[blindkid] bike riding

[Marie]

Thanks for the feedback Aaron! Do you mind if I pick your brain?  How did you learn to find curbs, dips, or other obstacles while riding? It kind of seemed to me that Jack may have been trying his hand at a little echolation the other day. He has some vision and I was calling out "curb" then he started making sounds until he got closer and closer and stopped just before the curb. I thought it was cool to watch especially since we never attempted to teach it. Kids have such sharp minds and Jack is definitely an out of the box thinker. 

Aaron I would love to hear more about your riding. Did you go off road, stick to your home street, what areas did you find most enjoyable? How could your parents have helped if they'd had the benefit of grown you to give them ideas?


Marie (mother of Jack, born May 2005)
Check out our blog at http://www.allaccesspasstojack.blogspot.com for glimpses into our busy life with a boy who is busy growing and developing in his own way in his own time

-----Original Message-----
From: Aaron Cannon <cannona at fireantproductions.com>
Sender: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org
Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2011 13:43:18 
To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Reply-To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,
	\(for parents of blind children\)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [blindkid] bike riding

Hi Marie.

I'm glad you are teaching him to ride.  I've been blind since birth,
and riding a bike was one of my favorite activities growing up.  As
for your question, until you find a more permanent option, perhaps you
could sing a song while riding.  That way, he gets the constant queue
of your voice, but it's not as awkward as having to constantly call
out.

Just a thought.

Enjoy your time out there.

Aaron

On 3/25/11, Marie <empwrn at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> Hello all, life has been crazy busy here so it's been quite a while since
> I've posted. One thing we've been up to is bike riding. Jack is currently
> riding a standard bike with the pedals removed so it functions as a balance
> bike. He can ride with the pedals but lacks the confidence to do it without
> us having a hand on his back so we thought going pedal-less a bit longer
> would help him grown in confidence. We are having a great time doing this as
> a family and our current system involves us calling out to Jack to follow us
> or we ride behind him. I have heard that you can get some kind of clicker to
> make a noise that Jack could learn to listen for on our bikes. Can someone
> tell me what this thing is actually called and I would love any other bike
> riding tips/hints you'd like to provide. Jack is visually impaired with
> vision of 20/320 or so in his right eye and light perception in his left
> eye. He travels with a cane when he walks and runs and is still adapting to
> his lack of depth perception so any hints you can give on off road riding
> would be great too. As of right now, I yell out big bump or KABOOM to let
> him know an obstacle or drop off is coming up while riding.
>
>
>
> Marie (mother of Jack, born May 2005)
>
> Check out our blog at http://www.allaccesspasstojack.blogspot.com for
> glimpses into our busy life with a boy who is busy growing and developing in
> his own way in his own time
>
>
>
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