The Amazing Race ECC Community Based Instruction

We had so much fun using The Amazing Race as our Expanded Core lesson! It was a great way to do community based instruction (CBI). You can get all kinds of ideas for The Amazing Race activities online. I love Pinterest so I started there but there are a lot of great online resources to help plan. This particular Amazing Race was for our students and siblings of kids with vision impairments. 

To make this work as an effective ECC CBI, think about your skills and your location. It should be a good challenge but doable (this allows you to focus on meaningful instruction). I selected a mall that was not very large and didn't have an overwhelming amount of pedestrian traffic (this allowed me to really work on OM skills). We also went to a main street that had a good amount of stores and Walmart. 

Of course one of our first challenges was for everyone to learn about the ECC! I bought a ton of those onesie PJ costumes and my staff dressed up  so we would be obvious for our students to find for challenges. That just made things fun and silly for all. 

In addition to the clues pictured in the post, students had to work on their ECC skills such as time management, compensatory skills, a lot of different OM skills (using landmarks, monoculars, directionality) and self-determination. The teams needed to work on communication and team building skills. Each staff member had a lesson plan so that we could provide direct instruction on all these ECC topics. Clues were printed in large print and a Braille copy. 

As always, be mindful of areas that should have some pre-or post teaching. If students have to figure out a ton of items, the main objectives of the lesson get lost. Each group had a (staff) coach who provided some 5 minute instruction as the students played the game. We also wanted to work in transportation skills but it  was a challenge to work in public transportation. We used our school bus and named it the "rendezvous point". The bus was parked somewhere along the route and students had to use their mapping skills to locate it. 

No Amazing Race challenge would be complete without a food challenge. Enter the simulator kits and Oreos! This was for everyone. I bought every kind of Oreo cookie and students had to identify the flavor. It was actually a fun way of doing sensory efficiency because we had to work the other senses for sure!

This could easily be a repeated activity and not just a stand alone one day program. You can even give skill level of beginner, intermediate and advanced. There is so much potential and I can't wait to do it again! It also doesn't even need to be just a blind school camp activity, families can do this as well! Just remember some of the points that I shared so that it is accessible and fun. 

Parent Mobility Resource

I am so excited to share a really great resource with you! Two of our super amazing orientation & mobility instructors have started a website all about OM skills. It has videos and lots of good tips for cane travel. The best part: it's all written for parents! The language and instruction is very parent friendly. 

This is definitely a resource you want to save and use over and over. 

Check it out: http://parentmobility.com

I love the O&M skills tab where they break down O&M skills by grades. It lets parents know according to grade level what skills are appropriate. 

The other thing that I love is that both mobility instructors, Bethany & Linda, are not just instructors but have personal ties to the field. They bring their understanding of the vision impairment community to add to the resources. 

Wiggly Eye Sticker Chart

I was walking past this bulletin board in our of schools today when I stumbled upon this fun reward chart. This is an orientation & mobility reward chart by Linda Bredeen (a fab instructor). Let me tell you why I snapped a quick pic to blog about. Have you ever tried to use sticker charts for elementary school age kids with a vision impairment? It's doable but not awesome because there isn't a ton of fun for our kids with traditional stickers. Other alternatives are usually scratch & sniff stickers but even that doesn't always give instant feedback.  But check out Linda's idea with the wiggly eyes idea! 

I ran into her later that day and chatted with her about it. She told me that the kids LOVE using the wiggly eyes and they get a kick out of putting them on their chart. Lots of good feedback for the kids.  It's an easy peasy way to make a vision modification to an everyday school item. Have fun!

Selectively Handicapped

Hi Friends,
Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving/Hanukkah holiday. I was loving the turkey dream and ate a great feast. Hope you did too!  This week I am happy to let one of my favorite guest bloggers, mobility instructor Dave Ferland, write another insightful post.

Selectively Handicapped

by Dave Ferland, COMS

The first time I was here I wrote about ABS (Adorable Blind kid Syndrome) during which cute blind kids (no cuter than any other kids!) are treated like public petting poodles. This treatment gets in the way of independent mobility and reinforces a false picture of the real world. Visual people learn incidentally and experientially that there are consequences to not paying attention and not asking for appropriate help. For example, they look stupid or don’t get where they need to be on time and then get into trouble. Adorable Blind Children learn incidentally and experientially that if they stand around looking clueless then someone will eventually take pity and bail them out. Almost every time. They don’t pay attention to the environment around them and they don’t ask for help. Why should they? They are Adorable Blind children and someone will solve their problems for them.

Something else that reinforces helplessness was called to my attention recently and now I am noticing it more in the community of families with blind children. Have you ever experienced that? Something has been going on in plain sight unnoticed and now you can’t not see it? This phenomenon which I can’t ignore is the use of handicapped parking placards by the parents of blind children. Not blind children with physical disabilities affecting mobility. Just regular kids who happen to be blind. I went back and forth on this. Is this really important? After all, I don’t have a blind child. Can’t I just let it go? What’s the real issue here?

On a practical level, we know that blind children often get an incomplete picture of the world and how it works. We want to be careful that things don’t “magically” happen for our students, that they understand the process and work that goes into all daily living tasks. I think we all know that parking lots are not the safest places to practice independent travel. But they are great places to use sighted guide while listening and identifying potential dangers. What are the sounds when a car is about to move? Why do cars pull in and back out? Or vice versa? Why is it harder for a driver to see while going in reverse? Can we tell where other people are going? Can we listen for an opening in traffic to cross to the door? Once across, can we stop sighted guide and have the kids listen for clues then walk to the entrance or to the shopping carts? Finding the entrance is a great skill for real life. These are just the little things that add up to real experience and a full picture of the real world. Better to practice now with supervision then to have no clue later on.

More crucial is the message being sent loud and clear to the kid and to the public: “Blind people are handicapped!” The corrosiveness of this message is clear when I talk to independent and successful college students or adults who are blind. They usually tell a different story: “My parents never treated me like I was handicapped. I folded laundry, did chores, made plans with my friends, walked to the neighbors by myself, arranged rides, took the bus. I was forced to ask a lot of questions. We looked for ways, for modifications, to function in the real world. My parents didn’t change the rules for me. They did not make me handicapped. They did not allow me to be handicapped.” That’s the real issue here. It’s dangerous to overplay the blind card in order to make life easier and more convenient. Do blind kids need modifications and techniques to get ready for the real world? Yes, of course. Are blind kids handicapped? We all want to say, “No! Of course not!”. But we need to model and reinforce that answer whenever and wherever possible.

Playful O&M & Book Ideas

Hi friends,
I was doing the usual Google search for articles and came across a handout for some playful O&M songs. I thought it was cute and decided to share. This isn't my article. I posted the original with the author's name. It also has a nice listing of books that feature kids with a vision impairment. I liked these and thought they could be added to the classroom libraries where we have kids. 

Playful O&M

Maya Delgado Greenberg,

M.A., C.O.M.S.,

Orientation and Mobility Specialist

C.A.O.M.S. Conference

November 2007

Books featuring children with visual impairmentshttp://www.iowa-braille.k12.ia.us/bibliography_of_blind.html
• The Sound of Colors: A Journey of the Imagination by Jimmy Liao . In this breathtaking, evocative book, a young blind girl travels from one subway station to another while her imagination takes her to impossibly wonderful places. She swims with the dolphins and sunbathes on a whales back; flies through the air with the birds and travels to the station at the end of the world. 
• Night Search Chamberlain, Kate. Hollidaysburg, PA: Jason and Nordic, 1997. 32 p. Heather, who is blind, resists using her white cane until one night while camping her puppy wanders off. Heather tries to find the puppy. She finds a stick which helps, but she realizes that her white cane is a very valuable helper. 
• Mandy Sue Day Karim, Roberta. New York: Clarion, 1994. Unpaged. Using her senses of taste, hearing, touch, and smell, a blind girl enjoys a special day on the farm. Using rhythmic language, the author conveys the exuberance and excitement of Mandy’s day with her horse, Ben. 
• Listen for the Bus: David’s Story McMahon, Patricia. Honesdale, PA: Caroline House, 1995. Unpaged. A real life look at David, who is blind and hearing impaired, as he begins kindergarten. Photos show all parts of his day and also explain the signs he uses because of his deafness. 
• Sarah's Sleepover. Rodriguez, Bobbie. New York: Viking, 2000. Unpaged. When the lights go out while her cousins are spending the night, a young blind girl shows them what to do in the dark. 
Out-of-Print, but you still might be able to find them….
· Family of Owen M.: Off We Go to Learn Everyday Things About Orientation and Mobility Flaherty, Erin. Philadelphia, PA: Hill, 1997. Unpaged. "Learn everyday things about orientation and mobility" is the theme of this lighthearted, illustrated book about a blind boy named Owen M. and his family. A perfect tool to teach classmates, parents, and friends of blind children how O&M helps Owen travel around his house, in stores, and outside. 
· Travel Tales: A Mobility Storybook by Julia Halpern-Gold, Robin W. Adler, and Shelly Faust-Jones (Paperback - Nov 1988). This large print, paperback book, is geared for pre-school and early elementary students with visual impairments. Designed to reinforce different environmental concepts in which a child would travel, it features a boy named Elliot, who is blind. Elliot provides a positive role model for blind children as he travels through the supermarket, in the subway, around the block, all around the town. 

White Cane Song Book

Created by Lori Cassels and David Renslow

Wheels on the Bus
The wheels on the bus go round and round – round and round – round and round
The wheels on the bus go round and round all through the town
The cane on the bus goes tap, tap, tap - tap, tap, tap - tap, tap, tap 
The cane on the bus goes tap, tap, tap all through the town
The driver on the bus says here’s your stop - here’s your stop - here’s your stop
The driver on the bus says here’s your stop all through the town
The cane on the bus goes tap, tap, tap - tap, tap, tap - tap, tap, tap 
The cane on the bus goes tap, tap, tap all through the town

This Is the Way
This is the way we tap our canes, tap our canes, tap our canes
This is the way we tap our canes all around our school
We always keep our cane in front, cane in front, cane in front
We always keep our cane in front, all around our school
We always keep our cane tip down, cane tip down, cane tip down
We always keep our cane tip down, all around our school
This is the way we tap our canes, tap our canes, tap our canes
This is the way we tap our canes all around our school

I’ve Been Working With My White Cane (tune I’ve Been Working on the Railroad)
I’ve been working with my white cane, all the live long day
I’ve been working with my white cane just to help me find my way
Can’t you hear my cane go tapping. Keeping my cane tip down!
I love to hear my cane go tapping. It helps me get around.
My cane helps me go – My cane helps me go – 
My cane helps me go all over
My cane helps me go – My cane helps me go
My cane helps me get around.
(solo)
I left my cane in the dining hall. I left it there yesterday.
I left my cane in the dining hall, now I can’t find my way.

Walking Down the Streets with our Canes (Tune of Coming around the Mountain)
We’ll be walking down the streets with our canes (tap – tap) 2X
We’ll be walking down the streets 2X
We’ll be walking down the streets with our canes (tap – tap) 
We’ll be keeping our cane tips down as we walk (tap – tap) 2X
We’ll be keeping our cane tips down 2XWe’ll be keeping our cane tips down as we walk (tap – tap) 
We’ll be keeping our canes in front as we walk (tap – tap) 2X
We’ll be keeping our cane tips down 2X
We’ll be keeping our cane tips down as we walk (tap – tap) 
Upper Protective Technique (to the tune of Oh My Darling Clementine)—adapted from Travel Tales, a Mobility Storybook
Put your arm up, bend your elbow
Keep your fingers nice and straight.
Your hand will protect you,
So you won’t bump your face (ouch!)
Left or right hand
Doesn’t matter
Use your hands, not your feet (pretend to try to put foot in front of face)
Use it in your classroom
In your house, and on the street.

Back To School Blitz: Day Three!

Today's post comes from our good friend, Jessica Eichfeld, COMS Instructor. I asked her to share some back to school tips for mobility. Thanks Jessica!

 Back to School O&M Style 

by Jessica Eichfeld, COMS Instructor 

1. Go through your schedule before the first day! Get in contact with your O&M instructor and see if they can take you over to the school, if not find a friend or ask your parents. It is so much easier to find your class locations when the hallways are clear, then you can identify landmarks that will be useful when the hallways are crazy busy. If there are classrooms that are difficult to locate and you are a visual traveler, ask the teacher to put a colorful sign outside their classroom door and tell them that if they change it to let you know beforehand. Most teachers are more than willing to help in any way. 

2. Identify different routes to your classes. Your friends may use one route that is okay when you are walking with them, but may not be the best way for when you are alone. Stay after school and wonder the hallways, get to know the layout like the back of your hand.

 3. Ask for an end locker and bring in your own accessible lock. It is embarrassing to always go to the wrong locker and then not be able to use the combination locks. So our low vision pals, please swallow your pride and ask; nobody but the teacher will know that you needed the end locker and most students are not even going to notice your lock is different. If you have gym make sure to bring an extra lock for the locker room. 

4. Have a bus plan! How are you going to locate your bus after school? Do they park in the same spot? Do you have any friends that are on your bus and can help you out? For our Low Vision friends that can see color, would it be helpful for your bus to put a red (or another color) sign in the window? Also practice the route to and from the bus stop at home!!! Are there any street crossings involved? Get your O&M instructor involved and PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE! 

5. The cafeteria can be very overwhelming! So it is important to have a plan. Find out what friends are in your lunch beforehand and ask them to either sit around the same area they did in the previous years and/or look for you. Disposable trays are common in school cafeterias, they are flimsy and typically difficult to carry with a cane; so ask for rigid tray they usually will have a few. And most importantly make friends with the lunch ladies; they will always hook you up!

6. Very important tip that you should ALWAYS remember, do not over use your friends for help! Friends are a great resource and you are encouraged to be open and honest with your friends about your vision and what you may need help with. But do not always rely on the SAME friend every day, they will get burnt out and they may begin to avoid you. Learn how to do daily tasks on your own, so that you do not need assistance. And network, let a few people know how to help you and only ask for help when you REALLY need it. You may be surprised at how many truly helpful people there really are!

Adorable Blind Kid Syndrome

Hi friends, I get so excited when I have guests blog for me and I am smiling brightly about our latest guest blogger, Dave Ferland. Dave is a Certified Orientation & Mobility Instructor who is dynamite. I often pick his brain for ideas and thoughts as I am putting together programs or ideas. He has been telling me about this "syndrome" he has observed and its implications on mobility. I highly advise parents, paraprofessionals and teachers to read this and bookmark it.

Adorable Blind Kid Syndrome

by David Ferland, COMS

As an orientation and mobility instructor, I’m often asked a question like, “What is keeping Johnny from being more independent in school?” Let’s go through the list: Is he using his cane properly? Techniques can always be taught and refined, especially with good support in the school. Is the paraprofessional allowing the student to make mistakes? This usually requires some work since the paraprofessional wants the student to be safe and look good. But a good paraprofessional usually comes around and gives the space and opportunity for Johnny to solve mobility problems. Is he using his landmarks, clues, and routes? Working on routes and staying oriented can be an ongoing process as kids get older and there are more travel expectations in the school. But, in my experience, there is another less concrete factor affecting the mobility of younger school-age students.

For K-4 students, one of the largest obstacles to independent travel in school is the “Adorable Blind Kid Syndrome” (ABS). Here is a typical ABS scenario: Children are entering the school, streaming in as the buses arrive. Staff members are at the doors and in the halls, moving things along, greeting some of the kids. Business as usual. But wait! Here comes Johnny with his white cane! Isn’t he adorable! And so brave! Did you know, his hearing is superhuman! I’m going to go right up to him as he’s walking, suddenly get right there in his face and ask him to guess my name. Then I’m going to look at his paraprofessional and tell her how cute he is while all the other kids are drifting past observing and listening to the whole thing. Johnny’s a bit startled by this adult’s sudden approach and the adult’s voice mixed with the clamor at the start of the school day isn’t helpful at all. But Johnny knows this game. He’s good-natured and knows how cute and adorable he is because he’s told this every single day. One thing he does not know is that it doesn’t happen to any other child entering the school. But the other students notice and the message is constantly reinforced: Johnny is special, different, and separate. And Johnny learns that someone will always bail him out. If uneasy or disoriented, he can just stop moving, wait, and someone will always help, solving his mobility problems for him. Because he’s special and adorable. These helpers may even give the paraprofessional a dirty look for allowing an Adorable Blind Kid to become confused or lost. Or they may tell him and his paraprofessional how amazing he is, how difficult it must be. Even though he just got lost in a school he’s attended for three years!

There is a teensy bit of exaggeration in the above scenario but I think all of us working with blind students will recognize some truth in there. Rule of thumb: look around. If other kids are not being fawned over, then blind students should not be fawned over either. When he’s walking, he’s working, especially in school. When he becomes disoriented, give information and ask questions. “That’s the rug near the gym.” “Someone’s walking up the stairs.” “Do you hear Mrs. Smith talking to her class?” Encourage other students to let Johnny know when he is about to barge into them so he can make his own adjustment. Of course Johnny’s cute. All kids are cute and special (mostly). But mobility expectations should not be lowered because of cuteness. And they definitely should not be lowered because of blindness. Give that Adorable Blind Kid some space and watch him thrive like just another kid.



Cane Techniques Part Two

Thanks again to our fantastic mobility instructor friend, Jessica, for her follow up on her super helpful handout on cane techniques. This week I am happy to share part two of her handout.

Cane Technique 201

by Jessica Eichfeld, COMS 

Lesson 1: Approaching Stairs 

Anchor Cane: When student approaches stairs whether going up or down, he or she should anchor their cane against the first step until first foot approaches the step. This gives a reference of where the step is located and how steep the steps are.

* After approach, if right hand is used for the cane then cane should be switched to left hand to allow use of the railing.

Lesson 2: Stairs - Cane Grip and Arm Position 

Ascending:
Grip: Thumbs down, thumb is on the flat part of the grip.

Arm Position: Extended at least one step ahead and cane is at a slight angle to the right. Some may need to lower hand on the grip if cane is to long.

Descending:
Grip: Index finger grip (See Correct Cane Technique 101)

Arm Position: Extended at least one step ahead and cane is at a slight angle to the right.

Descending

Ascending 

Lesson 3: Ascending and Descending Stairs

Ascending Stairs: Cane is always at least one step ahead to eliminate tripping. The cane tip lightly bounces off the lip of each step until it reaches the landing, where it floats into open space. Student will at that time go back to index finger grip.

Descending Stairs: Cane is again one step ahead; the tip should lightly tap each step until the cane glides along the landing.

Ascending

Descending

Lesson 4: Doors

Approach: When door is found, anchor cane against door and find door handle. If right hand is used for cane, cane needs to be switched into left hand and right hand is used to open the door; if double doors also use right side.

Going Through Door: Cane goes through door first, to locate any obstacles or drop offs. Once student is through the door he or she can switch cane hands if needed. 

Through

Approach

Correct Cane Techniques Handout

Happy 2013 friends! How about starting out this new year with a new post from our dear mobility friend, Jessica? She made a handout for one of her teams so that they would know how to all work together to help their student with correct cane technique. I was helping her take pictures for her mobility handout and knew I smelled a win win post idea so with her permission, here it is! It's three easy lessons (with pictures!) and it is perfect for getting everyone up to speed with mobility needs.

Correct Cane Technique 101

by Jessica Eichfeld, COMS

Lesson 1: Index Finger Grasp and Arm Position
Index Finger Grasp: with cane in desired hand, student places index finger along the flat side with the other fingers and thumb wrapped around the grip. Should be holding cane towards the middle of the grip.

Arm Position: Arm should be extended at mid-line about waist height. Good checking point is the belly button.

Lesson 2: Cane Arc
Cane arc: The reason behind holding the cane midline is so the individual will cover both sides of the body equally. The width of the cane arc is 2” beyond widest part of the body which is typically the shoulders. When walking behind your student you should be able to see the cane moving from side to side, if you can not see the cane while walking behind then they do not have a wide enough arc. 

*It is a wrist movement not an arm movement. Unless wrist movement is limited.

Lesson 3: In-rhythm and In-step
In-rhythm: The cane moves ‘in-rhythm’ with the student’s feet. “Every time you take a step you move the cane to the right and left.” Tip: using two-point touch (tapping the cane side to side) helps create a rhythm they can hear.

In-Step: In order to stay in-step the student must first be in-rhythm. In-step means that the cane moves with the opposite foot. For example when the student steps forward with their right foot the cane moves to the left. This allows for more space between the foot and the cane, giving them more time to react to drop-offs and obstacles.

 

College Life Part One

This post is the first of a few that I am going to blog on college life. Next week I am running my annual College Day. I recently sat down with my mobility superhero colleagues and we created some new handouts for the transition to college life. This first post is from my newest handout, College Living Strategy Plan. 

photo from wikipidia

A little background: Our transition age students need to have good generalization with their skills. Too often, they learn just their high schools, cafeteria lines, familiar restaurants, etc. but lack how to take their skills and generalize them to similar situations, conversations and places.  Some other common issues is that they won't use their canes (if they are visual travelers...) and struggle with independent living skills when they leave to college life. Now not every student struggles with this but a majority of them do in one way or another. So here's what I decided to do: take my students to an actual college campus and get down to intensive lessons for both parents and students. I teamed up with mobility to give our students and parents a checklist of skills for college life. 

photo from flickr

How to understand this: I decided that if we just lectured the students it would just blow right pass them. I wanted to give my students something that they could use easily. That's where my three category plan come into play: mobility plan, independent living skills plan and vision plan.

This isn't rocket science. The category names are exactly as they sound. The vision plan is for how they can modify their vision impairment to a situation. I feel that if students can take these three plans when going into a new situation or place, they have a good first foot forward.

Here's part one...

College Living Strategy Plan

by Robbin Keating, Vision Rehabilitation Therapist

and Dave Ferland, COMS
(with consult from the BESB mobility instructors)

The place: Student Center

Mobility Plan:

§  What entrance would you use?

§  Where is the information desk?

§  Accessible ATM? News & Campus events? Bookstore

§  Where are the bathrooms?

§  What are important landmarks?

o  Designate a meeting landmark

o  What kind of landmarks do you like? Big logos, above ground items, etc.

§  Seating situation/study rooms/chill spots

§  Designate a home base in every building

Independent living skills plan:

§ Can the student use the following independently: Food card, Student ID, money organization, cell phone, using an ATM

§  Low vision devices skills

Vision plan:

§  Lighting situation

§  Systematic search patterns to locate important people, places

§  Find your vantage point for finding seats, people, places, information

Do it at home: Start thinking about your child's chore list. I hope your child has chores because if they don't, plan on heading off to the dorms so you can clean up after them! :)

Mobility Resources

This week I decided to share some mobility resources. I had to compile resources for both my professional work as well as for an ongoing project for graduate school. I decided to reach out to my colleagues for their insight. This list was compiled by one of our certified mobility instructors. I've also included her notes for each link for a quick snapshot of each site. Enjoy!

perkins.org

http://www.orientationandmobility.org/
(this is a great website; especially the section on Children is very good. Unfortunately there are many broken links, but it’s still very comprehensive)

http://www.blindchildren.org/textonly/index.html
(Some useful info on sports and games; FYI, this site is very heavy on NFB philosophy)

http://www.tsbvi.edu/orientation-a-mobility (TSBVI, of course!)

http://www.icevi.org/publications/icevix/wshops/0400.html (Useful article on O&M for children)

http://www.nfb.org/nfb/guide_dog_schools.asp
(NFB website has other useful info on O&M; this link lists Guide dog schools)

https://secure71.inmotionhosting.com/~access20/Schedule/#nextSession
(Not specific to O&M, but they conduct useful webinars relating to accessibility)

http://www.americawalks.org/srts/
(Not specific to O&M, but they have useful info for pedestrians in general.)

http://www.access-board.gov/ada/ (Guide on ADA standard)

http://braillesc.org/2010/10/transportation-for-nondrivers/ (Excellent article on Non-drivers and transportation)

http://www.walkscore.com/
(Again, not specific to O&M but it’s fun...you can plug in your student’s address and it analyzes the neighborhood and spits out a grade on ‘walkabilty’. It’s not all that useful as it doesn’t list all available local transportation, but as I said, it’s fun. Also, you can somewhat preview and get a sense of the neighborhood before the first visit)

http://www.sauerburger.org/dona/index.html (Loaded info on street crossing)

http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=40&TopicID=168
(Basic info on O&M; side tab has more categories to click on. Spanish version available as well)

About pre-cane skills

What are pre-cane skills and how can I help?

Jessica Eichfeld, M.A., COMS

Orientation and Mobility Specialist

You don’t need to be an Orientation and Mobility Specialist to begin helping you child with O&M skills. As a parent/caregiver there are many skills that you can establish and practice with your child on a daily basis. In formal O&M training, the O&M Specialist typically teaches specific skills before placing a cane in a child’s hand. These are called pre-cane skills. These skills are trailing, protective techniques, purposeful movement and the use of a pre-cane. Let’s break these skills down into simpler terms:

Purposeful movement is basically having an end goal to a movement. Moving for a purpose! For example reaching out for a toy, a cup when they are thirsty, or their mother’s voice, all of these actions show purposeful movement. At a young age we are primarily motivated to move by sight. We see the world around us and we want to explore. It is extremely important that you teach your child that there is a world outside of themselves. Start simple! Use musical items as mobiles for infants. Use a favorite toy and place it at arms reach rather than handing the toy to your child, let them reach out to it, caution this may take some patience. Set up a blanket or rug on the floor and put the toy in a corner and have the child scoot or crawl towards the toy. Have a small basket of toys (only with a few items) in the living or family room in the same location. First time basket is set up there let your child explore the area and the items that are located near the basket. It is best to have the basket by some items that can be used as landmarks (something that is unique, permanent, and tells the child where they are) such as the couch or the corner in the room where the fuzzy rug is, for example. Let the child move towards that area freely. These are huge steps towards an independent little traveler.

Trailing is a technique that blind individuals use to help keep them orientated to their environments and helps them find certain locations and/or landmarks. The individual will glide their hand out in front of them along a wall or furniture. You can play a scavenger hunt where you put some items along the wall and your child has to find them and put in their “discovery basket.” Or you can place different textures for them to fell along the wall. Sticky tack works well for hanging objects and does not leave marks on the walls.

Protective Techniques or “safe hands” can be used when your child is walking in open space without a wall or furniture to trail. You want your child to hold their hands up in-front of them preferably protecting their head. Encourage your child to use “safe hands” when they are approaching an obstacle.

A Pre-cane can be a simple push toy, toy shopping cart or a hula hoop. The use of the pre-cane helps the child understand that walking with something in front of them protects them. That is a barrier between them and an obstacle that can hurt them. They will learn that when the pre-cane hits something they need to go around or move the object. You may see your child walk more confidently without holding a hand. This not only allows them more independence, but builds confidence in their abilities!