Orientation and mobility specialists - Vault (2024)

FAQs

What is the responsibility of an orientation and mobility specialist? ›

Orientation and Mobility Specialists help people who are blind or visually impaired to develop the skills necessary for independent and safe travel within their homes, workplaces and communities.

8 Questions to Ask Your Child's O&M Specialist

How are you helping my child learn body concepts, spatial concepts, and environmental concepts? What activities can I do to support his learning? What sensory skills are important for my child to learn to increase the use of vision, hearing, and touch as my child travels?

independent movement: which includes crawling, rolling, walking, etc. sighted guide: using another person to aid in travel. protective techniques: specific skills which provide added protection in unfamiliar areas. cane skills: use of various cane techniques to clear one's path or to locate objects along the way.

Orientation and mobility specialists help people with disabilities stay actively involved in society. They teach blind, visually impaired, and disabled individuals how to master the skills necessary to live independently and often encourage them to participate in various educational or recreational programs.

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.

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.

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, ...

Orientation and mobility (O&M) instruction provides students who are deaf-blind with a set of foundational skills to use residual visual, auditory, and other sensory information to understand their environments.

Orientation and Mobility can include: Spatial awareness. Understanding and being able to follow directional language—left, right, above, below, beside, etc.; cardinal directions—south, northeast, etc. Recognizing and synthesizing environmental cues, including landmarks and tactile or auditory feedback.

Orientation and mobility (O&M) training teaches a person with visual impairment to use mobility aids such as a white cane or guide dog and move safely through their environment. Professionals usually conduct sessions one-to-one so they can tailor training to a person's specific needs and goals.

What is an Orientation and Mobility assessment? ›

APPENDIX A. Permission for Transportation O&M Assessment/Instruction. The service of Orientation and Mobility (O&M) evaluates and teaches students with visual impairments to travel safely and efficiently throughout familiar and unfamiliar environments–home, school, and community.

The O&M Specialist is responsible for developing and conducting an orientation and mobility assessment for all children with visual impairments in order to determine the nature and extent of services needed. An initial assessment is conducted to determine each child's present level of functioning.

The overall job outlook for Low Vision Therapist, Orientation or Mobility Specialist, or Vision Rehabilitation Therapist careers has been positive since 2004. Vacancies for this career have increased by 51.52 percent nationwide in that time, with an average growth of 3.22 percent per year.

Orientation and mobility specialists work in a variety of therapeutic settings including hospitals, schools, within the community, and in visually impaired people's homes to teach patients how to use their other senses, tools such as canes, and systems they develop to accomplish their mobility needs.

What is the goal of orientation and mobility instruction? O&M training seeks to give individuals with visual impairment confidence and skills to move through their environment safely. Orientation refers to an individual's sense of place within their environment.

Orientation and mobility (O&M) instruction provides students who are deaf-blind with a set of foundational skills to use residual visual, auditory, and other sensory information to understand their environments.

The service of Orientation and Mobility (O&M) evaluates and teaches students with visual impairments to travel safely and efficiently throughout familiar and unfamiliar environments–home, school, and community.