AER O&M Division’s Foundations of Orientation & Mobility Webinar Series
Based on Foundations of Orientation and Mobility, Volumes I and II, each session will be presented by contributing authors, offering in-depth insights, instructional strategies, and practical applications that you can use immediately in your work. Register for sessions today!
Volume II, Chapter 1: Improving Orientation for Learners who are Blind or Have Low Vision
Presented by: Laura Bozeman, PhD, COMS, CLVT, Professor and Graduate Program Director: UMass Boston Vision Studies
Orientation and mobility are interrelated components of teaching purposeful travel to an individual with blindness or low vision. In the profession of O&M, orientation is defined as the process of using information received through the senses to know one’s location and one’s destination in relation to significant objects in the environment (Fazzi & Barlow, 2017; Jacobson, 2013; LaGrow, 2009). A related component is spatial updating, or the ability to keep track of these spatial relationships while moving (Hill & Ponder, 1976; Jacobson, 2013; LaGrow & Weessies, 1994). Mobility may be defined as getting from one’s present location (point A) to the desired destination (point B) safely, efficiently, and as independently as possible (Jacobson, 2013; LaGrow & Weessies, 1994). The terms can be defined separately; however, orientation and mobility form a concept that is integrated (Jacobson, 2013; Mast & Zaehle, 2008; Rieser, 2008) and more than the sum of its parts, “resulting in purposeful and directed movement” (LaGrow, 2010, p. 1).
This presentation will cover aspects of assessment and instructional strategies to support orientation for the individual with blindness or low vision.