arriving by driving from Manitoba this weekend to begin her new career as the Lower Mainland's only resident conductor! Zsipp-Zsupp indeed! Do the British trained conductors use Hungarian much?

Silence is golden, and duct tape is silver!

I'm so excited about the next step here, a conductor actually MOVING to the Lower Mainland (Vancouver area), that I feel somewhat gagged into silence. Over the years, I've learned there are plenty of people and organizations who like to have conductive education velcroed to their names; but once it becomes clear how much work and love is involved, well, fads fade.

I have also found that cerebral palsy (or insert your favorite motor disorder here!) does not fade. (That's my newfound acceptance and awareness and [big yawn] action!) It's like being tied to a railroad car but given the blessed permission to pull it with your arms and legs instead of just your teeth!

I have also learned that researching, talking, marketting, blogging, blah blah blah about conductive education is anti-climactic at best. The real magic happens in that tiny little world between the konductor, the kid, and the kparent. I get little bits of that magic every day as Blue and I continually discover different ways to achieve the same goals. Explaining it matters only to the esoteric few; which is good in some ways. After all, who wants the pressure of the attention of curious consumers of "news" peering into your fishbowl to see if a fish can really use a bicycle? No thanks!!

So, as the blessed moment draws nearer, our very own conductor coming here to stay and pay taxes with us; I find myself having less and less to say. She's going to build something and like my Dad always said: "You want to help? Get out of the way."

the rut thing to say. . .

Like any dork who thinks he knows his stuff, I have found myself becoming stale. It's gotten so repetitive with my boy, that I have little motivation to try new things. I am forgetting to speak more to him; to ask him to vocalize. I notice when we're 'struggling' to make a transfer in or out of the van that I am doing too much work again, and he's relying on me to do it. Usually all it takes is one-deep breath and a moment's concentration to see what it is I must say to him. Like "put your foot down", "stand up", or "just relax". A touch, a word, a smile; very little does the trick, but I've become so entrenched in the repetitions, the maintenance, that it begins to look like a life's unchanging routine. This is not good.
Hence, with a little input, and I do mean a little; one can 'freshen' up a great many tasks. (So here we go . .) If one had access to a conductor on a more regular, and less intense, basis than say, a summer 'camp;' well, there'd be a lot more humanity to it I say. Participating in a summer session of six to eight weeks was really great the first and second times; but holy smokes, can I be honest?! Who in the world is happy to give up their summer ( a precious and wonderful time in B.C.) for a 5-hour learning workshop, Monday to Friday? Parents, of course, and let me add, dissatisfied parents; hopeless parents; desperate parents. Well, now that a bevy of us curious folks have had the curiousity somewhat attended to, it's time to stop acting like novices entering some weird monastery; hiding our secret methods from a misunderstanding public. Bollocks. (Of course, bollocks is hardly a Canadian term; but it sounds so much less offensive than well, you know.)
Therefore, I think, organizations that focus on starting a somewhat exclusive program, apart from already established institutions are not necessarily serving the families who need conductive education. For a time, for a cost, and in a proprietary way, they are definitely serving them; but my list of non-returning families is a lot longer than my list of steady clients. Why? Cost, of course, and this "magical-mystery" garbage that often makes practitioners of CE act like 'nobody wuvs me.' I cry, alas. Give me a break.
If it's going to work, it has to not only work; it has to FIT. It should start in the home, then seep into the normal, everyday school life. Working from the inside; where it's already a given that we're all here for the kids, and oh guess what? The kids are here too. Hmm, I rather like that.

Out of the goldfish bowl indeed. . .

Mr. Sutton is right. Talking of CE outside of CE circles is rather important. I used to blather about it like a 'natural' when I first became involved with it. Now I don't even mention it until the conversation has moved along to a point where it might seem logical to explain "where I learned this stuff." 'This stuff' is utterly useless to me as a parent if it's not translatable, applicable, USEFUL in the real world. Because the things Blue and I have learned from CE are pragmatic and helpful in our family life, well, because of that I have kept up what I can. I wouldn't be "blogging" about it these ten years later if it hadn't somehow become useful and worthwhile.

Even today Blue and I were at the Sunnyhill Centre for Children in Vancouver. We were there to see Nicole, who for years has been seeing to his wheelchair and such gear; that it fits, works, functions. She casually remarked that I "handle him so well." This really made my day. There was no need to blather on and on about CE; though I did mention that British Columbia's 2nd resident conductor ever is coming at the end of the summer. Nicole smiled and enjoyed this news with me. It was no big deal, and we moved on to other topics; but it showed me that it's not always a battle. People see the sense in something and simple as that, they don't mind its presence.

Conductive education has always had that immediate sort of "curb appeal." Families who are confused, desperate, scared, and weary of hearing bad news are buoyed up by CE; not because it's CE, but because it hits home and matters right away in their every day lives. At least, for a great many it does.