[blindkid] Wii Device Teaches Visually Impaired to WalkwithCanes

Brandy W branlw at sbcglobal.net
Tue Jun 8 03:36:09 UTC 2010 

I am really getting tired of how negitive you are on this list. There is a 
reason one asks a child to do this, and it may benifit you to research it. 
Fine motor control, in the context of practicing letters are only 2. Some 
children need a lot of additional pracice and this is one more way for them 
to get the practice.

Bran

"Families that play together learn together!"
Brandy Wojcik
Discovery Toys Educational Leader
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Heather" <craney07 at rochester.rr.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, June 07, 2010 7:27 PM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Wii Device Teaches Visually Impaired to 
WalkwithCanes


>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
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> blindkid mailing list
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>>>
>>>
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