[blindkid] Wii Device Teaches Visually Impaired to Walk withCanes

[Heather]

I am just put in mind of sitting there as a kindergardiner, being asked to 
put pegs into a braille cell toy to make the letters and saying "Why can't I 
just write them on the Braille writer, this is dumb."
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Doreen Frappier" <dcfrappier at yahoo.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 06, 2010 9:51 PM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Wii Device Teaches Visually Impaired to Walk 
withCanes


>I love the Wii idea. I think it is a fun and interesting new way to get 
>kids to work on cane skills. Kids love technology, and video games!
> Thanks for sending this link!
>
> Doreen Frappier
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Susan Harper <sueharper at firstchurchgriswold.org>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)" 
> <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Sun, June 6, 2010 7:41:23 PM
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] Wii Device Teaches Visually Impaired to Walk with 
> Canes
>
> Not everyone has great access to services and some folks don't live where
> than can get as much outside time.  Yeah, I always think it is fun to try
> new teaching tools.  It may be a good way to follow up when the O&M isn't
> available.  I sent the info on the Wii to my techie son who designs video
> games and said, "See what you and your classmates can come up with that
> might be a help to your brother."  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  Not
> everything is for everyone.  Not all learning and work has to be boring. 
> It
> is nice when we can make more interesting and fun. The more tools we have
> the better.
> Blessings,
> Sue H.
>
> On Sun, Jun 6, 2010 at 6:09 PM, Mike Freeman <k7uij at panix.com> wrote:
>
>> The below moves me to wonder what is so terrible about just spending more
>> time using the cane rather than dreaming up all sorts of applications to
>> *simulate* use of a cane? Although the game may be fun, it strikes me 
>> that
>> nothing substitutes for the real thing, i.e., using a cane outdoors. I
>> suspect that, deep-down, the O&M personnel who dreamed up this nonsense 
>> are
>> just a wee bit suspicious about cane use and learning by trial-and-error.
>>
>> Mike Freeman
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lenora J. Marten" <
>> bluegolfshoes at aol.com>
>> To: <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 12:31 PM
>> Subject: [blindkid] Wii Device Teaches Visually Impaired to Walk with 
>> Canes
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Interesting.....
>>> http://www.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/health/118714/wii-device-teaches-visually-impaired-to-walk-with-canes/
>>>
>>>
>>> Teaching the visually impaired how to use canes to get around is about 
>>> to
>>> become hi-tech. NY1's Health reporter Kafi Drexel filed the following
>>> report.
>>>
>>> Instructors at the Jewish Guild for the Blind on the Upper West Side 
>>> have
>>> found a new use for Wii technology. They are testing out a new device 
>>> called
>>> the "WiiCane" to see if it can help improve mobility training and use of 
>>> the
>>> cane in young children.
>>> "One of the greatest challenges for an [orientation and mobility]
>>> instructor, which I am, is trying to teach a student to travel and walk
>>> outdoors in a safe line, in a straight line. And one of the greatest 
>>> issues
>>> is to try to prevent the students from veering which means angling left, 
>>> or
>>> right off their straight line," says Stuart Filan of the Jewish Guild 
>>> for
>>> the Blind. "So the WiiCane is like a super idea. It's a great indoor
>>> training device to have our students get the feeling of what it feels 
>>> like
>>> to veer and how, independently, in real time, to correct that 
>>> situation."
>>> The training tool is being developed by the New York City-based design
>>> team Touch Graphics. It uses Wii motion-tracking technology to help 
>>> students
>>> get the feel for not only walking in a straight line, but practice 
>>> turns. A
>>> computer receives movement data and dings if the student remains on 
>>> track or
>>> moves in the right direction.
>>> "Evidence shows that once learned, those skills are translatable into
>>> actual outdoor travel, and that's huge," says President Steven Landau of
>>> Touch Graphics. "Because then, people crossing the street won't veer 
>>> into
>>> oncoming traffic and lots of other things in the course of their 
>>> independent
>>> travel, where they need that ability to continue walking in a straight 
>>> line
>>> without a lot of external information."
>>> The Wii Cane training program is not meant to replace traditional 
>>> training
>>> methods, but is only a supplement. However, instructors at the Jewish 
>>> Guild
>>> for the Blind say their young students respond to computers and they see
>>> responses in training in some of them that they haven't quite seen 
>>> before.
>>> "Some of the students are really getting off of it," says Filan. "They
>>> keep talking about it, they can't wait to come back and to hold onto the
>>> cane, work the receivers and manipulate their bodies through space to 
>>> get to
>>> see if they can walk the straight line."
>>> The WiiCane is also being developed for adults who are new cane users. 
>>> It
>>> is expected to be available for commercial use by January 2011.
>>>
>>>
>>> Instructors at the Jewish Guild for the Blind on the Upper West Side 
>>> have
>>> found a new use for Wii technology. They are testing out a new device 
>>> called
>>> the "WiiCane" to see if it can help improve mobility training and use of 
>>> the
>>> cane in young children.
>>> "One of the greatest challenges for an [orientation and mobility]
>>> instructor, which I am, is trying to teach a student to travel and walk
>>> outdoors in a safe line, in a straight line. And one of the greatest 
>>> issues
>>> is to try to prevent the students from veering which means angling left, 
>>> or
>>> right off their straight line," says Stuart Filan of the Jewish Guild 
>>> for
>>> the Blind. "So the WiiCane is like a super idea. It's a great indoor
>>> training device to have our students get the feeling of what it feels 
>>> like
>>> to veer and how, independently, in real time, to correct that 
>>> situation."
>>> The training tool is being developed by the New York City-based design
>>> team Touch Graphics. It uses Wii motion-tracking technology to help 
>>> students
>>> get the feel for not only walking in a straight line, but practice 
>>> turns. A
>>> computer receives movement data and dings if the student remains on 
>>> track or
>>> moves in the right direction.
>>> "Evidence shows that once learned, those skills are translatable into
>>> actual outdoor travel, and that's huge," says President Steven Landau of
>>> Touch Graphics. "Because then, people crossing the street won't veer 
>>> into
>>> oncoming traffic and lots of other things in the course of their 
>>> independent
>>> travel, where they need that ability to continue walking in a straight 
>>> line
>>> without a lot of external information."
>>> The Wii Cane training program is not meant to replace traditional 
>>> training
>>> methods, but is only a supplement. However, instructors at the Jewish 
>>> Guild
>>> for the Blind say their young students respond to computers and they see
>>> responses in training in some of them that they haven't quite seen 
>>> before.
>>> "Some of the students are really getting off of it," says Filan. "They
>>> keep talking about it, they can't wait to come back and to hold onto the
>>> cane, work the receivers and manipulate their bodies through space to 
>>> get to
>>> see if they can walk the straight line."
>>> The WiiCane is also being developed for adults who are new cane users. 
>>> It
>>> is expected to be available for commercial use by January 2011.
>>>
>>>
>>> Lenora
>>> bluegolfshoes at aol.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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