[blindkid] School cane O/M issues

[Richard Holloway]

Lauren,

I don't think you are overstepping at all. I do agree with DrV that "a  
cool head & the development of rapport" can be extremely helpful. If  
you're a parent new to all of this, unfortunately you may not have had  
time to develop such rapport and you really can't put the cane issue  
off. If you can solve this without stepping on toes it may be very  
helpful down the road. You'll likely end up sitting across the table  
from these people in IEP's and other meetings for many years to come.  
With that said, this is your decision and on this point I would not  
bend. I too think an informal chat with the teacher is a great place  
to start.

Even if they do comply with your request from this point forward, I'd  
probably still bring this up at the next IEP meeting (as calmly as  
possible) and have it added into the IEP so this cannot happen again.  
Further, if they fail to comply I think it would be time to call an  
IEP meeting now specifically to discuss this matter; this is  
important. Hopefully the extra IEP meeting will not be needed and you  
can just calmly have the details about the cane being available be  
added at your next scheduled IEP.

I also agree with Heather that this is a boundaries issue. As with so  
many problems for kids with vision issues, I think that one key here  
is a complete lack of understanding of blindness and the function of a  
cane for a blind individual. The information provided from a cane is  
not optional for cane travelers in situations like moving from  
classroom to classroom.

If needed, you might relate to the teacher how this is similar to  
deferring to a "professional" to see if a wheel chair traveler should  
have his or her wheel chair taken away each morning and then the child  
could be carried from class to class unless the school can get  
"approval" from some specialist to let the child use the chair to  
change classes. I don't have a child in a wheelchair myself, but I'm  
willing to bet that wheelchair users rarely need it written into an  
IEP that their child has permission from some professional to use  
their wheelchair when they want to, but that would be a different  
discussion...

Richard



On Oct 19, 2009, at 5:38 PM, L W wrote:

> Hi all. Thanks for the advice.
> I wrote another note in Joli’s agenda book saying that Joli must  
> take her cane with her to all of her classes and that all of her  
> teachers need to be aware of this.  Her main classroom teacher sent  
> a note back saying that she would discuss it with her O/M teacher.   
> This makes me mad because I don’t care if the O/M teacher thinks she  
> should have it or not. I think she should have it.  I don’t want the  
> classroom teacher to defer to the O/M teacher on whether or not my  
> child should have her cane with her.  Am I overstepping my bounds to  
> say “I am her mother, and if I say I say she must take her cane with  
> her everywhere she goes, then she must take it regardless of how the  
> O/M teacher feels about it.”?
> Thanks,
> Lauren Wibbe
>
>
>
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