SUSIE MALLETT

My visitors today

Sunday 17 May 2009

Developing human potential



"A musician in the park"

I had a conversation last week with someone who I respect, someone I have known for a long time and who has been involved in Conductive Education for almost as long as I have.

It is someone I think of as having a conductive soul, someone who really understands.

I was therefore shocked when I heard him speak these words: “Science, neurology, changing the pathways in the brain through Conductive Education”.

I have been pondering over this all week.


What do I do?


Could I have been so wrong in my judgement of this person, was I really wrong? Perhaps only a little bit wrong. Perhaps it is all the strange stuff that is written about Conductive Education that leads to people talking that way, whatever they actually “know”.

I tried hard to explain what I thought about this to him at the time.

I explained what I do as a conductor. This isn’t anything like what he was supposing, which was the “remoulding of the brain and mending of broken pathways”! This isn’t possible, well it isn’t yet proven that this is possible.

So, what am I?

What I do as a conductor is to develop human potential, to use abilities that are in fact already there, undiscovered and teach clients how to build on these and how to create new ones.

I begin by teaching my clients “tricks” to perform the actions they wish to make but first I need to know what the clients themselves intend to do.

I then break down the intended action to in as many movements for each individual as needed and check whether clients can make these relevant movements.

If we are making coffee I ask many questions. Can the client stand up, remain standing, lift an arm, grasp something, supinate and pronate the arm? Can the client actually remember the process how to make coffee?

The intention to make coffee is there the brain power is there but maybe the knowledge or the movements are not. This is where conductors and Conductive Education step in. I teach step by step how to achieve the client’s aim of standing, or perhaps even sitting, in the kitchen to make coffee and then to drink it.

I never give a thought to “brains”, “pathways” etc, and wouldn’t be any the wiser if I did.
What am I?

I am a pedagogue!

2 comments:

Laszlo said...

This is what i have been talking about anywhere I can. Well done, great post.

Susie Mallett said...

Thanks Laci

How are things going in your neck of the woods?

Susie