The manual explains and illustrates techniques for orientation and mobility instruction for blind primary age students in the public schools. Techniques are offered for four types of skills: (1) sighted guides (traveling on stairs and through doorways, seating a blind person); (2) protective techniques (following a wall by trailing, lower and…

A series of experiments were conducted to study variables affecting the alignment of blind pedestrians at street intersections. In the first two studies blindfolded sighted students, serving as adventitiously blind people undergoing mobility training, learned one of three strategies: no concrete strategy, tracking, and tracking and compensation.…

The "Auditory Directional System" designed to help blind persons get to interior destinations in an institutional setting, uses a compact disc player, a network of speakers, infrared "people" detection equipment, and a computer controlled speaker-sequencing system. After initial destination selection, musical cues are activated as the person…

The article examines shortcomings in existing objective measures of mobility for blind persons in the light of evaluative experiences and demonstrates improvements in reliability, together with a new technique for tracking pavement position. It refutes the idea that it is not possible to measure improvement in performance objectively. (Author/CL)

The spatial ability of 12 blind young adults was compared with that of 11 sighted and 11 blindfolded sighted students. Results indicated that past visual experience helps individuals to acquire spatial information from large scale environments. (Author/CL)

Four blind adults were observed to determine the extent of the natural movement of their centers of gravity in relation to arc height during the two-point touch technique for long cane travel. The Ss learned and practiced a modified technique using their center of gravity as much as possible. (Author)

One possible explanation of the differences between blind and sighted persons (McKinney, 1964; Attneave & Benson, 1969; Warren, 1970) is that vision is the primary spatial reference, and inputs from other modalities are fitted to a visual map. Several criticisms of this theory are adduced. (Editor/RK)

The report summarizes the findings of a research program concerning accessibility of public transportation, particularly for the physically handicapped. The handicapped are identified; travel by the chronically handicapped is explored; and travel barriers are discussed. Design and operating guidelines, selection and application of the guidelines,…

The value of echolocation for enhancing mobility of the blind was examined with five blind subjects and 11 sighted, blindfolded subjects. A hand held clicker provided the sounds for navigation through an unfamiliar hallway. Results indicated the blind subjects were better able to identify obstacles correctly using reflected sounds. (Author/DB)

The article describes studies of effectiveness of a secondary task as a measure of the blind mobility information processing workload. Secondary task performance is shown to be a useful index of effects of preview and route difficulty, as well as perceptual and cognitive demands of different mobility aids. (Author/CL)

The development of the Sonic Pathfinder, a new electronic travel aid, is described. The aim has been to produce an aid that gives the user useful information for safe, stress-free travel rather than to provide an electronic surrogate for vision. (Author/CL)

The structure of spatial representation in four congenitally and three adventitiously blind 11-year-old children was examined by means of pointing, mapping, drawing, and spatial reasoning on two simple routes over repeated trials. (Author)

The article outlines the duties and responsibilities of a peripatologist who was a member of the training staff at Guiding Eyes for the Blind, Inc. (NY). (Author)