Workshop Content Legal foundation, definition, content and importance of O&M services

1. Workshop Content • Legal foundation, definition, content and importance of O&M services • Difference between O&M and other services • Results of 2017 survey of O&M Specialists • Place of O&M in the curriculum • Relationship between O&M and TVI services • Current legislative proposal

2. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) § 300.34 Related services. (a)General. Related services means transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services as are required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education, and includes speech-language pathology and audiology services, interpreting services, psychological services, physical and occupational therapy, recreation, including therapeutic recreation, early identification and assessment of disabilities in children, counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling, orientation and mobility services, and medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes. Related services also include school health services and school nurse services, social work services in schools, and parent counseling and training.

3. Sec. 300.34 (c) (7) (7) Orientation and mobility services— (i) Means services provided to blind or visually impaired children by qualified personnel to enable those students to attain systematic orientation to and safe movement within their environments in school, home, and community; and (ii) Includes teaching children the following, as appropriate: (A) Spatial and environmental concepts and use of information received by the senses (such as sound, temperature and vibrations) to establish, maintain, or regain orientation and line of travel (e.g., using sound at a traffic light to cross the street); (B) To use the long cane or a service animal to supplement visual travel skills or as a tool for safely negotiating the environment for children with no available travel vision; (C) To understand and use remaining vision and distance low vision aids; and (D) Other concepts, techniques, and tools. https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/a/300.34/c/7

4. PROBLEM: Some school districts LIMIT community-based O&M • O&M Specialists not allowed to take students off-campus for community-based O&M instruction • O&M Specialists not allowed to take students on public transportation • O&M Specialists not provided with student transportation to community settings • O&M instruction not permitted before or after school hours • Arbitrary limits can leave school districts open to lawsuits!

5. Without effective, targeted, individualized community-based O&M instruction, our blind and visually impaired youth graduate without the skills they need to function as independent adults.

6. How does O&M support adult skills? • O&M instruction teaches people with visual impairments to use all their senses together to • understand their environment, and to • move through their schools, homes and communitiesas safely and independently as possible. • http://caoms.org/about_us.htm

7. Examples of using other senses for O&M: • Auditory: listen for the • Refrigerator in your home, to get a cool drink • Cars on the street, to know when it’s safe to cross • Tactual: feel for the • Sign on the door to the public restroom (with your hand) • Stairs on the bus (with your cane) • Olfactory: smell the • Food cooking, to locate the cafeteria • Coffee, to find a café in an unfamiliar city

8. What specific skills does O&M address?http://caoms.org/about_us.htm • Concept development • Travelling at home and at school • Non-cane mobility techniques • Human guide technique • Visual efficiency and use of distance low vision aids • Cane techniques (long white cane) • Responsibilities, safety procedures and appropriate behavior for independent travel • Travelling in familiar and unfamiliar residential and rural areas • Using the services of community business establishments • Travelling in metropolitan business areas • Travelling in business establishments • Using transportation systems • Obtaining information about products, services, or location of various stores and businesses • Recognizing dangers and travel safely around them • Learning to use adaptive mobility skills as necessary for use with ambulatory aids • Using alternative mobility devices when appropriate • Travelling specific routes • Reorienting oneself when necessary • Soliciting assistance and declining unwanted assistance • Using wayfinding technology such as GPS, maps and phone apps

9. “Mobility: a basic freedom” • We all need mobility skills to • Participate in community activities and events • Get an education • Find and keep a job • Raise a family • Spend time with friends and family • Have fun! • We all want full, happy lives! This Photo by Unknow Author is licensed under CC BY-NC This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

10. Employment Only 38% of working age adults with visual impairments are employed, compared to 76% of same age adults without disabilities. The results of a 2015 research study “suggest that independently traveling to places outside the home, using public transportation, and arranging airplane or train trips predict post-school employment for youths with visual impairments.” “These findings are consistent with prior research that indicated that independent travel skills are associated with employment for youths with visual impairments (McDonnall, 2011; Wolffe & Kelly, 2011).” “Orientation and Mobility Skills as Predictors of Employment for Young Adults with Visual Impairments”, by Jennifer L. Cmar. Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER): Journal of Visual Impairments and Blindness, March-April 2015, pp. 95-106. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

11. O&M is • Different • from Generic Travel Training • O&M Specialists have • Bachelor’s or master’s level training • Knowledge of visual impairment and how to compensate for it • Awareness of safe travel practices for individuals with limited vision • Understanding of impact of low vision and blindness on child development • Generic “Travel Trainers” have • High school diploma, sometimes college credits • No particular educational background in visual impairment and blindness

12. O&M is • Different • From Other DIS Services • Not just for school, not just in school: • School, home & community! This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

13. O&M is • Different • From Other DIS Services • O&M Specialists are teachers, not therapists, so • O&M is not covered by health insurance • O&M for children is not provided by Regional Centers • Why not?

14. Under the IDEA, O&M for children in the • school, home and community • is the responsibility of the school district! • In California, the school system is the • only public source • of systematic, individualized O&M instruction for children

15. When should O&M start? ASAP! Early intervention improves outcomes

16. Where do we teach? Resource Specialist: school DIS Specialist: school Teacher of the Visually Impaired: school & home O&M Specialist: school, home & community

17. THE PROBLEM: some school districts place arbitrary limits on community-based O&M

18. Availability of Community-Based O&M Instruction • for School-Aged Children • Survey by California Association of O&M Specialists • 3/23/17 – 4/21/17 • Results: • 64 O&M Specialists responses • 53 different California school districts • 39% of O&M Specialists surveyed reported school district policies and practices that limited community-based instruction

19. Of the O&M Specialists who reported restrictions on community-based O&M, a majority reported lack of, or inadequate, transportation for students: • #1 reason: • School district does not allow them to drive students in their personal vehicle AND • School district does not provide alternative transportation • #2 reason: • School district requires use of a district vehicle AND • Vehicle is often are not available needed

20. The community is our classroom. • How would YOU teach without a classroom?

21. O&M and the Curriculum • O&M Specialists in the California public school system are credentialed teachers • O&M instruction is part of a curriculum for students with visual impairments • The curriculum is specified by state guidelinesestablished by the California Department of Education, in accordance with the IDEA • https://govt.westlaw.com/calregs/Document/I78F2CE1074E711DF906EE6ABEB04B30E?viewType=FullText&originationContext=documenttoc&transitionType=CategoryPageItem&contextData=(sc.Default) • https://www.csb-cde.ca.gov/resources/standards/documents/viguidelines-2014edition.pdf

22. For visually impaired students, • the curriculum has two parts: • Part 1: • “Standard Core Curriculum” • Academics and/or • Vocational skills This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

23. Part 2: the ECC • “Expanded Core Curriculum” • educational curriculum • specifically for students with visual impairment • to prepare them for life after high school: • Visually impaired students use their senses differently, so they learn differently! • http://www.afb.org/info/programs-and-services/professional-development/education/expanded-core-curriculum/the-expanded-core-curriculum/12345

24. ECC • Expanded Core Curriculum: • What is it? • It is a set of skills that sighted children acquire largely through observation of others, adults, siblings, peers. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

25. The skills that comprise the ECC reflect needs that enable a student with vision loss to become involved or make progress in the general curriculum or without which the student will have important deficits with respect to his/her ability to live productively and independently. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

26. Expanded Core Curriculum • 9 areas to consider for • Assessment • IEP goals • IEP services https://www.perkins.org/school/ecc

27. The 9 Areas of the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) • Compensatory Skills & Functional Academics • Orientation & Mobility (O&M • Social Interaction Skills • Independent Living Skills • Recreation & Leisure Skills • Career Education • Use of Assistive Technology • Sensory Efficiency Skills • Self-Determination • http://www.afb.org/info/programs-and-services/professional-development/education/expanded-core-curriculum/the-expanded-core-curriculum/12345

28. The ECC is taught by the two specialists in vision services: • Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI) • AND • Orientation & Mobility Specialist (O&M)

29. Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI) • “Compensatory Skills” (ECC #1) • Supports academic and other classroom goals • Consults on accommodations • Provides supplementary instruction • Teaches Braille and Assistive Technology • With the O&M Specialist, addresses ECC #3-9 This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

30. Orientation & Mobility Specialist • (O&M) • Teaches movement and travel skills (ECC #2) • Consults on environmental accommodations • With the TVI, addresses ECC #3-9 • School, home & community This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

32. The ECC in California: What is its legal status? Are students receiving instructing in its elements? What are we doing about it? This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

33. Background: • Actions districts have taken • Problems they have caused • Remedies we have sought

34. 2019 Legislative Proposal Developed by California Council for the Blind and California Association of O&M Specialists Let’s prevent school district restrictions on community-based O&M instruction    This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

35. You Can Help! • Support community-based O&M instruction • Inform administrators • Contact us: caomsfape@gmail.com

36. For more informationO&M in general: www.caoms.orgConcerns about restrictions on off-campus O&M: caomsfape@gmail.com

37. Jeff Thom • http://ccbnet.org/drupal7/

38. Gigantic thanks to CARS+ With love, From all of our children This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

39. Orientation and Mobility: A Related Service “School, Home & Community” Presented by Linda Wyatt, Ed.D. Consultant California Department of Education Jeff Thom, LLD, Immediate Past President California Council for the Blind Jaye Shupin, MSW, COMS, President Elect Northern California Association of Orientation and Mobility Specialists Convention of California Association of Resource Specialists February 9, 2019