[Nfb-krafters-korner] Half way done!

[NCBootman]

    Dick,

You are doing an awesome job! There's no need to strongly push the cane by 
requiring he walk by himself with it when with you. Quite frankly, when I'm 
with somebody, they always feel that we can move more efficiently and easily 
if we walk sighted guide with me holding their arm. That's not to say he 
shouldn't have the cane. It's just not huge that he not hold your arm. The 
suggestions of asking him to maneuver in a cluttered space or come to you or 
go get something will promote the cane. And, up the stakes. You know things 
he loves. He wants a drink, tell him to go get it himself and bring you a 
can soda too. He isn't going to use the cane till it benefits him to do it. 
Just cause you or we want him to isn't enough to create a habit. You're 
doing great though. Also, "correct" cane practice is not absolutely 
necessary as long as it is protecting him. If you see him doing something 
detrimental to him, show him why he wants to do it different. Also, are you 
aware of Hadley School for the Blind? They have free courses family can take 
and one is Going Places that will help you. www.hadley.edu to learn more.

Willie has been taught to always always be neat and clean. I was too. But, 
teach him that there's another world away from Mama where getting messy is 
fun and what's supposed to happen. Think about some kitchen play. Do 
something where you wash your hands and then get in there and use them to 
create. Try baking cookies. You combine a mix and ingredients and then get 
his help and he gets to roll little balls and put those on the cookie sheet. 
Messy but all good cooks do it! Just one example. Popcorn with some add ins 
would be fun too and needs to be stirred with the hands.

Awesome job Dick and do keep sharing with us or write me offlist too. I love 
your updates.

Another experience with the cane is do a home fire drill. All families 
should do this but it shows one more reason a cane may be a necessity in his 
life. Good job.


Greg
NCBootMan



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From: "Dick Carlson" <dick.carlson0428 at earthlink.net>
Sent: Sunday, November 07, 2010 1:33 AM
To: "List for blind crafters and artists" <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Half way done!

> Oh boy!  What a day.
> I had my nephew here for a good bit of the day and we had us a time.
> Trust me...there were times when I'm sure he thought his uncle Dick was 
> nuts and at one point probably even mean.  That's OK though.  He knows I 
> care about him and want the best.
>
> First of all, I know what Willy's getting as one of his Christmas 
> presents. He's going to get a straight cane that doesn't fold...maybe even 
> two, one for my house.
> He conveniently forgot to bring his cane today.  He has one of those 
> little folding canes and I thought it was in his backpack.
> He learned that sometimes, there are few obstacles that get in the way of 
> him walking freely.  He wanted to go to the park today and swing. 
> However, when I found out he didn't have his cane, we talked about how he 
> was ALWAYS going to use it when he was with me and anywhere else.
> So, we actually drove back to his house and got his cane.
> We came back and then went for our walk.
>
> I'm very tempted to try making him use it on his own now when we walk 
> together.
>
> Then came the arts and crafts.  You guys are going to need to keep on 
> inspiring me to keep these ideas happening!
>
> Willy wanted to work on the picture.  He knew where the materials were and 
> went straight for the table3 and began handing me different things.  I 
> stopped him and asked where and how he was going to put them on.  He had a 
> puzzled look on his face because he's generally been handing them to me 
> and telling me where they can go and then I end up using that glue stick 
> and putting them on for him because he found it hard to use it.  He asked 
> for the stick that pastes and I told him we didn't have it any more.  I 
> then said that he was going to begin putting the stuff on himself and that 
> we'd do some together.
> He wanted to know how, and I showed him the bottle of Elmer's glue.  He 
> wasn't sure what he was going to do with the bottle, wso we discussed how 
> we were going to try something new2.  I then said the feared 
> word..."Messy!"  He's been taught not to be at all messy at home.
>
> I began trying what you guys suggested and squirted some glue on a piece 
> of paper so that he can use his fingers.  I decided not to just put a 
> little bit that would dry quickly.  I put a good mound there.  I then told 
> him to just put his finger in it and put it on the first scrap of paper 
> we'd paste on the collage.
> He wasn't sure about it but did it though.  You should have seen him 
> simply barely use his finger tip...almost his nail.  He found it wasn't 
> working so well and asked why not.
> I then suggested he use more of his finger and more glue.  In a gentle but 
> nudging way, I took his finger and dragged it and pushed it around in it. 
> He wasn't sure if he liked it or not but then I showed him what to do.
>
> I think when we work on it tomorrow some more, he'll get more of the hang 
> of it, don't you?  We did get some stuff put on the collage and talked 
> about the various things we were putting on.  We also just cut some strips 
> of paper out because he wanted to put them around the collage as well. 
> OK.  Sure.
>
>
>
> So, now that I've begun getting him exposed to this stuff, am I doing OK 
> so far?  What do I do to proceed with this and do more of it tomorrow?  He 
> was not reluctant to doing it but was uncertain about getting that one 
> finger dirty.  In fact, he made3 sure it was that one finger, for the most 
> part.  In fact, I'm kind of tempted that when we work on it tomorrow to 
> also join him and show him that I can do it too and get my "hands dirty" 
> so to speak.  Hmmm, getting his hand dirty or at least involved more than 
> just one finger might not be such a bad idea.  I don't know.
>
> We finished art time for a while and actually did some singing.  He loves 
> music!  Neither of us play instruments and we found it was a bit hard to 
> sometimes sing songs without an instrument or something with which to keep 
> time.  Hey, music is also art, right?  We had a little lesson in rhythm. 
> Willy had a bit of a clapping lesson!  I didn't really know he hadn't been 
> taught to clap right, so we worked on singing and clapping for a little 
> bit.
>
> We then went for a hamburger before taking him home.
>
> Dick
> PS. More collage work tomorrow!
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