Orientation and Mobility Curricula &
Resources
Contents of this page:
Orientation and Mobility Curricula
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TAPS: An Orientation & Mobility Curriculum for Students with Visual
Impairments
Orientation and Mobility Resources
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The Art and Science of Teaching Orientation and Mobility to Persons with
Visual Impairments
Concept Development for Visually Handicapped Children: A Resource
Guide for Teachers and Other Professionals Working in Educational
Settings
English/Spanish Basics for Orientation and Mobility Instructors
Foundations of Orientation and Mobility
Finding Wheels: A Curriculum for Nondrivers with Visual Impairments for
Gaining Control of Transportation Needs
Hand in Hand: Essentials of Communication and Orientation and Mobility
for Your Students Who Are Deaf-Blind. 2 Vols.
The Hill Performance Test of Selected Positional Concepts
Independence Without Sight or Sound: Suggestions for Practitioners
Working with Deaf-Blind Adults
Orientation and Mobility Techniques: A Guide for the Practitioner.
"Simon Says" Is Not The Only Game
TAPS: An Orientation & Mobility Curriculum for Students with Visual Impairments
R. Pogrund, G. Healy, K. Jones, N. Levack, S. Martin-Curry, C. Martinez, J.
Marz, B. Roberson-Smith, & A. Vrba. (1993). Texas School for the Blind and
Visually Impaired, Austin. 364 pp.
This curriculum is primarily intended for students ages 3 to 21 who are blind or
who have low vision. It is appropriate for students who also have other disabilities
and can be used in all settings. It includes a Screening Instrument,
Comprehensive Assessment and Ongoing Evaluation, functional mobility tasks,
educational goals and objectives, and teaching strategies.
Subjects Covered:
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Using the curriculum for program development
Educational goals and objectives with teaching strategies for the
home/living environment, campus environment, residential environment,
commercial environment, and public transportation
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The Art and Science of Teaching Orientation and Mobility to
Persons with Visual Impairments
W. H. Jacobson. (1993). American Foundation for the Blind, New York. 200 pp.
The chapters in Unit One cover environmental and spatial concepts and the
specified skills that persons who are visually impaired need to begin traversing
familiar indoor environments as well as procedures for walking with a sighted
guide. Unit one also covers walking without assistance using self-protection
techniques. This section is for aspiring o&m instructors as well as classroom
teachers of children with visual impairment, special education teachers,
rehabilitation teachers, physical therapists, occupational therapists, nurses and
aides to these professionals. Unit Two discusses how the o & m instructor
teaches the student to use the cane in various familiar and unfamiliar indoor and
outdoor settings.
Subjects Covered:
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Teaching orientation and mobility
Maintaining one's orientation in space
Basic techniques for guiding a person with a visual impairment
Self-protection techniques: Moving throughout the environment
independently
Basic long cane and self-familiarization skills
Advanced indoor orientation and mobility skills
Basic outdoor orientation and mobility skills
Intermediate outdoor orientation and mobility skills
Advanced outdoor orientation and mobility skills
Special situations and conditions and mobility devices
Creative approaches
Professional issues
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Concept Development for Visually Handicapped Children: A
Resource Guide for Teachers and Other Professionals Working in
Educational Settings
W. T. Lydon & M. L. McGraw. (1985). American Foundation for the Blind, New
York. 69 pp.
This guide offers a framework for concept development for children who are
visually impaired from kindergarten on.
Subjects Covered:
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The importance of concept development
The multiply handicapped blind child
Conceptual development
Orientation and mobility terms
Body image of blind children, screening
Basic mobility skills and techniques
Room orientation
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English/Spanish Basics for Orientation and Mobility Instructors
C. J. Foy. (1991). American Foundation for the Blind, New York. 78 pp.
This book was written as a teaching aid for orientation and mobility instructors to
supply the vocabulary that instructors might use to teach students in Spanish.
Subjects Covered:
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The techniques: Sighted guide, forearm protection, turns, aligning and
squaring off, familiarization with a room, familiarization with a hallway,
cane skills, diagonal cane technique, touch technique, outdoors,
transportation
The appendices: Causes of blindness, handicaps, sensory training,
conceptual development, the compass, shopping, the telephone
The dictionaries: Diccionaria Espanol/Ingles, English/Spanish Dictionary
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Foundations of Orientation and Mobility
R L. Welsh & B. B. Blasch, Eds. (1980). American Foundation for the Blind, New
York. 672 pp.
This book is a presentation of the origins, history and present state of orientation
and mobility. This text is an effort to express in one volume much of the
background information considered relative to mobility training along with how
this information is useful to mobility specialists.
Subjects Covered:
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Environmental orientation and human mobility
Kinesiology
Perception
Locomotion and orientation
Tactual and haptic perception
Audition
Low vision
Psychosocial dimensions
Concept development
Orientation aids
Mobility devices
Additional handicaps
Training for persons with functional mobility limitations
Environmental modifications
Educational aspects
Administrative aspects
Dog guides
Originators of orientation and mobility training
The profession of orientation and mobility
Research and the mobility specialist
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Hand in Hand: Essentials of Communication and Orientation and
Mobility for Your Students Who Are Deaf-Blind. 2 Vols.
K. M. Heubner, J. G. Prickett, T. R. Welch, E. Joffee, Eds. (1995). American
Foundation for the Blind, New York. Vol. 1 687 pp., Vol. 2 136 pp.
These materials are designed to provide basic knowledge and skills regarding
the effects of deafblindness on instruction and interaction, strategies for
instruction and interaction, ways to assist staff members and families working
with students with deafblindness, detailed information on the development of
communication and orientation and mobility skills, discussion of important
concepts such as transdisciplinary teaming and ecological models, and lists of
resources.
Subjects Covered:
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Implications for learning
Basic concepts of communication
Communication systems, devices, and modes
Manual and spoken communication
Written communication
Assessment of communication skills
Choosing systems and modes of communication
Strategies for classroom and community
Movement
Effective service delivery
Approaches to teaching orientation and mobility
Transition to adult life
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The Hill Performance Test of Selected Positional Concepts
E.W. Hill. (1981). Stoelting co. Chicago, IL. 37 pp.
This is an individually administered test designed to assess specific positional
concepts with visually impaired children ages 6 through 10. It consists of 72
perdformance items divided into four parts.
Subjects Covered:
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Identify positional relationship of body parts
Demonstrate positional concepts by moving varoious body parts in
relationship to another
Demonstrate positional concepts by moving the body in relationship to
objects
From object-to object relationship
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Independence Without Sight or Sound: Suggestions for
Practitioners Working with Deaf-Blind Adults
D. Sauerburger. (1993). American Foundation for the Blind, New York. 194 pp.
This is a book about method and techniques for teaching deafblind people as
well as an integrated study of the needs of deafblind people. There are numerous
examples form actual experience and discussions of practical applications.
Subjects Covered:
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Communication
Methods of communication
Communication with strangers and the public
Interaction with the public
Isolation
Assertiveness and control over one's life
Orientation and mobility training
Street crossings
Teaching orientation and mobility to people with limited language skills
Instructions for making a mobility muff
Experiments in sensory deprivation
Survey of Dog Guide Schools
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Orientation and Mobility Techniques: A Guide for the Practitioner.
E. W. Hill & P. Ponder. (1976). American Foundation for the Blind, New York,
115 pp.
This book is an attempt to collect and codify the techniques used in orientation
and mobility instruction. It is intended primarily for the practicing orientation and
mobility specialist. Classroom teachers, rehabilitation teachers and other
professionals will find certain sections of the book valuable when used under the
direction of a qualified orientation and mobility specialist.
Subjects Covered:
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Orientation
Sighted guide
Self-protection
Cane skills
Outdoor unit: residential
Outdoor unit: commercial
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"Simon Says" Is Not The Only Game
B. Leary & M. von Schneden. (1982). American Foundation for the Blind, New
York. 139 pp.
This is a compilation of activities that teach various concepts that are necessary
for traveling without vision, among them body awareness, body planes and parts,
and laterality and directionality.
Subjects Covered:
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Games
Songs
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Finding Wheels: A Curriculum for Nondrivers with Visual
Impairments for Gaining Control of Transportation Needs
Authors: Anne L. Corn and L. Penny Rosenblum, 2000, PRO-ED Inc. Austin, TX:
103 pages
This curriculum is designed for teachers, O&M specialists, and families to use
with adolescents and young adults with visual impairment as they explore their
transportation options as nondrivers. Finding Wheels has 10 units containing
objectives for nondrivers, supporting information on the topic, and a list of
suggested activities for nondrivers to further explore the topic. Scenarios of
adolescent and adult nondrivers and low vision drivers are used throughout the
curriculum to illustrate key points and the variety of options available for
nondrivers. The curriculum can be used in a group setting such as a classroom,
summer program, or after school club. It can also be used on an individual basis.
It is an appropriate alternative to driver's education classes.
Subjects Covered:
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understanding visual impairment and implications for nondriving
personal transportation options
public transportation options
hiring drivers
specialized methods of transportation
low vision driving
budgeting for transportation
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planning for transportation
coping with frustration as a nondriver