Communities across the country are grappling with different approaches to improving their schools. Introducing or expanding charter schools is one of the approaches that states and school districts have considered or implemented. Charter schools serve more than 5 percent of public school students nationwide and make up close to 7 percent of all…

This article proposes the teaching of long cane mobility skills to blind preschool-age children. Traditional arguments against early cane use are refuted and possible advantages of early use identified. Strategies and techniques for cane introduction are specified. (DB)

This fact sheet about students who are deaf-blind provides information on orientation and mobility (O&M) training. It begins by describing orientation and mobility skills, and emphasizes the need for a team approach in the development and implementation of O&M instruction. Instructional strategies are described, including initial assessment of O&M…

A program for teaching orientation and mobility to New York City public school students with severe sensory and cognitive impairments incorporates tactile and tangible communication systems and embeds mobility education in students' daily school and home activities. This paper examines necessary prerequisite concepts and offers planning and…

Presents ways a classroom teacher can welcome new students to class, properly place them for instruction, and make them feel at home in a new group. (FL)

Offers guidelines for systematically planning and teaching visual efficiency to students with low vision, then outlines specific skills that are needed for orientation and mobility, and suggests games and activities that will promote visual efficiency. (DB)

For availability see EC 091 1739

The paper proposes teaching travel skills to developmentally disabled persons based upon the principles used to teach orientation and mobility to blind people. The approach emphasizes success orientation, sequencing, fading, individualized instruction, and in vivo instruction. Content includes environmental concepts, recovery techniques,…

Teachers of children with visual impairments are encouraged to create their own useful and age-appropriate songs to help teach orientation and mobility skills to children in preschool to grade three. The songs can be created by writing new lyrics to well-known tunes or by writing new lyrics and melodies. (DB)

Describes an activity intended to heighten teaching effectiveness and student interest in college-level introductory cultural geography. By tracing their family's migration history, students experience a sense of time, place, and cultural heritage. (Author)

The article describes a sequential training curriculum in the use of telescopic visual aids. The curriculum covers 29 topics, including aid maintenance, holding aid properly, focusing, scanning, target location, tracking, aid use for city bus travel, in a shopping center, and in a fast food type restaurant. (Author/SBH)

This report describes the use of peer sampling procedures to develop individualized plans to familiarize an incoming visually impaired person to a university campus and community. Environmental specificity of the procedure is illustrated by application to two residences. (Author/DB)

The article suggests abandoning a subject area approach to the rehabilitation of blind persons and proposes a generic approach that would teach transferable problem-solving techniques. Nine possible curriculum components include auditory interpretation of the environment, spatial concepts, tactile identification, and identification of materials.…

This course is designed to help direct caregivers of people with severe disabilities to better their understanding of the process of positioning. The instructor's guide contains content notes and implementation notes, along with sheets for overhead projection, worksheets, and handouts. The course is organized into 15 sections, totaling about 8…

Relevant orientation and mobility (OM) skills for visually impaired infants foster sensory, motor, and conceptual development. OM personnel need to consider alternative teaching models, personnel preparation needs, sensory aids issues, and research issues. (DB)