[blindkid] School cane O/M issues

[Carol Castellano]

I will add an Amen to Richard's post.  I think "sighted guide" is 
incredibly over used and overly venerated among many O&M 
professionals.  It isn't rocket science and it isn't hard for the 
blind person to learn.  It is a little harder for the sighted person, 
as the main trick of it is avoiding walking the blind person into 
poles and the like, as Richard notes.

I would avoid it.  And I DEFINITELY would avoid the O&M training the 
teachers in it!  In my experience, once adults know that technique, 
they use it because it's easier than waiting for the blind kid to get 
places and figure places out.  But it is definitely NOT better for 
the development of independence in the blind child!  Whenever someone 
wants to teach it to Joli, I am sure she will learn it easily.  But I 
wouldn't give it the importance of having it as an IEP goal.  (I'd 
put in an independence goal instead :-).)

Carol

Carol Castellano, President
National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
973-377-0976
carol_castellano at verizon.net
www.nfb.org/nopbc

At 04:52 AM 10/17/2009, you wrote:
>Lauren,
>
>I have been told (and it makes total sense to me) that having an arm
>in the strap is an inappropriate and dangerous thing to do. The loop
>is to hold the cane on a hook or the like when it is not in use. (Some
>also hang something small on the loop to personalize it.) If something
>gets ahold of your cane, the last thing you want it to do is also get
>ahold of your arm (by way of that strap) and pull you into something,
>onto the ground, down a stairway, or worse.
>
>What if a another kid grabbed the cane and pulled it? What if you're
>moving and the cane gets snagged and stops but people behind you DON'T
>stop, so you get pushed forward and the cane is pulling back? What if
>it went through the spokes of a wheelchair or a bike? What if the cane
>tip were closed into the door of a bus as it drove off while you were
>at a curb or the doors on a subway should grab it? What if a passing
>truck should hook it at curbside? I don't mean to be an alarmist, but
>if it were my child I'd have an immediate talk about that with the O&M
>Instructor. I've seen Kendra's cane fly across the room a number of
>times, generally when it gets kicked or caught by someone else's feet
>by accident. Each time I was glad it was just her cane-- As disgusting
>as it may sound, poop wipes off...
>
>The cane in the locker sounds like a poor plan. Canes are not to be
>stored away. What message is this sending not only to your child but
>to all who are aware of this in her school? What if a child who uses a
>walker could actually make it to the next room without the walker
>because it was close by? Should they keep their walker in a locker and
>be at risk? The cane is a tool to facilitate travel. There's no need
>to hide it in a locker.
>
>Why can't her cane be parked in the classroom, next to the door by the
>hallway? It can go classroom to classroom and be parked in each class.
>Even if the walk is short, it helps your child learn that practice.
>Our daughter is 7 and for years now has known to get her cane from
>next to the front door of our house as she leaves and to put it there
>when she comes in-- every time. She does the same at school with each
>class.
>
>As to "properly using her cane"-- well, a month is not much time at
>all to have mastered that skill, especially with the amount of O&M
>time that most kids get in a month-- what does she get, surely no more
>than an hour or so each week? These things take time. My daughter has
>been getting some level of O&M with cane instruction for over five
>years and still has much to learn. It takes time and practice, but it
>is hard to practice when the cane is stored in a locker. It sounds to
>me like they are telling your daughter that "most of the time, it is
>fine to do your best to get around without your cane and to rely on
>others to help you find your way", however once in while we will give
>you a cane and you should immediately learn how to use it properly.
>Even a very young child who is dragging a cane behind himself
>(literally behind himself) is learning that the cane goes with him
>when he goes out, and as you keep getting it back in front of him,
>things begin to progress...
>
>Sighted guide. Ugh... I guess there are times for that. First of all,
>I really liked Joe Cutter's thoughts on "paired walking" as a concept.
>The entire notion of "sighted guide" seems to be that the sight is the
>important thing which is guiding the blind person. I don't want my
>daughter growing up to rely on anyone else with vision (or without) to
>help her find her way, and I can tell you with absolute certainty
>that, as a typically sighted adult, I have been guided many places by
>blind people (including my own daughter as well as many blind adults).
>
>I remember an NFB convention in Dallas a few years ago when one 
>cane- traveling young lady had me completely out of breath trying to keep up
>with her as she whizzed across the hotel to help me find a particular
>room. It would never have occurred to me to think of any of these cane
>(or guide-dog) traveling people as "blind guides". They were simply my
>guides. I'm not trying to argue over terms, but mindset can be really
>important. I know this is a standard term, but the phrase is almost
>like a little IEP goal on it's own-- "learn to rely on a sighted
>person to find your way"-- is that a goal you want on your child's
>IEP? And if it belongs there, how should it be positioned? Primary
>skill? Backup skill?
>
>Paired Walking (I like that term so much better) for us, is useful
>when exploring a new place when there is not a good way to let Kendra
>explore it on her own (usually because of time constraints) and we try
>to keep that to a minimum unless she just wants (for example) to walk
>and hold my hand. If a sighted seven year old wanted to walk with her
>dad and hold his hand, would that be okay? I would say certainly it
>would, so then there needs to be some other reason to say not to do it
>for a blind child. So then, maybe we need to ask if this is because
>she TRULY wants to hold hands or she wants to have help finding her
>way? So you see it can be complicated, but as a primary solution? I
>wold try and avoid that.
>
>A better example that comes to mind is a class field trip with a lot
>of walking where there is no practical way to keep up with the other
>kids in the unfamiliar environment. (For a young or new cane traveler.
>Ultimately, expect cane travelers to stay with the group on their
>own!) Or say you need to help your child find the restroom in a time
>of urgency-- the benefit of her finding the restroom on her own may be
>offset by possibly having an accident due to extra time spent. I look
>at it like this-- if this is not the time to travel alone (as in with
>just a cane in hand), when is that time? What is going to change, and
>when, to make "sighted guide" less necessary later? Is the goal for
>your child as an adult to travel by sighted guide or alone with a cane?
>
>Of corse, paired walking should ideally be a situation where EITHER
>person can take the lead. When time permits, I enjoy "paired walking"
>as I hold hands with my wife and we're both typically sighted. I guess
>what I am getting at is this-- "sighted guide" should be one option
>that a blind person can choose, not a practice that we teach kids to
>rely on as a first line solution. I did see where someone pointed out
>that canes can break and then someone may have to rely on a sighted
>guide. That may be true but that can be kept to a minimum if you keep
>a spare cane available all the time. Many blind people who travel
>often make a point to always pack a spare cane. I know we make every
>effort to have a spare available for Kendra at home or on the road,
>even though we've only broken one cane so far in over 5 years of cane
>use.
>
>Here is another thing to remember about sighted guide-- With that
>technique, who is the guide generally going to be after the O&M lesson
>is over? Often, it ends up being a relatively untrained adult or
>classmate. Time and again, these well-meaning people (especially the
>young kids) loose track of what they are doing and guide blind people
>into poles. I have done it myself to my own child. (What a terrible
>feeling!) It is not intuitive to walk with a clear path for yourself
>and the person next to you all the time. And when your cane DOES
>break, what do you think the chance is that there will be a trained
>person nearby to assist you to your destination offering proper sited
>guide technique? Probably just about as good as this happening in
>front of a traveling white cane salesperson to sell you a replacement
>on the spot, right? Better off to pack a spare cane and be done with it.
>
>Generally, I don't walk into things because I can see them-- that is
>my technique to avoid them; I use my vision to protect myself. A
>skilled cane traveler doesn't walk into poles because proper cane
>technique lets her find the pole just as effectively as my vision
>keeps me clear. Once in a while, the power fails. It gets dark
>suddenly and we all can walk into poles, except for those among us
>traveling with canes.
>
>Back to the reading issues, one other thing to keep in mind-- is large
>print the best option for your child? Is she going to learn to read
>braille as well? There are many factors involved but often too much
>attention is paid to a person's limited vision. Is her condition
>progressive for example? As she gets older she'll need to read more
>and faster and generally vision issues do not improve over time.
>Reading large print can be exhausting for some people as compared to
>using braille. Learning braille early is often the difference in being
>a speedy braille reader or one who is frustrated in trying to keep up
>and reading large print is invariably a slow process. Determine what
>would be the down side about learning braille for her-- is there one?
>Does she qualify for braille services in your school system? These are
>good things to know in any case. That's a bit outside of my direct
>experience as my daughter has no light perception, but her having no
>vision also leads me to another point--
>
>Having some vision can actually make it HARDER to do some things
>because people with low vision may rely on too little information to
>make decisions-- deciding to use a bit of vision instead of accurate
>information from a cane-- things like that. One very common training
>technique in O&M for people with anything from typical vision all the
>way to very low vision is to wear sleep shades to learn not to rely on
>cues from limited vision when traveling with a cane.
>
>One final thought-- (sorry for the long post, BTW!) for having a young
>blind child (age 7) my wife and I have been at this for a while as far
>as IEP's. This is Kendra's 5th year in school and we seem to generally
>have a couple of IEP's each year (plus additional informal meetings as
>needed). Even with all those meetings we've had, there are always
>things overlooked and adjustments that need to be made to goals and
>strategies so don't beat yourself up for not getting everything
>perfect in your first IEP. This is a process and I have yet to hear of
>a perfect IEP. It sounds to me like you're actually off to a great
>start, addressing a host of concerns and trying to head immediately in
>the best possible direction for your child.
>
>Now the disclaimer-- many people around this listserv have 10 or 20
>years more experience with this than I-- maybe even more than that,
>but those are my suggestions for what they may be worth.
>
>Good luck,
>
>Richard
>
>
>
>
>On Oct 17, 2009, at 1:22 AM, L W 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
>>
>>
>>
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