[blindkid] School cane O/M issues

Tue Oct 20 05:06:52 UTC 2009

Holly,

It isn't just the low vision kids who encounter resistance to cane use  
from O&M professionals. We ran into huge opposition to our daughter  
using a cane at 18 months and she has no light perception. We were  
told she was "too young" and would have to "unlearn bad habits" if she  
started using a cane so early. Rest assured we gave her the cane and  
insisted she use it for O&M. (They wanted to use big awkward "pre-cane  
devices" made of PVC with the kids her age.)

On the folding cane, absolutely there are times for that and it is a  
personal decision in any case but all too often the professionals want  
to shift to a different primary cane because it is what the teacher is  
used to or prefers for whatever reason. We've had some battles over  
that too. The bottom line is she's our daughter and this is our  
adaptation of preference. Our choice needs to be respected for our  
child.

One interesting footnote. While one of our later O&M teachers (who  
also preferred a different cane) did ultimately comply with our  
insistence for using the NFB cane, she continued to use her own more  
conventional teaching cane with the heavy tip and so forth. A couple  
of years later, we got her to a National NOPBC / NFB convention. She  
left the convention with an NFB cane and used it from then on as her  
teaching cane-- another small step for our kids...

Richard

On Oct 19, 2009, at 11:30 PM, holly miller wrote:

> 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
>>
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