VIDBE-Q 2025 Volume 70 Issue 3
have been building resources within our school district and fostering partnerships
with federal, state and city agencies, and nonprofit organizations to promote
successful travel skills.
Compiling physical resources in the far north includes filling our vehicle
trunks with winter ice grippers, outdoor clothing and different cane tips. Ice
grippers seem like an easy solution to icy walking conditions, but knowing when to
use them, how to put them on, cajoling reluctant teenagers into actually putting
them on, and learning to trust them while walking becomes quite the process. Our
school district has purchased a variety of styles as cleats seem to be as
individualized and consumable as cane tips. Cleats with straps that secure them on
the shoe seem like a no-brainer for the student with no vision who may walk out of
it and not be able to find it again, but that extra strap for kiddos with fine motor
challenges can become a barrier. Some styles are much harder to pull on and
require strength and agility. Can a student balance solely on one foot, lean against
something and lift a foot up or do they need to sit down to don them? How much
of a spike on the bottom will make a student feel safe, or will the student feel the
spike through the bottom of their shoe/boot and refuse to wear the cleats again?
Once the grippers are secured on the feet, then learning to trust them and walk with
them is the next step. There was one point this past winter when a student who had
successfully walked a multi-block residential route in the fall became frozen with
