[blindkid] School cane O/M issues

[holly miller]

Doreen,
You certainly are not the only ones fighting to get cane use for a child who
has some sight.
And that's a shame that you aren't the only one.

Hank does have a good deal of vision.  He can see things like a door, a
wall, a piece of furniture, a tree, a person (might not know who that person
is but he'd see someone was there)  What trips him up are the subtle
things.  An uneven sidewalk, a metal thresh-hold in a doorway, an unexpected
step that is the same color as the floor.  He also stumbles over things that
aren't actually an obstacle but looks like one.  A good example is walking
into a store and there is a black mat on a white floor.  He thinks the
transition from mat to floor is a step because his depth perception is off,
he can't see that it's actually flat.  So he stumbles (or stops in his
tracks) because he's trying to take a step up/down that doesn't exist.

That's if lighting conditions are good.  When he walks out of a building on
a very bright day, even with a hat & sunglasses, he can't open his eyes for
a few minutes.  Then he can't see anything at all.

But he "does fine" and no one involved in his education thinks he needs a
cane or any other O&M training for that matter. First they tried to tell us
he doesn't "qualify" for cane use.  He does qualify as legally blind so when
I pushed to see the rule they reconsidered and did an official evaluation.
The O&M instructor that evaluated him told me he needed to trip & fall so
he'd learn to be more careful.  Nice!  She said he did not qualify for O&M
but he could have a cane for identification if we wanted one.

We bought a cane ourselves this spring.  Carol gave us the fifty cent tour
on how to use it.  He doesn't use it at school at this stage, he doesn't
want to.  To be honest, he does get around school fine.  He knows his way
around, he's not tripping or falling or needing anyone to guide him. I'm
still pushing to get O&M added to his IEP but until it's in there, I know he
will have zero support and I don't want to put him in that kind of negative
situation.

He does use it whenever we go out.  He grumbles a little when he's on "easy"
terrain but he has gotten to appreciate it when things are dicey.  I'm
trying to get him to understand he can't know ahead of time what he's going
to be walking on so he needs to get into the habit of using it all the
time.

Most of the time he uses a non-folding cane but I will admit after sitting
through our first football game this season (older brother is in marching
band) and hubby having to retrieve the cane from under the bleachers 3
times, we broke down and got a folding one for certain circumstances LOL!

Holly
aka Hank's mom

On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 7:41 PM, Doreen Franklin <theconelady at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Heather -- THANK YOU!!!!
> We are parents of a 5 yr old partially sighted child who has a loss of
> peripheral, esp lower peripheral vision, among other eye conditions. She has
> to be constantly monitored for glaucoma and retinal detachment with the
> congenital cataracts she had.
>
> Our district continues to DENY services. WE have put a cane in her hand as
> of March 09 BUT the district will not provide O&M services, including
> expanded core curriculum (protective techniques, mapping, spatial awareness,
> etc). They are "claiming" that the O&M evals done in Sept-Oct 2008 do not
> indicate the "need" for a cane. We have done a log of our daughter banging
> into furniture, walls, missing steps, mis-stepping, etc since Aug 2008 but
> no one has bothered to listen to us. We also had an independent O&M
> assessment done at a convention for the blind and it indicates she needs to
> have cane techniques taught to her. This Assessment clearly pegged her!!!!
>
> Our O&M is also legally blind and he is imposing his personal views of his
> vision onto our kids! And unfortunately our daughter is one of the kids
> suffering because of it. But the district RELIES on him as the primary O&M
> instructor. He can say no wrong!!! Our daughter is in a pre-K class and she
> had 22 boo-boos in 28 days of school (as of Oct 8). Is this normal? She has
> gotten 2 "more serious" boo-boos but no one wants to look at that --
> district says she is "running" and that is why she is getting hurt -- and
> her running is a BEHAVIORAL problem according to the O&M.
>
> I am glad that I read this email as this is exactly how we feel!!!! I am
> printing it to take with us -- as we have been told by our O&M that only an
> O&M can "prescribe" a cane! Oh yeah! THis is what we have to deal with.
>
> Braille hasn't really even been approached but to mention it .... and we
> get the excuses "she has too much vision, she won't like it and it will be
> too slow for her." Needless to say, I havent even brought up the LAW yet!
> This has taken a "back seat" to the cane as she is not safe without it. And
> we do agree, she needs more instruction to be safer. But we can't get it.
>
> Thank you for this thread ... I am glad that we are not the "only" ones
> feeling our daughter needs a cane and that we, as parents, have the right to
> put it in her hands.!
>
> Doreen
>