American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Fall 2022 CANES AND CANINES
Have Cane, Will Travel: A Cane Travel Lesson to Use with Primary-Level Sighted Children
by Carol Castellano
From the Editor: Children are naturally curious. When they have a blind classmate or see stories about a blind person in the media, they want to know what those long white canes are for. Carol Castellano, past president of the NOPBC (National Organization of Parents of Blind Children) and founding president of New Jersey Parents of Blind Children (NJPOBC) designed a set of activities that provide sighted children with hands-on experience using a cane in a familiar environment. Carol is the author of four books, including Making It Work and Getting Ready for College Begins in Third Grade.
This simple cane travel lesson is designed to give sighted children success in using basic cane skills. In turn, this success will promote understanding of the fact that blind people use alternative skills to travel about safely and independently.
Objectives
Skills
These activities should be undertaken with the eyes closed. At the end of the lesson, children should be able to:
- Identify various surfaces tapped by the cane
- Walk down a hallway
- Locate an open doorway
- Get past an obstacle
- Identify a dropoff
Understandings
At the end of the lesson children should be able to conclude:
- That blind people learn and use simple, effective methods for doing tasks that sighted people do with eyesight
- That it's simple and fun to travel using the other senses along with cane skills
- That it's not scary to be blind
- That blindness does not mean helplessness, and blind people don't need to be watched over
- That they don't have to worry when they see a blind person moving about
Discussion
The teacher or other adult should ask questions and guide the discussion to draw forth the pertinent information.
Question: How does a sighted person know how to get somewhere? (They look, remember, ask, follow directions, etc.
How does a blind person get around independently? (By using a cane or guide dog)
Explain that a blind person uses remembering, asking, and following directions, too. The blind person "looks" in different ways.
Question: Why does a blind person use a cane? (To avoid bumping into things; to find where the street is; to find things; to see what's coming ahead; to find where there's a clear path.)
Question: How do you think a cane works? (The cane touches things first; the cane is out in front so the blind person finds things with it; you can tell if the way is clear by moving the cane side to side.)
Explain that just as our eyesight tells us what is out ahead of us and what is to our sides, the cane shows what is ahead and to the sides, too. It just doesn't go as far as eyesight usually goes.
Question: Do you think you can use the cane to find out what things are made of?
Tell the children to close their eyes and bang the cane on various surfaces: wood, metal, plastic, carpet, tile, or concrete. Ask them to identify the surfaces using their hearing.
Question: Do you think you would be able to tell the difference between a rug and a tile floor by touching them with a cane?
They will most likely say yes!
Question: If a person has no eyesight, what other senses might they use while walking along?
Hearing, smell, touch, touch underfoot, touch under cane, sense of direction, sense of distance, remembering where a place is or how to get to it.
Question: Blind people often tap their canes as they walk. Why might they do that?
To hear what kind of surface is ahead of them, to hear the echo. If no one brings up the idea of hearing an echo, ask! What do we call it when sound bounces off a wall?
Explain that blind people often use a special kind of listening. They listen for the sound bouncing off the walls and back to their ears. By using this kind of listening, they can hear when the wall ends and when there is an opening such as a doorway or a hallway.
Question: Why might the sound be different when there is an opening and not a wall?
The sound goes into the opening and does not bounce back.
Question: How do sighted people know when there is an open door?
We see it.
Explain that we use eyesight to find things because we are sighted. If we were blind, we could develop this special kind of hearing, too.
Question: Do you think it is hard to walk using a cane and senses other than eyesight? Accept all answers. Tell the children they will soon try out a cane.
Explain that learning how to use a cane might seem hard at first, just as it might seem hard to learn to write in cursive or to subtract with trading. Use examples appropriate to the students.
Question: How do these tasks become easier?
With practice.
Question: How do you think blind people get to be good at traveling with a cane?
With practice.
Explain that blind people practice and develop their skills just as anyone practices and gets better and better at doing something. Blind children usually get lessons in using the cane from a special teacher. Then they practice what they have learned so they can become independent travelers.
Mention that blind people travel about and do just about all the other things that everyone else does in life. They simply learn ways of doing things without eyesight. Explain that there are techniques for doing just about everything without vision.
Optional: Mention that blind people who use guide dogs also must know how to travel independently before they get a dog. They need to give instructions to the dog, because the dog does not know where to go. The dog follows instructions from the blind person.
Trying It Out
The first two assignments work best in a hallway with an open door or alcove, but you can adapt them for the space you have. If you have access to a flight of stairs, preferably with only a few steps, you can demonstrate Assignments 3 and 4.
Tell the children they will now have a chance to try out walking around using a cane and their other senses instead of their eyesight. Hand out canes, matching them to the heights of the children. The cane should reach between the child's chin and nose.
Demonstrate how to hold the cane. Grasp the handle with your palm up and your index finger extended. Hold the cane out in front of you and slide it from side to side, a little wider than shoulder width. Line the children up along the wall and show them how to slide the cane. Tell them to touch the wall each time they slide. Let the children try it.
Assignment 1: Finding an open doorway or alcove
Sample: Your assignment is to find the library. It is down the hall, the first open door on the right. It has a rug on the floor. (Adapt directions to your space.)
Close your eyes. Try to find the library, using your cane, your hearing, and the feel of things beneath your feet. When your cane finds the opening or when you hear it, check to see if it's the library. Check by reaching your cane in there to see if there's a rug on the floor.
Send the children down the hall singly or in twos or threes. More than three at a time creates a traffic jam!
Assignment 2: Identifying and getting past an obstacle
Without the children observing you, place a large cardboard box, desk, plastic trash can, or similar object in the hallway. Instruct the children to close their eyes and use their canes to find the object, then see if they can identify it, and get past it.
Send them one at a time and have them go a few steps past the object, then wait for the others.
Assignment 3: Identifying a drop-off
A short stairway is ideal for this task.
Question: If you are using a cane, do you think you will know when you reach the first step down? How?
You can slide your cane; the cane will go down; the railing gives another clue when it angles down.
Question: How could you know when you've reached the bottom?
The cane will go flat; it will stop going down.
Demonstrate to the children how the cane goes down when it reaches a drop-off and how you can feel that in your hand.
Assignment 4: Demonstrate finding stairs up
Question: If you were using a cane, how would you find stairs going up?
The cane will bump; the cane will stop.
Demonstrate how the cane stops when it reaches the first step.
Question: If you went all the way up the stairs using a cane, how could you tell when there were no more steps up?
The cane won't bump any more; the cane will go flat.
If you wish to demonstrate how to go up the steps, do the following:
After the cane bumps into the first step, change your grip so that you are holding the cane in your fist straight up and down like a shepherd's staff. Hold your arm out about chest high and centered. The cane should lightly touch each step ahead until you reach the top step. Then change back to the regular grip and continue walking.
Last Assignment: Getting back to the classroom
(Adapt the directions to your building.)
Find your way back to your classroom using your cane and your other senses. The door is closed. It's the second wooden door on the left. Good luck!