Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken, foremost expert in early childhood walking in children with congenital or early onset blindness and mobility visual impairment, has released her latest videos for the second edition of her Safe Toddles curriculum. Parents and professionals babyproof their children's blind walking during their recommended daily physical activity hours with a Pediatric Belt Cane. Did you know that blind children aged 24 months should be active five to seven hours every day? That amount of physical activity would be impossible to demand of a blind child without first babyproofing blind walking for them. Below are the hyperlink chapter titles to watch methods for obtaining improved outcomes in children with a mobility visual impairment or blindness (MVI/B) walking. Safe Toddles curriculum has information on assessing your child with a mobility visual impairment or blindness physical activity and walking skills, measuring children with an MVI/B for a Pediatric Belt Cane, and instructing children with an MVI/B in safe standing, safe walking, and safe cane skills starting at age ten months. Safe Toddles Pediatric Belt Cane Curriculum: 2nd Edition Introducing Safe Toddles Pediatric Belt Canes for Children with a Mobility Visual Impairment or Blindness Assessment Assessment of Mobility Visual Impairment in Toddlers and Older Assessment of Blind Toddler Independent Walking Physical Activity Level How to Fit a Pediatric Belt Cane to a Child with a Mobility Visual Impairment or Blindness Wearing Belt Canes, Blind Children Can Mentally Map their World without Holding on to the Wall Safe Standing Walking 101: First, We Safely Stand Introducing Safe Standing with a Pediatric Belt Cane Age 8-10 Months* Increase Safe Standing with a Pediatric Belt Cane -- Age 11 - 12 months Safe Standing Up with Assistance Safe Kneeling Using Furniture Safe Solo Standing Maintain Balance for 3-5 seconds Safe Standing to Sitting Safe Solo Standing and Solo Sitting Safe Standing When Holding on to a Stable Object Child with an MVI/B will Safely Stoop to Pick up a Toy When Holding on to a Stable Object. Safe Standing from a Half-Kneel Position Safe Standing Half-Kneel Position to Standing Position Child will Safely Stand Alone Without Support Safely Standing Up from Floor (Squat to Stand, Bear Stand, Half-kneel) Safely Transition from Standing to Sitting on Floor, in a Chair, at a Table Part I Part II Part III Safe Walking Safe Walking with Trunk Support Safe Walking with Two Hands Held One to Two Hours Per Day Safe Walking with One Handheld for Three to Five Hours Each Day Safely Walking Independently with an MVI/B Ages Two Thru Six Safe Walking with Assistive Support Devices and Pediatric Belt Canes Safe Walking Independently with an MVI/B Ages Twelve to Fifteen Months Safe Walking Independently with an MVI/B Ages Fifteen to Eighteen Months Safe Walking Independently with an MVI/B Ages Eighteen to Twenty-four Months Mobility Skills How to Teach Ascending stairs  to Young Children with an MVI/B with a Pediatric Belt Cane How to Teach Descending Stairs to Young Children with an MVI/B Wearing a Pediatric Belt Cane Children with an MVI/B Negotiating Doors wearing their Pediatric Belt Canes *Contact us for access to the complete Safe Toddles Curriculum info@safetoddles.org

Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken was selected a Hudson Valley Magazine 2024 Women in Business! The issue will be out in November, and we will be honoring Dr. Ambrose-Zaken and her accomplishments at a special sit-down luncheon on Thursday, December 5th from 11:30am-2pm at The Academy in Poughkeepsie . Kate Bradley Chernis , Co-Founder & CEO of Lately will be our Keynote Speaker, so it is sure to be an exciting event! We hope that you will be available to join us that day. Tickets can be found online by visiting www.hvmag.com/wib .

Next Steps: Safe Toddles Newsletter We’re excited to share the latest updates from Safe Toddles, including upcoming events and key presentations. From attending preschool graduations to presenting groundbreaking research at international conferences, Dr. Ambrose-Zaken and our team are making strides in advocating for children with mobility visual impairments and blindness.  Be sure to mark your calendars for these important dates as we continue our mission to improve mobility and safety for toddlers through innovative solutions like the Pediatric Belt Cane. Stay tuned for more details in our upcoming newsletters! Safe Toddles 2024 Calendar Aug 14, 2024 Lavelle School for the Blind, New York, NY Dr. Ambrose-Zaken will attend their preschool graduation dress rehearsal to assist with Belt Cane user participation in the ceremony August 16-19 World Ophthalmology Conference, Vancouver, Canada  Poster session - Comparative video gait analysis of assistance for children with cerebral visual impairment (CVI) Authors: P. Chong, R.W. Enzenauer MD, MPH, MSS, MBA, and G. V. Ambrose-Zaken September 10 Lavelle School for the Blind, New York, NY Dr. Ambrose-Zaken will evaluate new preschool students with a mobility visual impairment or blindness for a Pediatric Belt Cane. Sep 29, 2024 American Academy of Pediatrics, Orlando, FL Poster session - Comparative video gait analysis of assistance for children with cerebral visual impairment (CVI) Authors: P. Chong, R.W. Enzenauer MD, MPH, MSS, MBA, and G. V. Ambrose-Zaken The Safe Toddles abstract was selected as the best abstract for medical student in the Uniformed Services section of the American Academy of Pediatrics Annual Meeting Yes, Safe Toddles exhibitors at the AAP Annual Meet!!! October 18-21 American Academy of Ophthalmology, Chicago, IL Comparative video gait analysis of assistance for children with cerebral visual impairment (CVI). Authors: S.J. Miller, BBA, P. Chong, R.W. Enzenauer MD, MPH, MSS, MBA, and G. V. Ambrose-Zaken. Presenting Author: Sarah Jeanne Miller, BBA

Our Distribution: A Worldwide Impact Safe Toddles Belt Canes have been sent to children in all 50 United States and in 36 countries around the globe. Australia Greece Netherlands Spain Belgium Iceland New Zealand Switzerland Brazil India Pakistan Taiwan Canada Ireland Panama Tanzania Cyprus Israel Philippines Trinidad & Tobago Denmark Jamacia Saudi Arabia Uganda Egypt Jordan Singapore United Emirates France Malaysia Slovakia United Kingdom Germany Mexico South Africa United States Dear Friend, We hope this email finds you well. At Safe Toddles, transparency and accuracy in reporting our impact are of utmost importance. We recently discovered that our 2023 Impact Report omitted the names of five countries where we made a significant difference last year. Here is the corrected list of all 36 countries we proudly served in 2023. Thanks to your support, Safe Toddles’ Belt Canes have transformed lives in 36 countries and all 50 states. We apologize for this oversight and appreciate your understanding. Your continued support allows us to extend our reach and improve the lives of toddlers with blindness and visual impairments worldwide. Despite our progress, our mission continues. The World Health Organization estimates that there are 1.4 million children worldwide with blindness or a visual impairment. For new cases each year, a commonly referenced estimate is that there are around 500,000 children who lose their sight every year, many of whom will need a Belt Cane. Your continued support is crucial in serving this overlooked and marginalized group of children. Here’s how your gift will make a difference: A donation of $50 provides the materials used to construct the custom belt.   A donation of $100 provides a complete set of graphite cane rods. A donation of $250 ensures a child grows up with Safe Toddles Belt Canes.    A donation of $600 is the cost of a complete Belt Cane with wrap around supports. Thanks again for your continued support of Safe Toddles! With gratitude, Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken President and CEO

In the early 1900s, children with a mobility visual impairment or blindness (MVI/B) were educated at their state residential schools for the blind by well-meaning matrons and headmasters, or homeschooled. A mid-century epidemic in premature births and forward-thinking changes in United States (US) education law caused a dramatic shift to how and where the US educated its children with a MVI/B. By the end of the 20st century, most were taught in their home school districts by university educated teachers certified in the field of blindness and visual impairment. An educator who bridged the first and the second half of the 20th century was Thomas Cutsforth, whom t he 1963 New Outlook for the Blind necrology said was   “the most often-quoted author in the entire field of blindness” (p. 114).   Cutsforth was born sighted in 1893 and became blind in 1904. In his book, The Blind in School and Society  he declared, “No one as yet has adequately understood how to educate the blind” (1951, p. 2). His influence on educating children with a MVI/B can still be felt today. The misunderstanding of the role of incidental learning & walking. Cutsforth's first edition of his book was published just prior to the retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) epidemic, in 1933. A time when only those children with a visual impairment who were deemed 'educable' were allowed to attend their state residential schools for the blind. Although educated separately, they were held to the same educational standards as their sighted peers. Cutsforth's education theories were based on his understanding of the concept of incidental learning. He understood incidental learning to be restricted to a purely visual experience, resulting in his assertion that sighted infants only learned to walk "...by watching" people walk (Cutsforth, 1951, p. 5). Thus, despite of, or perhaps because of Cutsforth's own history of having had sight his first eleven years; he concluded that congenitally blind infants didn't walk because, they were "...aware of nothing, objectively, outside the arcs described by his unsteady hands and feet (1951, p. 5)”.  Yet, the converse of his statement is also true, which is they have no ability to protect themselves from being touched by obstacles. They have limited to ability to visually anticipate what lies in the path ahead, which is why holding on to a sighted person is a very effective adaption for blind babies. In 1904, when Cutsforth lost his vision , he continued to travel independently with only the length of his arms and legs to protect him. His ability to get about without a long cane was something he was incredibly proud of, even after long canes were invented (Koestler, 1974). He did not use one and, like many others, worried they would result in 'soft blind kids' (Bledsoe, 1967). When Cutsforth declared again in his 1951 printing, that "no one as yet has adequately understood how to educate the blind", he was speaking to the continued failure by educators to achieve the goal of getting otherwise healthy blind infants to walk independently on par with their sighted peers. Especially the blind infants who looked the picture of health. They had good strong legs, and healthy torso, rosy cheeks and a great attitude. As they grew to be ten months old, they loved to laugh and play, and began weightbearing and walking holding on to furniture, even taking a few unaided steps. But after their first two years of life...they still would not walk very far, very fast, or very often, and they weren't talking much either. Thus, the rationale given as to why blind infants were developmentally delayed is that sight was essential to early development. What is not mentioned by Cutsforth is the primary role vision plays in safe mobility, and the importance of safety in child development. Walking is a sensorimotor skill, meaning it requires both 'physical' motor skills and 'sensory' motor skills working together to walk. Infants need both the physical ability to use their body to bear weight and propel themselves forward, they also need to rely on their senses to plan a route that avoids danger. Infants with a MVI/B were simply expected to grow up accepting a life of walking into the unknown. The educators who could not achieve this goal were perplexed. Perhaps because they failed to understand the difference in walking ability specific to children who acquired blindness after they learned to walk and someone born blind. Walking is a sensorimotor skill: Motor AND Sensory skills are required Travel ability differences in children with adventitious and congenital blindness. Having had vision during the first eleven years of life, Cutsforth's early experiences were very different from an infant born with a MVI/B. By age 11, he had learned to walk. He was able to bring all his walking skills and concepts into his new life as a blind child. In 1904, for children like Cutsforth, going blind meant they had to learn to endure, even welcome, the bodily collisions they could no longer visually avoid. He attributed his success in life to this blunt method of adjustment, akin to a father throwing his son into the pool to teach him to swim. Those who succeeded believed it to be the best system of education, those who didn't... became developmentally delayed. Cutsforth believed the only path to independence for blind children was the one he endured, one that was trod without a guide or white cane protection. Cutsforth’s second edition of The Blind in School and Society  was published six years after the invention of the long white cane, in 1951. His advice on independent walking remained unchanged from the first edition, in 1933, to the final printing in 1972, reprinted nine years after his death. Although he recognized touch as the child's connection to the world, he characterized the blind child’s need to stay in physical contact with the world as a bad habit that needed to be broken . Cutsforth's advice to parents was to withhold their helping hand when their child with MVI/B needed it most. He wrote: “When the child has once learned to walk, it is well to omit any form of manual guidance about the house and to permit the child to become     oriented himself, even at the expense of minor injuries and emotional     distress of both the children and the other members of the family…"     (Cutsforth, 1951 p. 21) Cutsforth's advice in this influential text included the well-known thesis that it was perfectly natural for blind children to get injured when they walked independently. His contribution was to oppose providing children with a MVI/B with any hand-held assistance, and later; he opposed the use of the long cane by children with a MVI/B (Koestler, 1976). It was obvious from his advice to parents that there was still no successful method for getting infants with a MVI/B to walk. The only possible reason Cutsforth would have us consider was the child's natural inclination to walk was being held back by a parent who did not 'permit their child to walk...' Cutsforth also felt the problem resided in residential schools. He advocated for children with a MVI/B to attend their local public school. While being educated close to home is an advantage, his evidence of this being the preferred educational placement was the accomplishments of "so many prominent blind men not educated in institutions, such as Gore, Pulitzer, Person, Schall, Irvine, Scapini..." (p. 203). Each of these men became blind as teens and adults. As blind men in the early 1900s, their accomplishments in life are to be admired, but none of the men on this list were born blind. This blurring of lines of the real life differences among men who became blind as beacons of what is possible for children born blind was all too common. Men like Cutsforth had great conviction that their experiences as children served them well to educate the next generation. Twelve-year-old Tommy Cutsforth believed his bruises earned his independence and, like Blacklock, believed his parents had been overprotective. Their insistence that parents 'permit the child' with a MVI/B to walk freely appears to be a reflection of their personal experiences. They wanted more permission to move about independently, but their parents were no doubt trying to prevent harm. They had to witness to their sons' countless collisions, falls, and the affected walking posture that results from unprotected blind navigation. Cutsforth and Blacklock were certain that all blind babies wanted to be set free. They believed blind babies were equally unaffected by bruises as they were. They blamed the parents that blind babies didn't walk. The use of the word permit is intentional . The reader should not assume that the often-repeated phrase ‘ permit the child to become oriented...’ was based on published outcomes showing its success. It appears more likely to be a form of rebellion only available to adults looking back and repairing the perceived wrongs of their childhood. 'Permit the child' also fits neatly into the theory that he, Howe and Blacklock proposed, that mothers were preventing their children with a MVI/B from walking freely, because they wanted to protect them. ' Permit the child to walk ' is based on the assumption that the blind child's tendency to sit quietly is driven by an external force (e.g., being prevented from walking), not an internal one (e.g., self-selecting to avoid the danger of walking without visual or tactile anticipatory control). This narrative serves to "easily" explain the cause of children with a MVI/B's developmental delay, 'it is the mother's fault' (Hatton, Ivy, & Boyer, 2013; Howe, 1841; Huffman, 1957). Howe (1841) wrote “the mother runs and fetches whatever the child requires, and pets and humors it continually. The consequence is that he is unfitted for the rough arena of the world…” (p. 6). The permit the child narrative places blame on external forces (e.g., the mother) for the consistent delays found in infants with a MVI/B early walking attainment. The child feels unsafe theory espoused by Ambrose-Zaken focuses on the internal, self-protective forces that prevent children with a MVI/B from moving into danger without effective protection. Adults control the external forces they provide children with a MVI/B. Unfortunately, the mothers' natural fear for the safety of their children with a MVI/B; and their children's clear fear of walking independently did not inspire innovation in safety tools for blind babies. By not developing tools to improve blind babies safety, the families were left with improvising external forces to improve the safe mobility of their children, like holding their hands, pushing them in strollers, and shouting verbal warnings. These external forces impact the child's internal feelings of confidence. In the picture, on the left, the physical therapist (PT) applies the external force of her position and readiness to intercept danger on behalf of the child with cortical visual impairment (CVI). The child is wholly unaware of what her therapist is doing to keep her safe. Thus, there is no internal feeling of safety directly resulting from the adult's actions. On the right, the same child's PT provided the external force of a Belt Cane. The touch feedback from the Belt Cane child gives clear indicators that she is protected from obstacles in her path. Her internal feelings are easily measured in her outward confidence, improved quality, and amount of walking (Ambrose-Zaken, 2022, 2023; Ambrose-Zaken, et al., 2019; Penrod, Burgin, Ambrose-Zaken, 2024). It should be very easy to understand there is a serious problem with any educational philosophy regarding infants that recommends bruises as an instructional method. In these often repeated phrases 'the permit the child to walk' and 'allow them to sustain injury' we see blind infants being treated very differently from sighted infants. Teachers began reporting their experiences and offering how-to guides to assist other teachers in following this advice. In these publications, the walking intervention of having no protection is again and again shown to be the basis upon all educational initiatives for children who had no insider's knowledge of the seeing world. 18th century beliefs perpetuated in the 20th century. In the 1960s, one of the foremost educators in special education reviewed the book, “ Fun Comes First for Blind Slow-Learners ”. He wrote, Huffman's text "...for classroom teachers, written by a classroom teacher..." was an instructional guide that had “been awaited with eagerness by teachers from Maine to California” (Goldberg, 1958, p. 65). Huffman's (1957) gives us an inside look at the difficulty teachers had implementing these independent walking theories in real life. She was guided by the principle that blindness restricted her students' opportunities and the “lack of these experiences was… responsible for much the emotional disturbance and asocial behavior found in the children under the writer's supervision” (p. 3). Huffman's remedy for lack of experience was to fill her students' days with experiences of roller skating, rock climbing and other thrilling challenges. Huffman believed the teaching of safety was “…the same for all children. The only “…difference in teaching being that emphasis was placed on sound rather than sight” (Huffman, 1957, p. 76). Huffman gave the following example of how she employed a referee's whistle to protect her pupils with a MVI/B including those with physical and cognitive delays: -------------------- “Any hazards or danger-spots in the school environment were utilized as a means of teaching objective lessons in realistic problems. Among tangible factors used to teach safety habits were: Steep steps, retaining walls with rough protruding rocks, roadways over which maintenance or delivery trucks frequently traveled; construction areas, deep and wide ditches… For acquiring prompt group responses, a referee’s whistle was found to be convenient when used as a definite means of signaling. A long, shrill blast meant “ Danger! Stand still! Listen! ” The children were taught that this danger could be anything from an unexpected appearance of a car to the possibility of a child’s walking in front of a swing, stepping off in a ditch, or walking into some obstacle in his path.” …When there was danger of an approaching car, one long shrill blast was blown, followed by the assembly signal of three short blasts repeated twice in succession. Next, I stepped to a safe place off the side of the roadway where the group collected in a compact unit until the car had passed” (pp. 76-77). --------------------- Huffman made clear the difficulty she had supervising students who were unable to independently detect and avoid hazards. Contrary to the recommendations of Blacklock, Moyes, Howe, and Cutsforth no teacher could, in good conscience, allow her students to get hurt on her watch. Her detailed whistle types and their descriptions of communicating danger was a page long. She was on constant guard. A side note: The problem with shouting general warnings is bind people are unable to see who the target of the warning is. When you shout “watch out”, what is the blind man supposed to do? You may have been warning your child from stepping into on coming traffic. Or you may have been warning him that he was about to step into a ditch. Sound is an inferior warning system when compared to touch (see Seatbelt safety). Consider the problem of the "assembly signal" for a child with a MVI/B - what if there is a drop-off between the child and the assembly location. Without a safety tool, the blind child still doesn't know exactly where the drop begins or how deep it is. Those are the jobs of the white cane. Huffman intended for ALL her students within earshot of the whistle blast to stop what they were doing. All had to stop so they could find out which one of them was in danger. Huffman’s whistle was her unique solution to her very real problem caused by the lack of a white cane solution for her students. Huffman began teaching children with a visual impairment TEN YEARS after the white cane had been invented. A white cane is a tool that enables the user with a MVI/B to use their touch sense to safely feel/detect “…steep steps, retaining walls with rough protruding rocks, and roadways... a ditch, or ...some obstacle in his path” two steps ahead (1957, p. 76). The next blog in this series will discuss the slow introduction of the long cane in schools. Suffice to say, Cutsforth and Huffman were both right in their intensions, they wanted their students to be independent. They were misled from the beginning about the actual causes preventing their students with a MVI/B from walking freely. Their students had not been held back by their mothers, they were simply trying to protect themselves. The blind child is aware of things he is in contact with through his hands and feet, and it makes a difference how he learns of objects. A Belt Cane is a white cane for blind babies, it gives them a two-step safety buffer, preventing most direct body collisions and gives clear indicators of objects and drop offs. The Belt Cane extends the reach of infants with a MVI/B in many meaningful ways. References Ambrose-Zaken, G., (2023) Beyond Hand’s Reach: Haptic Feedback is Essential to Toddlers with Visual Impairment Achieving Independent Walking. The Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 117 (4), 278- 291.   https://doi.org/10.1177/0145482X231188728 . Ambrose-Zaken. (2022). A Study of Improving Independent Walking Outcomes in Children Who Are Blind or Have Low Vision Aged 5 Years and Younger. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 116(4), 533–545. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145482X221121824 Ambrose-Zaken, G. V., FallahRad, M., Bernstein, H., Wall Emerson, R., & Bikson, M. (2019). Wearable Cane and App System for Improving Mobility in Toddlers/Pre-schoolers With Visual Impairment. Frontiers in Education , 4. doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2019.00044 Cutsforth, T. D. (1951). The blind in school and society; a psychological study.  (New ed.). American Foundation for the Blind. Goldberg , I. (1958). Book Review: Fun Comes. First for Blind Slow-Learners. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness ,  52 (2), 65-68. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145482X5805200208 Hatton, D. D., Ivy, S. E., & Boyer, C. (2013). Severe visual impairments in infants and toddlers in the United States. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 107(5), 325–336. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145482X1310700502   Howe, S. (1841). The Ninth Annual Report of the trustees, of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the blind 1841 from Boston: Eastburn https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=0JoyAQAAMAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA36 Huffman , M. (1957).  Fun comes first for blind slow-learners. With a foreword by Samuel A. Kirk . C. C. Thomas. Penrod, W., Burgin, X., & Ambrose-Zaken, G. (2024). Study Result: Pediatric Belt Canes Improved Children with Mobility Visual Impairments Safety and Independence. The Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, submitted for publication . The New Outlook for The Blind (1963). Necrology. 57(3), 113-114.

This is your last chance to double your impact. In honor of Independence Day, join us in reaching our goal and transforming lives–donate to Safe Toddles today.  Hurry, this special 2x match ends at midnight! GIVE NOW BUTTON Dear Friend, In 2023, physical therapy experts at St. Jude's Children's Medical Research Hospital along with pediatric ophthalmologists determined the Safe Toddles Pediatric Belt Cane caused the incredibly important outcome of independent walking in blind infants. Before the recent invention of the Belt Cane, medical professionals would inform parents that their infant's blindness would delay their ability to walk on time. That is why the Belt Cane was determined to be a medical necessity for blind infant medical care . Safe Toddles produces the only Belt Canes in the world. For the first time in history, parents of blind infants can watch their blind babies safely walk on their own. Every day without safe mobility is harmful and traumatic to blind infants. Like a soldier’s armor, the Pediatric Belt Cane provides the protection blind infants need to take their courageous first steps confidently. With your support, we can transform lives by giving blind babies the safety they need to walk independently. In honor of Independence Day, all donations will be matched by our generous Board of Trustees TWO times - up to $20,000 . Will you give right now to make 2x the difference?  Here’s how your gift will help: A   donation of $50 provides the materials used to construct the custom belt   A   donation of $100 provides a complete set of graphite cane rods A   donation of $250 ensures a child grows up with Safe Toddles Belt Canes.    A   donation of $600 is the cost of a complete Belt Cane with wrap around supports You help us transform lives. Will you give now and have 2x the impact for blind or visually impaired children?  A recent study revealed that before wearing a Pediatric Belt Cane, children aged one to four years spent 65% of their time sitting quietly. The same children wearing Belt Canes spent 78% of their time walking and playing (Penrod, et. al., 2024). Kids learn everything on the move! However, the Belt Cane is a new tool and far too few parents, families, caregivers, and professionals are aware that the solution they have been looking for already exists!! We have to find ways to get the word out. With your support, we can inform more parents, families, and caregivers about the transformative benefits of the Pediatric Belt Cane. Every day delay is a day of freedom lost. Help us give independence to blind or visually impaired babies with a gift that will go 2x farther. Give now.   Together, we can celebrate Independence Day and give the gift of independence to our youngest and most vulnerable members of our community. Thank you for taking action to advance our vital mission.  With gratitude, Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken and Roxann Mayros President and CEO Board Chair

In honor of Independence Day, we are trying to rally as much support as possible to reach our operating and innovation fund goals – including providing Pediatric Belt Canes free of charge to those who need them most.  Every dollar you give will be matched 2x for a limited time. Give now to double your impact for children with a mobility visual impairment or blindness.  GIVE NOW BUTTON In 2023, physical therapy experts at St. Jude's Children's Medical Research Hospital along with pediatric ophthalmologists determined the Safe Toddles Pediatric Belt Cane caused the incredibly important outcome of independent walking in blind infants. Before the recent invention of the Belt Cane, medical professionals would inform parents that their infant's blindness would delay their ability to walk on time. That is why the Belt Cane was determined to be a medical necessity for blind infant medical care . Safe Toddles produces the only Belt Canes in the world. For the first time in history, parents of blind infants can watch their blind babies safely walk on their own. Every day without safe mobility is harmful and traumatic to blind infants. Like a soldier’s armor, the Pediatric Belt Cane provides the protection blind infants need to take their courageous first steps confidently. With your support, we can transform lives by giving blind babies the safety they need to walk independently. In honor of Independence Day, all donations will be matched by our generous Board of Trustees TWO times - up to $20,000 . Will you give right now to make 2x the difference?  Here’s how your gift will help: A   donation of $50 provides the materials used to construct the custom belt. A   donation of $100 provides a complete set of graphite cane rods. A   donation of $250 ensures a child grows up with Safe Toddles Belt Canes.  A   donation of $600 is the cost of a complete Belt Cane with wrap around supports such as one-on-one zoom calls with Dr. Ambrose-Zaken. You help us transform lives. Will you give now and have 2x the impact for blind or visually impaired children?  A recent study revealed that before wearing a Pediatric Belt Cane, children aged one to four years spent 65% of their time sitting quietly. The same children wearing Belt Canes spent 78% of their time walking and playing (Penrod, et. al., 2024). Kids learn everything on the move! However, the Belt Cane is a new tool and far too few parents, families, caregivers, and professionals are aware that the solution they have been looking for already exists!! We have to find ways to get the word out. With your support, we can inform more parents, families, and caregivers about the transformative benefits of the Pediatric Belt Cane. Every day delay is a day of freedom lost. Help us give independence to blind or visually impaired babies with a gift that will go 2x farther. Give now.   Together, we can celebrate Independence Day and give the gift of independence to our youngest and most vulnerable members of our community. Thank you for taking action to advance our vital mission.  With gratitude, Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken & Roxann Mayros President and CEO Board Chair

Dear Friend, In 2023, physical therapy experts at St. Jude's Children's Medical Research Hospital along with pediatric ophthalmologists determined the Safe Toddles Pediatric Belt Cane caused the incredibly important outcome of independent walking in blind infants. Before the recent invention of the Belt Cane, medical professionals would inform parents that their infant's blindness would delay their ability to walk on time. That is why the Belt Cane was determined to be a medical necessity for blind infant medical care . Safe Toddles produces the only Belt Canes in the world. For the first time in history, parents of blind infants can watch their blind babies safely walk on their own. Every day without safe mobility is harmful and traumatic to blind infants. Like a soldier’s armor, the Pediatric Belt Cane provides the protection blind infants need to take their courageous first steps confidently. With your support, we can transform lives by giving blind babies the safety they need to walk independently. In honor of Independence Day, all donations will be matched by our generous Board of Trustees TWO times - up to $20,000 . Will you give right now to make 2x the difference?  Here’s how your gift will help: A   donation of $50 provides the materials used to construct the custom belt. A   donation of $100 provides a complete set of graphite cane rods. A   donation of $250 ensures a child grows up with Safe Toddles Belt Canes.  A   donation of $600 is the cost of a complete Belt Cane with wrap around supports such as one-on-one zoom calls with Dr. Ambrose-Zaken. You help us transform lives. Will you give now and have 2x the impact for blind or visually impaired children?  A recent study revealed that before wearing a Pediatric Belt Cane, children aged one to four years spent 65% of their time sitting quietly. The same children wearing Belt Canes spent 78% of their time walking and playing (Penrod, et. al., 2024). Kids learn everything on the move! However, the Belt Cane is a new tool and far too few parents, families, caregivers, and professionals are aware that the solution they have been looking for already exists!! We have to find ways to get the word out. With your support, we can inform more parents, families, and caregivers about the transformative benefits of the Pediatric Belt Cane. Every day delay is a day of freedom lost. Help us give independence to blind or visually impaired babies with a gift that will go 2x farther. Give now.   Together, we can celebrate Independence Day and give the gift of independence to our youngest and most vulnerable members of our community. Thank you for taking action to advance our vital mission.  With gratitude, Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken & Roxann Mayros President and CEO Board Chair

"The blind man who governs his steps by feeling, in defect of eyes, receives advertisement of things through a staff." — Digby (1622) With the mass of those who are blind, there is little choice; they must either walk alone or sit still; and... One of the greatest aids to him who would walk by himself is a stick; this should be light and not elastic, in order that correct impressions may be transmitted from the objects with which it comes in contact…” (Levy, 1872). Adults who became blind as adults seemed to have always understood the value of using a tool for safe mobility. From earliest recorded history, newly blinded adults have restored their safety using a stick, staff, human or animal guide. The same cannot be said of adults overseeing the development of infants with a mobility visual impairment or blindness (MVI/B). Parents have always had great difficulty teaching their infants born with a MVI/B to walk. Many have invested time and energy trying to follow the developmental sequence first described in 1797 by two scholars who were blind themselves. The early intervention instructional sequence for learners with a MVI/B emphasizes the need for the infant to walk independently. Yet, to achieve that end, the adult must forgo all safety concerns surrounding a child with a disability that makes it nearly impossible for them to detect obstacles before physically coming in contact with them. In the 21st century, research has documented a consistent 30 percent of learners with a visual impairment who are not able to develop within that recommended sequence. Their visual function is more aptly described as MVI/B. Researchers have observed that blind toddlers do not walk unless holding a hand (Ambrose-Zaken, 2023, 2022). The opposite of this observation is also true. Blind babies can and do walk when they hold a hand, touch a wall, a table, a couch…, anything will do in a pinch. People with a MVI/B need more tactile contact with their world, than sighted children. They use hand holding to travel more efficiently. When you understand how smart this behavior is, then you can understand why the Belt Cane works so well in achieving walking and daily physical activity goals in children under age five. Belt Canes provide these infants with a rectangle's worth of contact and safety. (Ambrose-Zaken, 2023, Penrod, Burgin, Ambrose-Zaken, 2024). This is the first in a series of articles that takes the reader on a journey back in time to the origin story of the early intervention for children with a MVI/B; specifically as it relates to messages surrounding safe mobility and orientation (SM&O). These blogs document the common outcome across the ages that parents of infants with a MVI/B have had limited success in achieving age appropriate walking in their children with a MVI/B, for the past 220 years. The history of early intervention SM&O for infants with a MVI/B is important to understand. This series will make the case that it is the lack of proper safety caused by a MVI/B that creates the walking deficits parents and professionals struggle with daily. We begin at the beginning on the isle of Scotland in the late 1700s. 18th Century Drs. Blacklock and Moyes, both blind, authored an article entitled " Blind ” for the Encyclopedia Britannica: Third Edition . They recommended to parents that it would be better that the child with a MVI/B “ should lose a little blood, or even break a bone than be perpetually confined in the same place, debilitated in his frame and depressed in his mind ” (Levy, 1872, p. 76). Dr. Blacklock, blind at age 6 months due to smallpox, was an “eminent philosopher, divine, and poet” (Levy, 1872, p.76). According to Levy (also blind), Blacklock blamed his parents for his physical weakness and timidity of nature, because they did not allow him to walk anywhere without a guide. One could argue Dr. Blacklock seems to have fared well in life. Exhibit 1) he’s a Doctor of Philosophy, and b) he was tapped to write for the Encyclopedia Britannica  –  …on any scale those are points in the plus column for development. Yet, Blacklock's beliefs found their way into his and Moyes' 1797 Encyclopedia Britannica  article in the cruelest way imaginable. They advocated for parents to ignore their children and instead to listen to them. If they had listened to their children they might have heard the reason they were not letting go and walking freely. It is because of the most obvious reason of all, the children felt unsafe because their blindness makes it unsafe to walk. Blacklock and Moyes’ encyclopedia article firmly established a disastrous ' walk first, safety later ' developmental sequence in early intervention for infants with a MVI/B. All subsequent early intervention educational texts have recommended this sequence of development to parents and professionals supporting the needs of infants with a MVI/B. This incredibly cruel and wrong-headed method repeated through the centuries exposed blind children to direct bodily injury ' for their own good '. As broken down in Table 1. Blacklock and Moyes’ 1797 Thesis That They Delivered to The Future Is True.   The modern interpretation of Blacklock and Moyes advice solidifies two truths, one, that walking is the most important outcome of infant development. Two, it is dangerous for blind infants to walk unaided. Yet, Blacklock & Moyes’ solution contained no quest for finding a way to accomplish the first by improving the second. Instead, the belief that the child with a MVI/B must endure bruises to be truly independent was now written in stone, or, at least, in a highly respected reference book. The piano was invented in the 1700s, and in the 1800s students at residential schools for the blind were taught to play professionally or to be piano tuners. In the 1700s, Ben Franklin invented bi-focal eyeglasses for people whose vision could be corrected with lenses. Yet, in the 1700s, learned men who were blind could not even conceive of the idea of making a safety device to protect blind babies when they walked. 19th Century As founding superintendent of Perkins School for the Blind , Samuel Gridley Howe oversaw every aspect of his pupils' education. The influence Blacklock and Moyes' had on the curriculum taught at the first US school for the blind was obvious in Howe's Ninth Annual Report to the school's Trustees. Howe wrote, “ Do not too much regard bumps upon the forehead, rough scratches, or bloody noses; even these may have their good influences. At the worst, they affect only the bark, and do not injure the system like the rust of inaction ”(1841, p.8). Howe’s advice to parents was to consider any resulting 'bumps, scratches and bloody noses' that befell their children with a MVI/B as proof of their success as parents. The real problem was that nobody believed the blind babies. These learned men were convinced that the evidence before them, that infants with a MVI/B did not walk any distance unless in contact with someone, was the result of ignorance on the part of the infants. Ignorance, they believed, that could be overcome with rigorous educational standards, which began with achievement of independent walking. Everyone recognized the physical potential of the infant with a MVI/B to learn to walk. Everyone understood the fear preschoolers with MVI/B demonstrated when walking independently was a natural fear for them to express. Yet, the advice to parents focused on how important it was for blind infants to walk independently suggesting an infant's fear could be overcome through the shear force of adult will. These authors did not attempt to interpret the infants with a MVI/B persistence on being in contact with their world, as an effective adaptation. Instead, they elevated the goal of walking freely without a guide to the highest level of independence for all age groups. Yet, at the most basic level, an infant with a MVI/B's contact with people and objects is simply an act of self-preservation, because of the severity of their disability, holding on to a parent is a more efficient and a safer way to walk. Children with a MVI/B appeared to prefer to remain connected to objects even when standing still (Ambrose-Zaken, 2022, 2023; Penrod, et al., 2024). Yet, adults insisted children with a MVI/B would only, could only be made strong and whole by enduring the gauntlet of making their way through the furniture inside home, across the uneven terrain of the yard, and among the hustle and bustle of the community always completely exposed and unprotected, unless pushed in a stroller.   The 1800s was a time of great expansion in ideas, abilities, and technical solutions for people great and small. Inventions in the 1800s included the typewriter, a device immensely important to students of residential schools for the blind to independently communicate with sighed people. The telephone, steam engine, electricity, and the light bulb were all invented in the 1800s, just no device for keeping blind babies safe. A Modern Idea at the Turn of the Century, Just Say 'There Is No Problem'. The 19th century development of residential schools was dominated by men who had high educational and physical standards for their students with a MVI/B beginning with strict admissions requirements; the children had to demonstrate "intellectual promise" (Koestler, 1976, p. 403). Their students were expected to ride bicycles, roller skate, play football and other ball games, and run track. All to prove that blind kids can do anything sighted kids can do. Most founders of schools for the blind did not train to be educators. In the 19th century, many schools for the blind were begun with one or two children. In Vienna, Johann Wilhelm Klein (1804) took a blind lad, Jakob Braun, into his home with the purpose of educating him. His success led him to seek public funds to start a school for the blind which became the Imperial Royal Institute for the Education of the Blind . Klein published his theories which included advocating for children with a MVI/B to attend the same school as their peers. The start of the Oak Hill School in Connecticut also began with a series of well-meant abductions. Emily Wells Foster, took blind immigrant children from the darkened halls of “a rundown tenement” to begin her school: “Foster made her way to the tenement and, while groping along the darkened walls, she found the object of her search, literally tripping over the child as he sat motionless and silent on the dank floor. He was three years old and …feeble, deformed and unpromising…his life was absolutely devoid of interest or occupation” (Palm, 1993, p. 9). One notable exception, Overbrook in Pennsylvania began with a study of practices in France begun by Valentin Hauy, the sighted founder of the Royal institution of Blind Children . Hauy's focus was to teach students with a MVI/B manual work skills that would enable them to earn a living. He may be best known for teaching blind children to read raised letters. Early educators of children with a MVI/B also had access to the publications of Howe, Klein, and Francis Campbell. Howe and Klein were both sighted, Campbell, who founded the Royal Normal College and Academy of Music for the Blind , was sighted until the age of six. Campbell, like Howe & Klein, was a learned, respected, and well-traveled man. The problem was the solution.   The problem was the solution. Residential schools for the blind superintendents, only admitted into their schools children with a MVI/B who had demonstrated "sufficient intelligence to educate...". Their experience with these students had convinced the school staff "...that only through exercise could they overcome the natural fear of injury which locked so many blind people into sedentary existences" (1976, p. 403). Thus, instead of finding a way to protect them from injury as they walked, they pushed them to continue to endure the all but unendurable, walking through space completely unprotected (Koestler, 1976). The common sentiment that united the advice to parents was that blind children would get hurt, and this would increase their tolerance for the pain allowing them to walk more frequently. By the end of the 19th century, the world of providers of educational services for blind babies had been convinced there had to be a way to teach children with a MVI/B to overcome their resistance to walking independently. Unfortunately, it was doomed to fail because it relied on developing in these children a supernatural ability to navigate without any protection whatsoever. An impossible goal. The 19th century ended with the widespread distribution of a letter entitled, “ To the Parents of Blind Children ”. It was first distributed to families at the private Institute for the Blind in Austria in 1893. It was so popular, the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind sent it out to its families in 1898; and in 1907 the journal Outlook for the Blind published the letter in its entirety. The authors advised parents to… “1. Treat the blind child exactly as if it were a seeing child, and try as early as possible to make it put its body and mind into action... Teach the child to walk at the age when seeing children learn” and “2. Do not allow the child to sit long in one place alone and unoccupied, but encourage it to go about in the room, in the house, in the yard, and, when older, even about the town” (p. 44). Once again, the problem was framed as the solution. The new twist on the old problem was amplified further in this 1898 article. The first sentence uses the phrase "do not allow the child to sit". This phrase squarely places the blame on the child. The authors are saying, the child with a MVI/B is ' getting away with the bad behavior of sitting too long '. This speaks perhaps to the frustration felt by well-meaning and hard working teachers at schools for the blind witnessing what Howe reported, “Most of our pupils are over fourteen years old when they enter, and they have generally the quiet and staid demeanor, and the sedentary habits of adults (p. 5). The adults were interpreting the children's refusal to freely walk and run as an ignorance on the part of the children, rather than recognizing it as a natural human reaction to unsafe conditions. There are only arguments to be made in favor of the the next two points in the popular letter which provided expectations and goals for development that are age and outcome based. Yet, how is the child to achieve these goals of orientation when they are not provided a means of safe mobility? It is the final sentence that confounds logic in our modern understanding. "Treat the child exactly as if it were a seeing child..." How can it be right that adults should not consider the degree of visual impairment when making safety and education decisions for infants? One must consider the degree of visual impairment when making safety and education decisions Yet, the goal of treating blind children no differently from a sighted children has been heralded as the highest compliment to a blind child could. This meant, blind children should be taught to roller skate, ride bikes, and be encouraged to do sport and other games that were built around the use of eye/hand coordination. The obvious difficulty being, that this leads to feelings of unworthiness. How can a blind child truly enjoy competing in games based on use of eye/hand coordination and why should they have to? 20th Century The 1900s was a time of revolutionary inventions. Inventions in the early 1900s included the radio and phonograph, devices used to teach, entertain, and inform graduates of residential schools for the blind. Later, the telephone, steam engine, electricity, the light bulb, computers, cell phones, long canes and rocket ships to the moon were all invented in the 1900s… just no device for keeping blind babies safe. The next blogs in this series will delve into more detail about the early 20th century, before and after the white cane makes its way into the advice provided to parents. Every time you feel pressured to encourage your blind baby to walk into danger - remember - Safe Toddles has research to prove that blood, bruises and broken bones do not result in better blind baby outcomes. Your blind baby doesn't walk because he can't see where he is going and he doesn't feel safe. The people who wrote the advice to act as if your child could see did not base their conclusions on any scientific rationale, nor did they study the outcomes of their hypothesis, if they had they would have stopped recommending it long ago. Maybe they just didn't know it was wrong? What else could explain such barbaric treatment of our most precious resource-our beautiful blind babies. References Howe, S. (1841). The Ninth Annual Report of the trustees, of the Perkins     Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the blind 1841 from Boston:    Eastburn https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=0JoyAQAAMAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA36   Koestler, F. A. (1976). The Unseen Minority: A Social History of Blindness in the    United States. New York: David McKay Co. Levy, W. H. (1872). On the Blind Walking Alone, and of Guides” (pp. 68-77) in (W. H. Levy) Blindness and the Blind: A Treatise on the Science of Typhlology. London : Chapman and Hall https://archive.org/details/blindnessblindor00levyiala/page/n5/mode/2up Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. (1907). To the Parents of Blind Children Leaflet Number I (1898). In Outlook for the Blind July .

Attention Parents and Professionals: Safe Toddles Pediatric Belt Cane is the only device in the world that keeps blind babies safe when they walk. Study after study has shown that without safety, blind babies often do not walk unless holding a hand and many never let go. Safe mobility is a medical necessity for infants to walk. When blind infants are given Pediatric Belt Canes, they walk, they run, they explore, and most importantly, they feel safe and loved. A recent study revealed that before wearing a Belt Cane, children aged one to four years spent 65% of their time sitting quietly. The same children wearing Belt Canes spent 78% of their time walking and playing (Penrod, et. al., 2024). Kids learn everything on the move. Last year, your prior donations led to a 40% increase in children using Pediatric Belt Canes and we need to do that again this year. That’s why during this summer we’re asking you to Make Every Day Independence Day by contributing to our fundraising drive. We’re asking you to donate to help families who need support to get a Belt Cane. Make your donation today to help kids waiting for their first Safe Toddles Belt Cane and our essential Belt Cane support services. (To Donate click paragraph www.safetoddles.org/donatetoday). Our mission at Safe Toddles is to provide parents with a white cane solution for keeping their babies born blind safe as they explore. We believe that every child deserves the opportunity to explore the world around them as independently as possible, and we are committed to making that a reality for blind children everywhere. We share our video Independence Day Every Day! that highlights many of the children who are now walking because of wearing Belt Canes Watch Video We are proud of the breakthroughs we have made so far. But there is so much more work to do. Safe Toddles staff work tirelessly to reach every infant whose life would forever be changed for the better if only the Safe Toddles’ Belt Cane was available to them as they begin their journey. Tens of thousands of blind babies live in a world without safety. We are working tirelessly to improve the lives of every one of them. It is our goal to provide the Safe Toddles’ Belt Cane and necessary supports to ensure every child born blind can walk independently and safely, and enhance their early childhood development, like their sighted peers, whether their parents can afford to purchase it or not! Our Belt Cane changes the lives of babies born blind! Will you be a champion and support Safe Toddles’ efforts to improve children with disabilities’ lives? All donations will put a Safe Toddles’ Belt Cane on children in need to give them the medically necessary device they need to walk and to learn to live independent lives. Please give another child like Sophie-Grace a head start to independence. Sophie-Grace, pictured, was called timid and shy before getting her Belt Cane. She seemed always wanting to hold mom’s hand, instead of joining in on the fun. Now, wearing her protective white cane, she is a bold explorer, tackling challenging playscapes on her own. Donate to Safe Toddles so toddlers who need extra protection from obstacles they can’t see, but can feel with their cane frame, can finally get the safety they need to start their journeys to independence! Here’s how your donation will make a difference in the life of babies born blind: A monthly donation of $19 a month would ensure that as a child grows, they are provided a new Belt Cane set annually. A one-time donation of $50 provides the materials used to construct the custom belt A one-time donation of $100 provides a complete set of graphite cane rods A one-time donation of $600 is the cost of a complete Belt Cane with wrap around supports! Larger donations and gifts can provide Safe Toddles’ Belt Canes to even more toddlers in need. Your generous gift of any amount will forever contribute to enriching the life of a toddler born blind– your gift will literally help them start traveling safely down the path of life! The Belt Cane is the only mobility tool that addresses the diversity, equity, and inclusion needs of babies born blind. Help us help blind babies like Sophie-Grace to walk safely just as their sighted friends do by making your donation today. Safe Toddles is a 501(c)(3) organization, your donation is tax deductible. Most of our funding comes from supporters like you. Your life-changing gift today will help put the world’s only proven blind toddler safe mobility device in the hands of blind babies tomorrow so they can travel safely and act their age every day. Watching our video will show you the impact your gift will have on the life of blind babies. To see more videos of blind babies succeeding, go to @SafeToddles on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Thank you for your continued support of Safe Toddles. We could not do this work without you. To watch our video the link is https://youtu.be/gdKQUF38QsQ Sincerely, Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken, President & CEO and Roxann Mayros, Board Chair Safe Toddles 501(c)(3) Non-profit Organization