Long canes are made from varying materials such as wood, fiberglass, aluminum, or carbon fiber.


Cane Information


a. Proper Cane Length

  • Adjusted to a person's chin or nose or is 2 inches above the students sternum; the cane can then be shortened or lengthened depending on the person's stride length, arm length, gain pattern or walking speed.

b. Carrying the Cane While Walking with a Human Guide

  • Can be tucked in shepherds position during travel with guide

c. Parts of the cane

  • Tip: The cane tip is typically the white part of the cane that comes into contact with the ground. This tip can be made out of various materials such as plastic, nylon, or metal and they come in various shapes referred to as pencil, marshmallow, tear or raindrop, rolling, etc.

  • Cane Shaft: Can be folding or non-folding (rigid) or telescopic. Canes that fold have sections that are held together by elastic cords that fit together to form a straight cane or can be folded up.

  • Grip: Cane grips are black and often have a strap attached. They look like a golf grip.

  • Joint: If the cane folds, there are joints in the sections where the cane bends.

d. How to change a cane tip

  • Ambutech folding canes are the way to go when varying tips are concerned as they are built with a blocker that ensures the elastic inside of the cane doesn't escape your grip during the tip changing process.

  • Begin by pulling the current cane tip up which will release that blocker into a horizontal position keeping the knotted elastic from shooting inside of the cane. The cane tip has a hook on it that is secured to the elastic that is simply unhooked and replaced/rehooked with the new cane tip. After replacing, pull the elastic out away from the cane, folding the blocker back into a vertical position to slide it back into the cane and settle the tip into position.

e. How to fold a cane

  • Begin by holding the handle with one hand and sliding the other hand down the shaft of the cane until meeting the first joint. Hold just below the first joint and pull out from each direction and fold the handle down at that first joint. Now hold the handle and the next section in one hand and slide the other hand down the shaft of the cane until meeting the second join. Hold just below that second join and pull out from each direction and fold that next section in with the handle as well. Repeat this process until all joints are folded down. Find the cord from the handle and use the loop at the end to wrap and secure the cane in folded position.

f. Locating Dropped Objects with the Cane

  • A cane can be used to extend the search when it is placed flat on the floor with the length of the cane in contact with the floors surface. The cane is moved back and forth slowly until it comes in contact with the object by which then the student will slide hand down the cane to locate and retrieve the object.

g. Teaching Suggestions/Observations

  • Embed instruction into daily routines to provide short, frequent, low stress exposure.

  • Owin M. Chair; Move the chair around the room for the student to locate

  • Scavenger Hunt with cane

  • TSVI's and other professionals should not be issuing or initially teaching canes for students, but can monitor and reinforce proper usage.

h. Concepts Needed for Basic Cane

  • Body Concepts

    • Major Body Parts

    • Smaller Body Parts

    • Less Defined Body Parts

    • Functions of Body Parts

    • Movement of Body Parts

  • Spatial Concepts

    • Laterality (Left to Right)

  • Directionality (Left to Right of others; Positional Concepts; Cardinal Directions)Environmental Concepts

    • Nature Concepts (Sounds as clues, sun as a clue, etc.)

    • Indoor Concepts (shapes of rooms, layouts of furniture or appliances, etc.)

    • Outdoor Concepts (Blocks, street fixtures, traffic patterns, traffic control systems, etc.)

  • Time and Distance Concepts

    • Hours; Minutes; Seconds

    • English units: Feet; Yards; Miles

    • Metric units: Meters; Kilometers

    • Informal Measurements: Length of a city block; Number of steps

  • Concepts to minimize risk

    • Safety commands such as stop, no, and wait

    • Environmental dangers such as cars or drop offs

    • Society dangers such as stranger danger

    • Body language that indicates you are not a victim

  • Basic Cane Techniques

    • Diagonal

    • Constant-Contact

    • Two-Point Touch