More about me.....

Well, day after tomorrow isn't too bad for my second posting!

I guess to understand a little more about how i have reached this point so far in training to be a Conductor - you need a little background on my life before CE...

As stated before I am 26 years old, and I grew up in Cannock - about 20 miles from the Institute in Birmingham with my mom, dad, 2 brothers, 1 sister, a dog and plenty of tropical fish!

My eldest brother has complex disabilities - he doesn't really have one specific diagnosis - he was born with mild Spina Bifida, and began to have seizures a few days after birth which caused extensive brain damage. He doesn't speak, is tube-fed, (due to Barrett's Osophegus), is doubly incontinent, has contracted limbs, windswept posture, uses a moulded wheelchair insert, but the majority of the time is very happy.

He is 31 years old - has always lived at home - and until recently has always been looked after by my parents alone.

But I wouldn't change anything of this situation for the world... this may shock some people, but anyone with a sibling, child, parent or other family member who has a disability, will understand the joy that my brother brings into my life and the way that this experience has helped shape the person that i am.

After A' Levels at school, i went to University and studied for a degree in Food and Consumer Management (I know - totally different!) When i finished this, i decided to go to America to work as an Au-Pair. I particularly stated on my application form that i did not want to work with Children with disabilities - I felt that i had had enough experiences with this and that my year would be more enjoyable to work with non-disabled children - how wrong was I!!!

I got a call and email with photos from a family in Chicago and within about 5 minutes was completely sold to go and work with a family with 4 childen, the youngest who had a Hemispherectomy at 18 months for seizures, and so has no left hemisphere resulting in paralysis to his right side, plus plenty of complex problems - including being diagnosed with Leukaemia 20 months ago...

Anyway, I enjoyed my time so much that i stayed for 2 years (!) and during this time was introduced to Conductive Education, by Szilvia Mark, a Conductor, who began to do private CE in the home, twice a week.

So that was my first introduction to Conductive Education and after the very first session I was straight on the internet searching exactly what CE was, and imagine my suprise when i discovered how very close to my home the training centre was, and so the application was completed, mailed in and i was invited for an interview..........

Will write more soon, i guess my first few posts will be getting up to where i am now - and then they can become more about the present...

And by the way - my oral exam was fine - have actually impressed myself with how much i do know about Conductive Education, but still scares me how much there still is to learn..........