Become an Orientation and Mobility Specialist | Provincial Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired (PRCVI) (2024)

FAQs

How do you become an O and M? ›

A Certified Orientation & Mobility Specialist (COMS), is a highly trained expert who specializes in working with individuals who are blind, low vision or who have functional visual limitations, and empowers them to achieve their life goals for education, employment, avocation and independence.

The Orientation & Mobility (O&M) program prepares specialists to teach independent travel skills and concepts to infants, children, and adults who are blind or visually impaired.

Orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists teach individuals with visual impairments to travel safely, confidently and independently in their environment. They work with infants, children and adults usually on a one-to-one basis in a home, school, hospital or in the community.

Orientation and Mobility (O&M) services means services provided to blind or visually impaired children by qualified personnel to enable those students to attain systematic orientation to and safe movement within their environments in school, home and community.

Typically, a person with no prior O&M training and little to no useful vision will need three to six months of training to become as independent as their abilities permit. Students who have had previous training can complete the program in three to four weeks.

The Operation and Maintenance (O&M) cost of a component is the cost associated with operating and maintaining that component. The total O&M cost of the system is the sum of the O&M costs of each system component. For most components, you enter the O&M cost as an annual amount.

There has been a national shortage of orientation and mobility specialists for several years. Individuals willing to relocate generally have little difficulty in finding employment.

Orientation & Mobility experts define clues and landmark as, “any familiar object, sound, smell, temperature, tactile or visual clue that is easily recognised, is constant and has a discrete permanent location in the environment that is known to the traveller.” A clue can include the sounds, smells, temperature, ...

What is orientation for visually impaired? ›

Orientation and mobility training helps people with visual impairment learn to navigate their environment. It teaches them to know where they are and create a plan to get where they want to go. Vision impairment changes the way an individual navigates their environment.

Mobility refers to the ability to move around safely and efficiently. We use mobility skills when we walk down the street without falling or take the bus to and from work. Most people develop these skills naturally without really thinking through all of the steps that are required.

By Zippia Team Updated April 25, 2024. 6 min read. A mobility specialist is a professional who helps individuals with mobility difficulties. They work with clients to develop treatment plans based on their needs and medical histories, and they facilitate stretching sessions.

Orientation and Mobility (O&M) involves training in key areas: Orientation: This helps people with blindness and low vision understand their environment—learning to use sounds, smell, texture, touch, and other sensory cues to interpret the environment, orient themselves, and mentally map their surroundings.

complete an approved university preparation program or an approved alternative certification program and pass two TEXES exams: Braille and Visual Impairment; or, bypass any or all of the essential coursework and just pass the two TEXES exams.