1. Empowering parents through Conductive Education
Anne Emerson
University of Nottingham

2. Introduction An outsider view The research Findings: empowerment
Challenges

3. holistic What I saw environment education -> expertise resources/
motor skills
communication
self-care/independence
resources/
technology
Background as SALT, invited to visit, went several times to develop understanding

4. What did I want to know: the research
Why parents attend?
What they gain?
What their child gains?
What can we learn from them?

5. Who did I meet? 17 mothers How did they get to this? Resourceful
Determined
Informed
Prepared
Optimistic
Empowered
How did they get to this?
Described their distress and anguish, that went on to the point where they started Sfp
Moving from stress

6. Barriers to parental empowerment
Emotional reactions to diagnosis
Parents (stress)
Other family members
Community
Lack of support
Focus on child
The breaking of natural relationships
Lack of education and training

7. Is parental stress inevitable? What does research say?
Yes to a point – parents cannot change their situation
Reduces over time
Reduces as child progress occurs
Reduces with appropriate support
Reduces when parents change the way they perceive the child’s disability

8. Reducing stress is of key importance
Stress impacts:
Parental well-being
Parent-child relationship
Siblings
Marital relationships
Indicative of less positive parenting
Outcomes for children

9. Negative cycle (pessimists)

10. Effective components of intervention (research)
Emotional support
Working collaboratively with professionals
Strengthening social supports
Safe, interesting environment
Positive learning environment
Having realistic expectations
Taking care of oneself
Family adaptation
Group work
Being part of the community

11. Facilitator of progress (research)
Skilled and expert facilitator who is warm, friendly, empathic, non-judgemental and non-patronising
Needs to work in an equal partnership with the parent

12. How do services best support parents?
Parent programmes
positive impact on mindset around disability
increased confidence and effectiveness in accessing services
beneficial changes in family dynamics and more effective community connections
reduce a sense of isolation and forge new friendships
Central aim of services should be to build parental capacity
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Daly et al. 2015

13. Education policy - SEND Code of Practice 2015
“Support should be family centred and should consider the individual family’s needs and the best ways to support them.” p.15
“Parents should be fully involved in making decisions about the nature of the help and support that they would like to receive” p.21

14. Physiotherapy guidelines
“The whole process of assessment, goal setting, management and evaluation must be focused on ongoing collaboration with children and their families, other professional groups and service providers.” p.17
The Association of Paediatric Chartered Physiotherapists (2007) Information to guide good practice for physiotherapists working with children. London: The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy

15. Gap between policy and practice
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16. Research findings – what made a difference to parents
Regular and long-term
Enjoyment and fun
Development of understanding
Group work
Learning through observation and doing
Direct instruction within trusting relationships
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17. Research findings – what made a difference to parents
Emotional well-being
Environment and ethos
Seeing children succeed
Positivity and building on strengths
Social support
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18. Research findings – what made a difference to parents
Impact of learning
Skill development and mastery
Self-confidence
A sense of control
Bringing learning home
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19. Positive cycle (optimists – natural or learned?)
Dispositional optimism

20. Benefits of Conductive Education
Learning comes from the opportunity to use skills and knowledge acquired, with the addition of social encouragement.
Once something is learned, this tends to lead to a permanent change in behavior
Provision needs to feel welcoming, non-judgemental, flexible, gentle and approachable, which suggests the need for a systematic change in service delivery
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21. How are parents empowered? – my model
Personal development
Training
Learning by doing
Education
Learning by thinking
Feelings and enabling environment
Empowerment
Personal development occurs gradually – needs long term input
Garavan T.N. (1997) Training, development, education and learning: different or the same?
Journal of European Industrial Training 21(2):

22. My findings
CE provides all essential ingredients to reduce stress and increase
Well-being
Positivity
High expectations for the child
Parental resilience
Empowerment
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23. Empowered parents empowered children
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24. References
Association of Paediatric Chartered Physiotherapists (2007) Information to guide good practice for physiotherapists working with children. London: The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
Farber, B., & Kirk, S. A. (1959). Effects of a severely mentally retarded child on family integration. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development,
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