Safe Toddles has changed our lives! My daughter received her cane after she had already learned to walk. Our cane helped so much when it came to safety. Kenedi used to run into everything at high speeds and would just turn and keep going until she ran into the next thing. Now with her cane she’s so much more cautious and actually uses her cane to feel and help navigate. She wears it anytime we go anywhere and always catches everyone’s eye. We posted videos to our Tiktok to help raise awareness and ended up become a viral platform getting to spread our story and raise awareness for nonprofits like Safe Toddles. Grace is absolutely amazing to work with & genuinely cares for the families she helps.I couldn’t think of a more deserving organization.
Fantastic mission and so easy to chat with. Dedicated to safe mobility for toddlers on my caseload and educating parents/specialist with why the belt cane is so important. Always researching and developing to improve services, like right now coming up with a curriculum for O&M specialist to use when they have a student using a belt cane.
I love the Grace, the owner, is so easy to get ahold of so whenever I have questions I get an answer within the day.
This tool has truly been the one tool to make safe mobility happen for a couple of the students on my caseload just this year!
The Belted Pediatric Cane has provided life changing experiences for my little ones with visual impairment. In my experiences as a COMS, student learn very quickly the purpose of the cane and generalize the concept of environmental preview with minimal instruction.
Dr. Ambrose is a passionate and dedicate professional. Her only goal is to get our students with VI up and moving with independence and confidence.
I have been a teacher of children with visual impairments my entire teaching career of 50 years. Safe Toddles Pediatric Belt Cane is truly making a significant difference and major impact in the lives of children who are born blind. I have been greatly privileged to see from its inception, the vision dedicated Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken had to enable toddlers and preschoolers to feel safe in exploring independently. Her vision became a reality! I have seen first hand how these children's lives and those of their families have been enriched. I have watched with joy how a child with a pediatric belt cane feels safe, moves about with self-confidence, has a more descriptive vocabulary and behaves age appropriately. Safe Toddles has generously provided families with free pediatric belt canes. How appreciative these families are! Safe Toddles mission is so very important as they are the only organization in the world providing this invaluable tool to toddlers who are blind.
The Safe Toddles cane has been a game changer for my students! The personalized customer service and product knowledge is excellent!
Safe Toddles provided two of my students with pediatric belt canes, one child was in a PreK 3 class the other in K. The PreK 3 student's mobility advanced rapidly. As the O&M teacher I received support and guidance getting started and throughout. The children's parents were able to communicate directly with Dr. Zaken as well. All were pleased and well served, especially the children.
There a few non-profits / devices that make such an impact - immediately and for every blind child. The wearable white cane transforms the lives of visually impaired toddlers. The changes are so fast and so dramatic . Every blind toddler deserves this cane. They deserve confident mobility and all the other play and development benefits that some with it. Safe Toddles has a simple mission to make sure every child has access to a cane.
I have heard some professionals in the field of blindness say that kiddos need to learn by using the tradition long white cane from the get go; that there is no substitute. However, just like in any other learning tool or event, there are stepping stones or prerequisites that are needed. For example, learning to read, a kiddo (sighted or low vision) uses larger print in the early years . Another example, learning to write...young ones use pencil grips, fatter pencils or crayons and wide lined paper. Another example, young kiddos will use smaller, plastic utensils to learn to eat food. Some spoons or other utensils may be specifically designed for those with fine motor delays. Another example, kiddos playing baseball will first use a plastic bat and ball, then move onto T-ball, then onto a traditional little league team. It is all about safety and age appropriate tools and skills. (I could go on...) So, very young children with vision loss may need a different device to learn to navigate their environment in a safe way that promotes exploration, curiosity and learning. Therefore, I support, promote, and recommend the wearable toddler cane. I am not a parent of a child with a vision impairment. But, I am a visually impaired adult in the profession of working with children with blindness/severe visual impairments. I also know that this organization works to provide wearable safe canes that are produced just for that child, developed for their individual needs. I am also impressed that the goal of this organization is to see every young child with vision loss is able to get a cane whether the family can afford it or not. And that the organization's mission is to help all children with vision loss to learn about their environment in a safe manner and to promote each child's access to his/her environment.