The Belt Cane Balance Advantage: The Walking Solution Parents Have Been Looking For

Today, Clinical Ophthalmology published an results of a recent pilot study The Role of a Pediatric Belt Cane in Children with Cerebral Visual Impairment that used smartphone videos from 11 children with clinical diagnosed CVI at baseline and 8-week follow-up while wearing a Pediatric Belt Cane. Belt Cane use was associated with improved gait speed, with supportive improvements in step length and foot-mobility.

That's because walking on two feet, known in science as bipedal ambulation, is not possible without unaltered sensory feedback. Every step a child takes depends on continuous information from the body and the environment to stay balanced, oriented, and safe.

1-year-old with Microphthalmia Colonia & Cataracts wearing a Belt Cane and enjoying slide at the playground

For sighted toddlers and preschoolers, vision is the dominant sense for balance while walking. They constantly use visual cues to judge distance, surface changes, obstacles, and drop-offs. This is why sighted children cannot walk confidently while blindfolded—vision is doing far more work than most people may realize.

For blind children and children with a mobility visual impairment or blindness (MVI/B), vision cannot play this role. Instead, touch becomes their dominant sense for balance and safe movement.

Why Vestibular and Proprioception Are Not Enough

Parents are often told that balance comes from the vestibular system or proprioception. These systems are important—but they are not sufficient on their own for walking safely in a changing environment.

We see this clearly in how blind children try to move:

• Holding hands tightly (touch sense)

• Walking along walls (touch sense)

• Cruising furniture well past the typical developmental age (touch sense)

These behaviors are not delays or habits—they are adaptive strategies. Children are using their dominant sense of touch to create the balance information their vision cannot provide.

In other words, the child isn’t resisting walking. They’re using the feedback that makes walking feel balanced.

Touch Is the Missing Piece

Vision provides balance information for sighted children, touch provides that same information for blind children.

This is where the Safe Toddles Belt Cane Balance Advantage changes what’s possible.

The Belt Cane allows a blind child to “take the couch with them.” It gives them a mobile, extended source of touch feedback, the equivalent of a third leg, that moves with their body throughout the day.

Instead of needing to stay near walls, furniture, or adult hands, the child carries reliable balance feedback everywhere they go.

How the Belt Cane Creates Balance Through Touch

The Belt Cane provides enhanced touch feedback in a rectangular shape in front of the child’s body. This shape allows the child to continuously inspect the space ahead through touch—creating a stable, predictable path forward.

As the child moves:

• The rods transmit vibrations through touch

• The child receives clear information about the environment ahead

This feedback tells the child:

• Stop — the path is blocked

• Slow down — uneven or bumpy surface ahead

• Turn away — obstacle detected

• Prepare — a drop-off or step is coming

This constant feedback allows the child to stay upright, oriented, and confident—without relying on vision or adult physical guidance. Adults can let go and start to play chase and other fun early childhood movement games.

4-year-old with CVI "takes the couch with her" when wearing her Belt Cane at home

Why This Is a Balance Advantage

Sighted children use vision for balance during play, exploration, and social movement. Blind children have an equivalent advantage through enhanced and extended touch.

The Belt Cane Balance Advantage gives blind toddlers and preschoolers:

• Continuous balance feedback

• Predictable movement

• Confidence to walk independently

• The ability to confidently join peers in play, exploration, and daily life

The Belt Cane is a walking solution designed for real life.

Walking Changes Everything

When walking feels safe, children move more. When children move more, they learn more. And when blind children have the right sensory support, they stop holding back—and start joining in.

The Safe Toddles Belt Cane Balance Advantage gives blind children what sighted children already have: the sensory information they need to walk confidently, independently, and alongside their peers.