[blindkid] Working on our technique!

[Richard Holloway]

I think that's the same tip. Many NFB / NOPBC people favor this as it  
is actually the NFB's own design and it is a very good design as well.  
Certainly there are cases where roller tips may be useful but they are  
heavy and as Joe Cutter put it, they tend to "roll over" information  
that the NFB-style tip would convey to the cane user. Another problem  
many have with them is that the same thing that makes them roll over  
helpful information also makes them roll off to one side and some kids  
tend to leave them there when that happens.

As far as auditory feedback and information, you'd be hard pressed to  
find anything that comes close to the NFB design-- that crisp, clear  
click can reveal much about the environment. For a short time, our  
daughter decided she did not like the NFB cane design. We let her use  
something else because a cane in hand that is being used will always  
be better than a cane left behind or dragged along behind a child.  
Pretty soon she came back to an NFB cane. She was probably trying to  
be like her O&M instructor who was using a heavier golf-grip, roller  
tip cane as well as I recall. Ultimately, we got the instructor to  
switch to an NFB cane instead; (we were very pleased with that!)

The main complaint I hear about the telescoping canes themselves has  
already been mentioned-- they can collapse. They are a good travel  
design though and an excellent choice for an easily stored backup  
cane. Holly, you might want to try having a one-piece NFB cane on hand  
for him as well as the "light saber" cane and perhaps he'll gradually  
want to use the solid one more. One piece canes are lighter and also  
offer more tactile information that especially folding canes (and even  
telescoping ones) reduce or omit entirely-- vibrations bend the joints  
and never make it to the user's hand. Folding canes make this worse  
because the little bungee-style cord inside of the canes also further  
dampens resonance (and adds a little more weight too).

I don't think my daughter cares yet, but I personally find that carbon  
fiber feels a lot crisper than fiberglass. Strangely, the NFB canes  
for kids seem to alternate between fiberglass & carbon fiber in  
increasing lengths so right now, the size she needs is apparently only  
offered in fiberglass. I could cut down a carbon fiber cane I suppose  
but she'll "grow back into" carbon fiber pretty soon anyhow...

I do agree entirely that cane choice is ultimately a personal decision  
though and the more options that are available, the better for each of  
us. At conventions, I always find it interesting to compare as many  
cannes as I can side-by-side just so I get a better feel of how they  
work and the differences between them. After all, we tend to like what  
we become accustomed to. You never know when something better may have  
appeared in the marketplace that you may never have run across before!

Richard




On Apr 12, 2010, at 9:03 AM, Heather wrote:

> A disk tip?  Is it different from the standard tip that comes with a  
> lot of the canes and is a circle about as big around as a quarter,  
> but as thick as two or three quarters, with an attached sort of  
> sleeve that the last half an inch of the cane pushes into?  Or, is  
> it something different entirely?  They have come out with a lot of  
> new materials and designs since I was actively cane shopping for  
> myself.
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "holly miller" <hollym12 at gmail.com>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org 
> >
> Sent: Monday, April 12, 2010 7:43 AM
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] Working on our technique!
>
>
>> We've tried a few different types of canes/tips including the  
>> rolling one.
>> He didn't care for that because of how heavy it is.  Right now he's  
>> using an
>> NFB telescoping cane with a metal disc tip.  Very light and has an  
>> added
>> coolness factor of opening up like his toy light sabers do (smile)  
>> Downside
>> is sometimes it telescopes in unexpectedly but he likes it so much  
>> he's
>> willing to deal with the occasional need to lock the sections back  
>> in place.
>>
>>
>> The key point is though, different things will work for different  
>> people.
>> It's ok to experiment and find out what works best for the  
>> situation at
>> hand!
>>
>> Holly
>> aka Hank's mom
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 1:50 AM, Heather  
>> <craney07 at rochester.rr.com> wrote:
>>
>>> What sort of tip does he have?  When I was little and had a stupid  
>>> pencil
>>> tip that I hated, it works well for some people, and limited hand  
>>> strength,
>>> because it was a heavy cane for a seven year old, I was forever  
>>> snagging it
>>> and punching myself in the stomach.  I wasn't very fond of this  
>>> and I would
>>> complain loudly and dramatically, so my O and M instructor sat  
>>> down to go
>>> through the handy dandy catalogue of cane parts and accessories  
>>> and low and
>>> behold, we picked out a rolling marshmallow tip, and voila, things  
>>> were
>>> pretty much solved for me, once I learned how to adapt my diagonal  
>>> technique
>>> and my touch tap technique to better suit this rolling, and  
>>> therefore
>>> gliding tip.  Hope that is helpful to someone.
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "holly miller" <hollym12 at gmail.com 
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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/craney07%40rochester.rr.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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/rholloway%40gopbc.org