Balanced, Protected, and Informed O&M for Active Daily Living

This event will provide an in-depth look at the Pediatric Belt Cane and its role in supporting DeafBlind toddlers. Attendees will hear from Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken the renown inventor of the belt cane and expert in orientation and mobility, learn about the research outcomes of the belt cane, and see real-life video examples of how it improves motor and developmental outcomes in children with deafblindness.

Mobility tools for vision impaired children are designed to help them detect obstacles, understand their environment, and move safely. These tools range from traditional long canes to more innovative devices like the belt cane. Each tool has its unique benefits and applications.

White Cane Day has new meaning for children who are blind from birth. With the Pediatric Belt Cane and Rectangular AMD, even toddlers can now join the celebration — walking safely and independently using touch for balance, protection, and exploration.

Safe Toddles receives a $30,000 grant from the William G. and Helen C. Hoffman Foundation—their second year of support—to expand early mobility access for blind children through Pediatric Belt Canes, training, and family outreach.

Children begin learning to navigate their world from the moment they start moving. For children with blindness or mobility-related visual impairments, this process can be more complex — but no less vital. Traditional mobility tools like long canes often aren’t introduced until school age, which can delay critical stages of physical and cognitive development. The Pediatric Belt Cane, however, provides the tactile input needed to safely begin independent movement as early as 1

The entire field of orientation and mobility (O&M) exists because of the dog guide and, later, the long cane. Both were developed in response to war. Dog guides emerged after World War I, and the long cane after World War II, to serve newly blinded veterans—adults who had walked confidently with vision for decades before losing it. As a result, the curriculum for teaching independent travel was designed around a very specific learner: a physically fit, cognitively intact adul

Teaching blind children before long canes were invented shows why we believe bruises are instructional for blind babies.