[blindkid] School cane O/M issues

Susan Harper sueharper at firstchurchgriswold.org
Sat Oct 17 11:50:16 UTC 2009


     My son is 3 and has been using his cane for 6 months.  I was his
initial teacher.  Long story.  The point is that he is very independent.  We
use the sighted guide technique to cross roads or in other dangerous
situations.  But pretty much, his cane is his buddy.  He maneuvers from
class to class in the pre-K wing pretty much on his own.  He also use echo
and mental mapping.  He has no vision, so his cane is his eyes.   Have your
daughter practice at home and take the cane everywhere with her and use it
and she'll be a whiz in no time.
    As far as use at school, access to your daughter's can is guaranteed by
law.  You can request changes in the IEP without a PPT meeting if both you
and the school agree.  So go back and look at what is in the IEP and then
start making some strong requests and let them know it is her right.
Blessings,
Sue H.



On Sat, Oct 17, 2009 at 1:22 AM, L W <mama2sally at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hi all. We got our daughter Joli’s IEP finalized last week. Monday I went
> to her school to visit her vision teacher and discovered that Joli hasn’t
> been using her cane.  She has been storing it in her locker.  So I wrote a
> note in her communication book saying that I wanted Joli to take her cane
> with her everywhere.  Joli came home Tuesday saying that her O/M teacher
> told her that her classes are so close together she could just leave the
> cane in her homeroom.  She also told Joli to stick her hand through the
> strap and wear it like a bracelet so she wouldn’t drop it in dog poop.  The
> O/M teacher’s concern seems to be that Joli isn’t properly using the cane at
> school. Is this normal / common?  Am I missing something?  I want Joli to
> use the cane at school even though it is a familiar environment because I
> want Joli to get into the habit of always taking her cane with her.   Joli
> has had her cane for almost 1 month.
> Also I just noticed on her IEP it says she will learn sighted guide
> technique.  I am not sure I see the point of that.  Joli is 8 and her vision
> is 20/400.  Maybe I am not understanding what sighted guide technique is,
> but as I understand it, it’s taking somebody’s arm and letting them lead
> you?  If she were younger or her vision were worse maybe I would see more of
> a point to this, but now I would rather place more emphasis on cane travel
> and on things like safely crossing the road. Must admit during the IEP
> process (it’s our 1st time doing the IEP) I was so focused on getting the
> technology she needs and the enlargements and getting extra reading help as
> Joli also has dyslexia, that I sort of didn’t pay attention to the O/M side
> of things as much as I guess I should have.  I am wondering if this sighted
> guide technique is something I should fight to have changed, which I guess
> would mean calling another IEP meeting, or if it’s something
>  Joli could benefit from.
> Thanks for any advice,
> Lauren
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> blindkid mailing list
> blindkid at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> blindkid:
>
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/sueharper%40firstchurchgriswold.org
>



More information about the BlindKid mailing list