[blindkid] School cane O/M issues

Sat Oct 17 22:13:36 UTC 2009

Reminds me of when Serena was 8 years old and got a new cane teacher 
(aged out of Joe Cutter's caseload :-().  I was there to meet him and 
observe the lesson.

The first thing he said to her was, please take my arm and we'll walk 
down to the corner to start the lesson.  I immediately objected and 
said that Serena could walk to the corner by herself (this was the 
walk she did everyday after school).  He politely explained that he 
ALWAYS had his new clients take his arm and I politely explained that 
that was very nice, but that Serena would not be taking his arm!  He 
looked at me kinda funny, but went along with it.

As we walked to the corner, he remarked, wow, she's pretty 
independent.  Um, that's because she walks on her own and doesn't 
take people's arms.  I still don't know if the dots ever got connected for him.

Years later, when Serena was in 8th grade, her new braille teacher 
came storming into our house after school one day and demanded that 
Serena tell me about "the incident."  I was a little taken aback 
because Serena had NEVER been in trouble and was a very rule-oriented kid.

Well, it turns out that "the incident" was that Serena had declined 
to take the teacher's arm as they were leaving the library after 
their lesson.      I asked "innocently," is there anything wrong with 
that?  and said that we're proud of her independence.  The teacher 
said there were students working on a project on the floor and that's 
why Serena should have taken her arm.  AND, she added, Serena was 
very rigid for refusing to take her arm.  So I asked Serena, did you 
have any trouble making your way out of the library?  No, she 
said.  Did you mess up the other students' projects?  No.  Well, did 
you have a reason for not wanting to take the teacher's arm?  YEAH! 
she exclaimed--I'd never want the other kids to see me doing that!

That seemed reasonable to me, I said to the teacher.  Serena had a 
way to get out of that room on her own and it ought to be her choice 
whether she takes someone's arm or not and maybe SHE the teacher was 
the one who was being rigid!

(Yes, I have a reputation.)

Carol

At 07:50 AM 10/17/2009, you wrote:
>      My son is 3 and has been using his cane for 6 months.  I was his
>initial teacher.  Long story.  The point is that he is very independent.  We
>use the sighted guide technique to cross roads or in other dangerous
>situations.  But pretty much, his cane is his buddy.  He maneuvers from
>class to class in the pre-K wing pretty much on his own.  He also use echo
>and mental mapping.  He has no vision, so his cane is his eyes.   Have your
>daughter practice at home and take the cane everywhere with her and use it
>and she'll be a whiz in no time.
>     As far as use at school, access to your daughter's can is guaranteed by
>law.  You can request changes in the IEP without a PPT meeting if both you
>and the school agree.  So go back and look at what is in the IEP and then
>start making some strong requests and let them know it is her right.
>Blessings,
>Sue H.
>
>
>
>On Sat, Oct 17, 2009 at 1:22 AM, L W <mama2sally at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi all. We got our daughter Joli's IEP finalized last week. Monday I went
> > to her school to visit her vision teacher and discovered that Joli hasn't
> > been using her cane.  She has been storing it in her locker.  So I wrote a
> > note in her communication book saying that I wanted Joli to take her cane
> > with her everywhere.  Joli came home Tuesday saying that her O/M teacher
> > told her that her classes are so close together she could just leave the
> > cane in her homeroom.  She also told Joli to stick her hand through the
> > strap and wear it like a bracelet so she wouldn't drop it in dog poop.  The
> > O/M teacher's concern seems to be that Joli isn't properly using 
> the cane at
> > school. Is this normal / common?  Am I missing something?  I want Joli to
> > use the cane at school even though it is a familiar environment because I
> > want Joli to get into the habit of always taking her cane with her.   Joli
> > has had her cane for almost 1 month.
> > Also I just noticed on her IEP it says she will learn sighted guide
> > technique.  I am not sure I see the point of that.  Joli is 8 and 
> her vision
> > is 20/400.  Maybe I am not understanding what sighted guide technique is,
> > but as I understand it, it's taking somebody's arm and letting them lead
> > you?  If she were younger or her vision were worse maybe I would 
> see more of
> > a point to this, but now I would rather place more emphasis on cane travel
> > and on things like safely crossing the road. Must admit during the IEP
> > process (it's our 1st time doing the IEP) I was so focused on getting the
> > technology she needs and the enlargements and getting extra reading help as
> > Joli also has dyslexia, that I sort of didn't pay attention to the O/M side
> > of things as much as I guess I should have.  I am wondering if this sighted
> > guide technique is something I should fight to have changed, which I guess
> > would mean calling another IEP meeting, or if it's something
> >  Joli could benefit from.
> > Thanks for any advice,
> > Lauren
> >
> >
> >
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Carol Castellano, President
National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
973-377-0976
carol_castellano at verizon.net
www.nfb.org/nopbc 