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| Children who are blind or visually
impaired need special training to teach them how to travel
independently. This training is called orientation and mobility.
Orientation covers knowing where you are, where you want to go, and
how to get there. Mobility is the actual physical process of getting
from one place to another. Your child should receive mobility
training with an O and M specialist. There are many thing you can do
to help your child. You are your child’s first mobility specialist.
When your baby has been active in his/her crib and suddenly
becomes quiet and motionless it may mean that he/she is listening
carefully to the sounds around him/her. This the time to begin to
help your baby associate sounds with people and object.
Children need variety. Don’t leave your child in a playpen or
crib for long periods of time. Carry them around with you. Have your
child touch, hear, and smell lots of different objects. Have your
child reach out for objects that make pleasant sounds; for example,
a rattle, a ball with a bell, etc. This reaching to sound usually
occurs at 10 to 11 months, but may vary greatly with special
children.
Once your child is crawling allow him/her to explore, first
in the playpen, then in their room, and then in the entire house.
Leave a favorite blanket or pillow to be discovered. Leave toys
hidden inside a favorite blanket, maybe in another room.
If your child is walking, there are many ways that you can
help his overcome fear and become comfortable and safe in a variety
of situations. The following are suggestions of things you can do to
enhance your child’s orientation and mobility.
When walking with your child rather than holding hands,
extend your finger down and have your child hang onto it. Later your
child may hold your wrist and eventually your arm.
FOUNDATIONS OF ORIENTATION AND MOBILITY (Second Edition)
Written by Editors: Bruce B. Blasch, William R.
Wiener, Richard L. Welsh
A Approximately in the range of 6-18
months old.
B Approximately in the range of 12-36 months old.
C Approximately in the range of 3-6 years old.
| SKILL |
A: INFANT |
B: TODDLER |
C: PRESCHOOLER |
| Concept of
turns/accurate turns |
Make distinct turns
(not curves) when carrying or walking with infant |
Continue making
distinct turns when walking together.
When walking together have a word or signal
that you say or do whenever you make a turn to help the child
clue into the fact that a difference in the movement is
occurring.
Show child the difference between "turn"
(90*), "turn around" (180*), and "turn all the way around"
(360*). Try to be consistent in your use of these terms.
Play (modified) "Mother May I" by asking the
child to make one of the above turns (gross approximations), and
if done correctly they will "find" you in front of them-reward
with hugs, tickles, etc. |
Continue with
previous activities.
Play a game where the child is the "driver"
and you are the "car," and you turn whenever the child tells
you to (or makes motion as if turning the
steering wheel).
Talk about how turning changes the direction
you are traveling-put items in front of the child and to the
side he/she will be turning, and show how the relative location
changes. |
| Analyzing traffic
sounds and patterns |
Take infant to a
variety of areas with different levels of traffic. Be sure to
include area with high levels of traffic. Provide time to
listen to the traffic and become used to it.
Help child to localize and reach for
sounds-start with hand-over-hand, then physical assistance from
shoulder, etc.
Use a sound maker that can be activated by
hitting it and encourage child to make it sound each time he or
she is correct. |
Help child to learn
to turn to face sounds. While standing
next to a street, talk about "loud" and "quiet" sounding cars.
While standing next to different types of
streets, ask the child to tell when there are cars on the street
and when there are no cars.
Talk about the different sounds made by "fast"
cars and "slow" cars-play games with cars and act out going fast
and slow, read stories about vehicles that go fast or slow. |
On a quiet street,
talk about how the sound of the car is quiet, then gets louder
as it approaches, then gets quiet again.
As child demonstrates ability to localize sound,
help him to point to and follow movement of car along the
street. Do this first on a quiet street, then on busier
streets.
As child demonstrates understanding of spatial
concepts, show child how traffic moves from in front to behind
you when you are standing with the street beside you, and how
traffic moves from side to side when you are facing the street. |
| Compass orientation
|
Begin to incorporate
compass terms into your daily vocabulary-if possible, use them
when giving directions to others or to describe locations of
items in the house, etc. |
Identify three or
four key locations in the house (or school) and refer to them
with labels in compass term- i.e., call the front door the "east
door" (or whichever direction it faces), talk about the clothes
rack being on the north wall.
Play games to teach and practice basic spatial
concepts, specifically "in front" and "behind."
Teach child about opposites-use physical
movements as much as possible, i.e., the opposite of "stop" is
"go," the opposite of " up" is "down," etc. |
Continue with
previous activities. Play a game of
"detective"-take the child to locations in the house that you
have been identifying with compass labels and see if he or she
can tell what it is (what direction it is associated with).
When walking between labeled compass
locations, talk about how you need to turn to get from one to
the other. As child demonstrates understanding of spatial
concepts of "in front" and "behind," talk about north being in
front of you when you are walking toward the north clothesrack.
As child demonstrates understanding of
opposites, talk about north and south being opposites and 11
when north is in front of you, south is behind you." |
| Public
transportation |
Plan periodic family "field
trips" -instead of driving downtown to go to the park at the
outskirts and take a city bus, or take a cab to the grocery
store occasionally. |
Continue family
"field trips" -talk with student about what transportation you
will take, read a story about the type of transportation, play
games with toy models of the type of transportation. |
Continue family
"field trips"-give the child responsibility for portions of the
trip, i.e., have him or her hold the money and hand it to the
bus driver as you get on, have her ask the bus driver to tell
when you are at your stop. |
| Mapping skills |
Accustom child to wide variety
of tactual materials help him or her to explore/ scan the entire
item. |
Provide child with a
magnetic or Velcro map board -encourage him or her to make
designs with the pieces.
Walk in a hallway carrying mapboard and as you
walk from one end of the hall to the other, place magnets in a
longer and longer line going away from child's body |
Play a game with the
child where you place a magnet on the board and he or she
tactually searches for it using appropriate search patterns.
As child is able, play the above game and have
the child tell where he or she found the magnet on the board
(i.e., "near the top and hear the right side").
Help to child learn to make magnet lines that
go all the way "across" the board or "from top to bottom. "
As child is able, continue as above, but also
examine an intersecting hallway and place magnets to show the
intersection. |
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