[blindkid] Ordered our free cane! wheeee!!!

[Susan Harper]

Oh Good for you Marie!  We had to go ahead and just order/buy our own cane
before we found out about the free ones.  But it was a small investment in
our son's independence.  I hope you have as good a luck as we did.  Don't
worry that he doesn't hold it totally correct.  He just needs a good grasp
and to hold it in front of him.  Think of it as a pointer from his navel, up
a little is okay.  He'll find what is right for him.  We started our son
with a "tap, tap" song that we made up, sweeping the ground from left to
right and back again.  There are some great books and articles out there,
but the most important thing is to get started and let your some explore and
learn from his cane.  My son, now 3 1/2 still likes to reach down and feel
when the terrain changes and see what his cane has found and process it with
his hands.  Many advocates like the pointer finger to point down to the
ground with the fisted grip.  I say let you son explore and find his comfort
and then refine the techniques.

Best of luck and Blessings,
Sue H.

On Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 9:34 AM, Marie <empwrn at bellsouth.net> wrote:

> I am so excited to report that after thinking about it FOR A YEAR, I
> finally
> ordered my son a free long white cane from NFB. Why a year? Over the past
> year, my husband's feelings about the need for Braille and cane use have
> changed or he has verbalized them more clearly to me<--he's a man so you
> never really know which, LOL! I pushed early and hard for Braille and he
> did
> not jump on the bandwagon right away. In fact, the last year has had him
> pointing out to me other legally blind people who read really well and fast
> holding books up to their noses. What a relief it was to hear him say one
> day how great that was but then he wondered how much easier it would be for
> those folks to have learned Braille and perhaps they would have done even
> better!
>
>
>
> When I brought up cane use before, it was met with a lukewarm reception and
> much discussion about how Jack gets around really really well and has
> learned to memorize the layout of wherever he is and how fantastic that is.
> Over the past week, I brought up a cane again and now I am hearing my own
> thoughts echoed back to me. If we help Jack to navigate his environment
> more
> easily and independently, it will free him up to focus on other
> developmental tasks and not use so much brain power to focus on not falling
> or bumping into stuff.
>
>
>
> We had planned to just buy a cane and start working with it. What a nice
> surprise to realize that we could get one for free (I think I knew this
> before and forgot).  The fact that it is free makes it an even easier
> decision to move forward although we have no support for our decision from
> either Jack's school TVI or our vision rehab doc.
>
>
>
> So.tips, anyone? Jack has fine motor impairment so we'll have to see how we
> can work out his grasp on the cane once we get it. Tips for introduction of
> the cane would be welcomed.
>
>
>
> Thanks so much!
>
>
>
>
>
> Marie (mother of Jack, 4 yrs old with Apert Syndrome)
>  <http://www.allaccesspasstojack.blogspot.com>
> http://www.allaccesspasstojack.blogspot.com
> Learn more about Apert Syndrome
>  <http://www.thecraniofacialcenter.org/apert.html>
> http://www.thecraniofacialcenter.org/apert.html
> Get information and support at Teeter's page
>  <http://www.apert.org> http://www.apert.org
>
>
>
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