ORIENTATION AND MOBILITY

Orientation skills allow us to know where we are, where we are going, and how to think about and plan strategies for getting to a destination. Mobility skills focus on safe and efficient travel and movement within the environment. O&M skills are essential for all children who are blind or deaf-blind. The ability to understand the environment and to move safely within it is an important component of future development, success and independence.

Orientation and Mobility Specialists teach children to travel safely in a variety of environments. Students learn how to travel in the classroom independently, and then move out into the school and finally into the community. O&M instructors teach students a variety of skills including: using landmarks and clues for travel, the importance of posture and gait, body image, sighted guide, using tactile maps, and long cane techniques.

Use of a sighted guide is one of the primary ways that visually impaired people travel. A sighted guide is just like it sounds- a sighted individual acting as a guide for the visually impaired. The sighted guide and traveler work as a team using verbal and nonverbal communication. The basic position is illustrated below. For more information on specific techniques contact an orientation and mobility specialist.