This book is a guide to teaching orientation and mobility (O&M) skills to students with visual impairments in the public schools. The first chapter offers an overview of the nature and responsibilities of the orientation and mobility specialist and explains the fields legal underpinnings. Next comes a look at O&M in relation to the school year…

Children learn about their environment as they move through it--about people and objects, sizes, shapes, and distances. For typically developing children the senses of sight and hearing provide the greatest motivation for exploration. These children will use their vision and hearing to gather information about their surroundings while growing in…

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…

An orientation and mobility (O&M) instructor presents a case study of a blind 14 year old with mild cognitive deficits and emotional and behavioral problems. The case study demonstrates the importance of individualizing the O&M curriculum, including changing the usual sequence of instruction. (DB)

Suggestions for curriculum development for educable mentally handicapped, visually handicapped students aged 13 to 18 years are presented. A discussion of communication skills includes the areas of listening, oral communication, reading, writing, and spelling and teaching methods for each. The goals of the computation skills sequence, basic…