[blindkid] introducing a cane

DrV icdx at earthlink.net
Thu Jul 21 05:48:39 UTC 2011


Agreed - it has to be as basic as putting on shoes or clothes.
My older son only forgot his cane once when we went food shopping -
somewhere around 1st grade. I made sure he quickly became very aware of
how disadvantageous his oversight was. It has literally never happened
again. Well, he did loose one cane a while back, when for some still
unclear reason, he dropped it off the end of city's pier - in case you are
wondering, NFB canes float, as least in salt water... It was too cold to
retrieve it - I wonder what shore it may have surfaced on. He did not have
a backup cane handy & quickly became very aware of how awkward it was to
be without a cane. That too will undoubtedly never happen again.
My younger son, now 10, has never forgotten his cane.
The cane is an extension of a blind child's body.
Eric

On 7/20/11 10:27 PM, "Penny Duffy" <pennyduffy at gmail.com> wrote:

>>
>> A cane in the  hand is better then no cane at all. (even if its dragged
>> behind. )  Its about learning to keep it with you and get in the habit.
>>Its
>> ok to have more then one cane too.. Like shoes (someone said that at the
>> national convention and its stuck with me) Different canes can work
>>better
>> at different times.    Have your son work with all kinds of different
>>kinds
>> of canes..
>
>
>
>
>> My daughter started using a cane in January.  She was given one of those
>> handy folding aluminum canes with a rolling marshmallow tip.. (I said
>>that
>> with a bit of sarcasm)  You get very little feed back from those canes.
>> .
>>  The NFB cane is so much lighter.  My daughter loves it.. We got an NFB
>>cane
>> at convention and I dont' think she is ever going to look back.  I don't
>> think the medal tip gets stuck anymore then a rolling tip.  Those
>>rollers
>> get stuck a lot. There is also only one way to hold those kinds of
>>cane.   I
>> don't think my daughter has had a tummy poke once now with her NFB
>>cane.  I
>> am sure its going to happen. There is methods you can do with an NFB
>> to completely avoid tummy pokes while still holding it to the middle.
>>
>
>My take is a the folding aluminium canes with a rolling tips seems more
>like
>a piece of  medical equipment while a NFB long white cane is a TOOL.
>Its
>a preference though.. There isn't a wrong answer..
>
>>
>> On 7/20/11 9:09 AM, "Susan Vorsanger" <svorsanger at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> >Hi, I know many of you have had much experience with kids & cane use...
>> >My son is almost four but severely developmentally delayed (no talking,
>> >very limited communication).  At my strong encouragement his O&M
>> >instructor is going to start working with him with a cane.  (Some
>> >background:  I have tried for a loooong time to gently introduce him to
>> >an NFB cane, but so far he¹s shown no interest at all & only wants to
>>put
>> >it in his mouth).  I was wondering if some of you had any thoughts
>>about
>> >the following:
>> >-          His O&M instructor strongly recommends a cane that comes up
>>to
>> >his chest, but I know the NFB canes are longer.  Can someone tell me
>> >again what the rationale is for the longer length?  Do you think there
>> >would be any harm to starting him out with a shorter length?
>> >-          She wants him to use a cane with a ball on the end so it
>> >doesn¹t get stuck.   Do you think there would be any harm to trying
>>this
>> >kind for a while since I haven¹t had luck with the other cane yet?
>> >I am really glad to have some help encouraging my son to use a cane,
>>but
>> >I want to make sure we¹re taking the best approach possible.    Thanks!
>> >-- Susan
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>>k
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>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
>-- 
>--Penny
>----------
>Adventures with Abby - visionfora.blogspot.com
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