[blindkid] introducing a cane

Susan Vorsanger svorsanger at yahoo.com
Fri Jul 22 00:39:34 UTC 2011


Thanks so much to you all for the feedback, I really appreciate it!  I will do my best to get Ben using a cane. -- Susan


From: Holly Baker Miller <hollym12 at gmail.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2011 11:56 AM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] introducing a cane

We haven't had the opportunity for a float test but I do know they can fall
out of the buggy on the Buzz Lightyear Ride at Disney pretty easily!
Entirely my fault, I shifted it from how Hank stowed it not realizing there
was a gap at the sides.  The ride attendants were very kind, didn't laugh at
me and were able to retrieve it quickly.

More on topic, we did have a period when Hank was not keeping his cane tip
down.  It wasn't dangerously high, it just wasn't making actual contact with
the ground and therefore not doing much at all.  For a while I  had him use
the heavier ball tipped cane specifically because it was too heavy for him
to hold it up for long.  Once his was in the habit of good contact and
understood how much information comes from that, we switched back to the NFB
cane.  Double bonus was that he then had more appreciation for it's lighter
weight.


I agree that any cane is better than no cane. The NFB cane is certainly the
gold standard but there is nothing wrong with getting creative in order to
make progress.  There will be a time when it shifts from "this thing mom
makes me use" to "Ohhhh....that's why mom makes me use it!"  Hank's "ah-ha!"
was at convention last summer (1st time), about a year into cane use.  I had
decided to be a hard nose and every time we left the room, he had to take
his cane.  On the 3rd day (I think it was the 3rd day...) he said to me "You
know why I like my cane?  I can walk and talk at the same time!"  What that
meant was because had his cane, he didn't have to think about walking, he
could just do it.

Holly

On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 2:37 AM, Richard Holloway <rholloway at gopbc.org>wrote:

> Eric,
>
> Interesting to learn that they float. I wondered but never tested that out.
> I always worry about that when we go to the lake.
>
> The thing I keep expecting to happen with our canes is for one of them to
> fall in the gap between an elevator and the actual floor of a building as
> the tip often fits in that space. More than once, Kendra has noticed that
> space and gone to check how far down the gap goes. So far, each time I've
> grabbed it in time to suggest maybe we don't fully explore that one.
>
> I often keep what's left of a previous well-used can in my car figuring
> that one day it will vanish (like yours fell in the ocean) when we are far
> from home or any way to get a replacement. So far we've only had the last
> few inches of the cane "vanish" From what remained, it looked to me like the
> end had been stepped on with the cane on the ground. I suspect that may
> happen fairly often as I found the end of another cane just like what broke
> off of ours in the floor just a couple of weeks ago in Orlando at the
> convention. (Not our this time!)
>
> Our problem with forgotten canes has generally been my fault when carrying
> a sleeping child in Kendra's younger days, LOL...
>
> I agree with Penny that sometimes alternative canes are appropriate. As
> much as I dislike them, I need to get a folding cane sometime because it is
> a real challenge to attach a long cane to a bike when riding, but if we stop
> anywhere along the way, having no cane is pretty frustrating for Kendra.
>
> Richard
>
> On Jul 21, 2011, at 1:48 AM, DrV wrote:
>
> > Agreed - it has to be as basic as putting on shoes or clothes.
> > My older son only forgot his cane once when we went food shopping -
> > somewhere around 1st grade. I made sure he quickly became very aware of
> > how disadvantageous his oversight was. It has literally never happened
> > again. Well, he did loose one cane a while back, when for some still
> > unclear reason, he dropped it off the end of city's pier - in case you
> are
> > wondering, NFB canes float, as least in salt water... It was too cold to
> > retrieve it - I wonder what shore it may have surfaced on. He did not
> have
> > a backup cane handy & quickly became very aware of how awkward it was to
> > be without a cane. That too will undoubtedly never happen again.
> > My younger son, now 10, has never forgotten his cane.
> > The cane is an extension of a blind child's body.
> > Eric
> >
> > On 7/20/11 10:27 PM, "Penny Duffy" <pennyduffy at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >>>
> >>> A cane in the  hand is better then no cane at all. (even if its dragged
> >>> behind. )  Its about learning to keep it with you and get in the habit.
> >>> Its
> >>> ok to have more then one cane too.. Like shoes (someone said that at
> the
> >>> national convention and its stuck with me) Different canes can work
> >>> better
> >>> at different times.    Have your son work with all kinds of different
> >>> kinds
> >>> of canes..
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>> My daughter started using a cane in January.  She was given one of
> those
> >>> handy folding aluminum canes with a rolling marshmallow tip.. (I said
> >>> that
> >>> with a bit of sarcasm)  You get very little feed back from those canes.
> >>> .
> >>> The NFB cane is so much lighter.  My daughter loves it.. We got an NFB
> >>> cane
> >>> at convention and I dont' think she is ever going to look back.  I
> don't
> >>> think the medal tip gets stuck anymore then a rolling tip.  Those
> >>> rollers
> >>> get stuck a lot. There is also only one way to hold those kinds of
> >>> cane.   I
> >>> don't think my daughter has had a tummy poke once now with her NFB
> >>> cane.  I
> >>> am sure its going to happen. There is methods you can do with an NFB
> >>> to completely avoid tummy pokes while still holding it to the middle.
> >>>
> >>
> >> My take is a the folding aluminium canes with a rolling tips seems more
> >> like
> >> a piece of  medical equipment while a NFB long white cane is a TOOL.
> >> Its
> >> a preference though.. There isn't a wrong answer..
> >>
> >>>
> >>> On 7/20/11 9:09 AM, "Susan Vorsanger" <svorsanger at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Hi, I know many of you have had much experience with kids & cane
> use...
> >>>> My son is almost four but severely developmentally delayed (no
> talking,
> >>>> very limited communication).  At my strong encouragement his O&M
> >>>> instructor is going to start working with him with a cane.  (Some
> >>>> background:  I have tried for a loooong time to gently introduce him
> to
> >>>> an NFB cane, but so far he¹s shown no interest at all & only wants to
> >>> put
> >>>> it in his mouth).  I was wondering if some of you had any thoughts
> >>> about
> >>>> the following:
> >>>> -          His O&M instructor strongly recommends a cane that comes up
> >>> to
> >>>> his chest, but I know the NFB canes are longer.  Can someone tell me
> >>>> again what the rationale is for the longer length?  Do you think there
> >>>> would be any harm to starting him out with a shorter length?
> >>>> -          She wants him to use a cane with a ball on the end so it
> >>>> doesn¹t get stuck.   Do you think there would be any harm to trying
> >>> this
> >>>> kind for a while since I haven¹t had luck with the other cane yet?
> >>>> I am really glad to have some help encouraging my son to use a cane,
> >>> but
> >>>> I want to make sure we¹re taking the best approach possible.
>  Thanks!
> >>>> -- Susan
> >>>> _______________________________________________
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> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
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> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> --Penny
> >> ----------
> >> Adventures with Abby - visionfora.blogspot.com
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