Course Description Orientation and Mobility
Overview:
The Orientation and Mobility class builds self-confidence and promotes independence by educating persons who are blind or low vision how to maintain their safety and orientation during real-world travel practice and experiences.
Mastery of the following skills increase employment potential, self-reliance, and one’s ability to independently travel and problem solve daily challenges.
Overall Goal of Orientation & Mobility:
Orientation and Mobility class goals are individualized to a person’s needs and maximum potential. The overall goal is to optimize the participant’s independent travel ability in all types of environments, through a variety of travel experiences and settings.
Orientation and Mobility Skill List:
- Mastery of long white cane techniques (i.e. cane techniques, maintenance of line of travel, squaring off, conscientious foot movement, use of environmental cues, etc.)
- Incorporation, when applicable, of various auxiliary mobility devices (i.e. support cane, wheelchair, walker, and/or guide dogs)
- Processing of auditory information
- Proper technique for negotiating stairs
- Utilize available clues for maintaining orientation and problem solving
- Determine emergency, fire, and tornado procedures in all travel environments (i.e. workplace, school, home)
- Cardinal compass directions and strategic use while traveling
- Long white cane detection of various types of drop-offs
- Increase safety in familiar and unfamiliar environments (i.e. workplace, school, shopping, city settings, etc.)
- Mastery of human guide techniques
- Practice describing routes in terms of direction, distance, and pattern
- Mastery of route planning in various environments including development of alternative routes
- Problem solving in various travel environments to determine best practices for maximum safety and efficiency
- Line of travel and sidewalk positioning
- Recovery techniques in various environments
- Detection of regular and blended curbs
- Traffic awareness in various traffic settings
- Analyzing and aligning for proper street crossings
- Planning and executing indoor and outdoor routes
- Best practices and problem solving during all travel situations (i.e. road construction, etc.)
- Monitoring and use of environmental information to solve orientation problems (auditory, tactual, sun, etc.)
- Understanding of directional sides of streets and directional corners of intersections
- Gathering, recording, and retrieval of useful information before and during travel
- Overcoming poor directional information by re-framing questions
- Proper alignment using traffic patterns
- Mastery of various traffic-controlled street crossings (lighted and unlighted)
- Use of data systems for gathering information (i.e. GPS, smart phones, public directory resources, etc.)
- Travel mastery in open-area environments (i.e. campus settings, parks, industrial settings, etc.)
- Mastery of various forms of transportation options within communities (i.e. fixed route bus system, curb to curb service, etc.)
- Safe and efficient use of escalators and elevators
- Strategies for congested travel environments both indoor and outdoor
- ADA grocery shopping procedures and techniques
- Night evaluation and training when applicable
- Training strategies for rural travel environments (i.e. no sidewalks, gravel or dirt roads, etc.)
