From 2001 to 2009 Gill Maguire and Andrew Sutton edited and produced the journal Recent Advances in Conductive Education – for short, RACE. Appearing twice a year, its seven volumes published 64 articles (not including editorials, bibliographies and book reviews), giving voice to sixty-eight authors and co-authors.



One group of articles in RACE, published across the years of the journal’s appearance, stand out as manifesting a common, coherent theme, one that has continuing relevance today. These articles may be collectively characterised as personal accounts of setting up and developing one’s own conductive practice, or service, or even system. Such determined and individual self-help, often in the face of surrounding indifference or even outright opposition, has been the base and backbone of the internationalisation of Conductive Education. In a continuously changing world, it will likely remain so. There is no other accessible written record of this process, no other collection of documents to suggest just what it takes to do this, none to offer reassurance, inspiration – and caution – to those who might wish to plough their own future furrows So, it has seemed a useful exercise to collect together these varied and needed articles into a single volume – this book.



The updates that conclude each paper should together also warn that the spread of Conductive Education has not been without its casualties, and that not everyone can be a winner.