An increasing body of literature demonstrates the effectiveness of interventions involving speech-generating devices (SGD) for children with autism with limited vocal speech output abilities. Few studies have evaluated interventions that teach children to "travel" to the device before making requests. The current study evaluated a…

People with visual impairments use a wide variety of sensory information to understand the world around them. Many persons who are visually impaired (i.e., those who are blind or have low vision) use some form of echolocation to monitor the space around them. This process of identifying the properties of an object may be referred to as…

Introduction: A national validation study on the "Orientation and Mobility Visual Impairment Scale of Service Intensity of Texas (O&M VISSIT)" was conducted. Methods: Fifty-two of the original 115 interested participants completed the study that used a mixed-methods research design. After finishing the "O&M VISSIT" for…

Planning for secondary transition includes identification of postsecondary goals in the areas of continued education, employment, and independent living when appropriate (IDEIA, 2004). Independent living includes important components of adulthood such as community engagement, recreation, and travel skills. Young adults with intellectual and…

Teaching travel skills is an important aspect of special education transition services to overcome barriers to community integration for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Ridesharing applications are a viable transportation option to consider to promote independence. In this study, four young adults with IDD,…

Parental involvement, as one of the most widely researched and discussed issues. It has been characterized by a variety of meanings, definitions and frameworks. Such notions and definitions provide a foundation for solving parental involvement challenges in the education of the visually impaired learners. This study provides a literature review on…

Background: Mode share is an important metric for active school travel programs. Common methods for measuring mode share include Hands Up surveys and family surveys, but these require teacher and parental involvement. We used these methods as part of an evaluation of a school-based bicycle training program, and added a novel observational count…

Introduction: To better serve students with visual impairments who are enrolled in personnel preparation programs training orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists, faculty should be aware of effective teaching strategies, tools, and resources to use. In this context, it is vital that instructors in personnel preparation programs for O&M…

Background: Spatial knowledge about an environment is an important determinant of ability to move effectively within it and of personal autonomy. Individuals with Down's syndrome (DS) have difficulty managing configural visuospatial information. Method: Twenty-nine individuals with DS and 29 typically developing (TD) children, matched for mental…

Introduction: Individuals with visual impairments may use long canes for estimating distances and detecting gaps, obstacles, and texture patterns. The study presented here investigated whether length perception with canes is influenced by cane material. Methods: Visually impaired, sightedblindfolded, and sighted individuals (n = 30 for each group)…

Aim(s): This participatory research project gathered the views of young people (YP) with an education, health and care plan (EHCP), enrolled in a supported internship programme (SIP) at a further education (FE) college. Rationale: There is little published researched exploring the experience of FE for YP with special educational needs and…

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to survey the faculty of personnel preparation programs that train orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists in the identification of accommodations, teaching techniques, and resources needed to teach students who are visually impaired (i.e., those who are blind or have low vision) and who are…

Introduction: This study analyzed survey responses from 114 orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists regarding the content and procedures they used in completing O&M assessments. Methods: O&M specialists completed an online survey in 2020 on their assessment practices for children and youths who are visually impaired. Results: Over…

Virtual reality applications for blind people in smartphones were used to make virtual visits in advance to unknown spaces; these need to include a set of cognitive and sensitive interfaces that allow users to use their other sensory capabilities to understand information about their environment and facilitate the interaction with the application,…

The study is aimed at investigating the impact of orientation and mobility (O&M) training as a part of the special education curriculum on the social adjustment of visually impaired children. The population consisted of visually impaired children between the ages of (5-15), studying at different special education institutes in Pakistan was the…