[blindkid] Rolling tip

[H. Field]

Hello Marie,
In my experience as a blind person and an educator of young blind 
children I have always found the NFB canes to be best for little ones 
as they are so sensitive with the metal tip and are also light. They 
work well for constant contact and lots of adults use a combination of 
constant contact and tap-tap. I would get Jack a cane that comes up to 
his forhead. This means that he will have plenty of warning when his 
cane tip touches something and, I have found, that when boys learn 
they have plenty of stopping time they tend to move about more 
quickly. Also, the length will mean that he can use his cane with a 
relaxed right arm down by his hip and will still have plenty of length 
to ensure that he is able to cover his body width. It will also mean 
that you won't have to get a new cane quite so soon.

I personally don't walk around with my arm in front of my stomach and 
trying to swing a cane from the middle of my body. This is incredibly 
uncomfortable and inevitably the cane gets caught on something and 
pokes one in the stomach. If one hurries about like I do such pokes 
are extremely hard and uncomfortable. I use my cane by my right side 
much as you are reporting Jack likes to do. There is much debate "in 
the field" about O&M for children but much of it is based on people's 
personal opinion and I'm not aware of any well controlled, 
longitudinal studies which have examined the effects of various early 
cane type or technique on the adult mobility of functionally blind 
cane users. As a blind person I consider myself the expert on what 
things work for me personally. I would encourage you to watch what 
works for Jack (within age-appropriate norms) and just give him plenty 
of opportunities to develop independent, self-initiated confident 
movement.

Some folks like the rolling tips for young dchildren as they are 
heavier and tend to keep the cane on the ground more. However, they 
are nowhere near as sensitive in terms of the feedback they give a 
cane user and, in my experience, it has been better simply to teach 
the child to keep their cane on the ground and let them get all the 
added feedback from the metal tip. Again, I'm sure there are those who 
will disagree with me but, I have found, most of them are sighted and 
do not use a cane to make their way through a tactile world where the 
smallest amount of extra information can make the hugest difference.

You can get a free cane for Jack every 6 months from the NFB website. 
I would encourage you to go ahead and get him a new, light, long cane 
there. You could also get him the other type and give him experience 
with both. However, I wouldn't let him make the choice yet as to which 
cane he used exclusively. He is too young to realise all the info his 
roller tip cane isn't give him. Instead give him opportunities to use 
both.

I wouldn't fret about not having an O&M instructor; being mobile and 
oriented as a blind person moving through the world is 90% confidence 
and belief in one's self and 10% skills. I've never had a formal O&M 
lesson in my life and I'm am a confident and competent traveller.

Happy trails with your young, cane-wielding adventurer.

Warmly,

Heather


--- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marie" <empwrn at bellsouth.net>
To: "Blindkid email" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 6:48 PM
Subject: [blindkid] Rolling tip


Hello everyone,
Jack is growing so fast that it's time to get him another cane. We are 
thinking that we will get him a slightly longer one this time and were 
hoping to get one with a rolling tip or buy a rolling tip. With Jack's 
small hands and his modified grasp he gets very fatigued attempting to 
tap tap and tends to do constant contact with his cane. We thought a 
roller tip might be a bit more conducive to constant contact. We also 
thought we might get a longer one since when his grip fatigues, he 
tends to put the cane between his right hand and right hip to hold it. 
A longer cane would make this a bit easier. He actually does more side 
to side sweeping holding the cane this way--hard to explain but it 
works for him.

And no we don't have an O & M instructor. We lost our school services 
when we decided to keep him in preschool this year.

So anyone know where I can get a straight unfolding cane with a 
rolling tip or know where I can buy a rolling tip to fit a straight 
unfolding cane...I did not see any at the NFB store but if it's there 
somebody please point me in the right direction.

Thanks!

Marie (mother of Jack born May 2005)
See glimpses of life with my determined son who is developing in his 
own way at his own time at http://allaccesspasstojack.blogspot.com
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
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