The centre offers Conductive Education to children and adults seven days a week, all the year round, with regular weekend workshops, a variety of training programmes, consultancy work and holds occasional conferences.
I arrived at 10.30 as the six children were having their snack break. All were very jolly and happy to talk to me before they went back to ‘work’ ten minutes later. On Saturdays there are two group sessions of three hours each run by Mandy, and the children come from all over the country, not just locally. Most are regular attenders and have got to know each other very well.
The centre has never had to advertise its services, as satisfied parents and adults have spread the word for them. More information about the services can be found at
http://www.conductive-educationsupport.com/index.php
Mandy has designed two sets of Challenge Me! cards. The first was produced to help improve mobility and independence skills in children between 3 and 12 with a motor disorder and the second set was produced to aid speech and communication. An information leaflet produced for the second set, published 2009, states the cards aim ‘to encourage children with speech and language difficulties to develop communication skills, breathing techniques, tongue control, vocalisation, lip closure…’
These cards and instruction booklets are the first such practical publications to be published by a conductor.
Further information can be obtained from
http://www.challengemecards.com/index.html
or the centre’s website.