Overcoming Barriers to Orientation and Mobility Instruction in the Community: Strategies for Efficient Use of Time
Authors: Scott Turner, Orientation and Mobility Consultant, Outreach Programs at Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, TSBVI
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Introduction
For Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialists (COMS) who teach students with visual impairment how to navigate the environment, the primary goal is to prepare students for travel in the real world. A lack of learning opportunities in the community (outside of the school campus) creates challenges in developing the independent travel skills necessary for life after school.
While learning about home and school environments is important, getting out into the community opens up a whole new level of experiences and opportunities for independence. It allows students to:
- Boost social skills by going with friends to movies, shops, and restaurants
- Enhance self-determination skills by developing decision-making and advocacy strategies
- Increase environmental awareness and prepare for future travel and/or driving by learning critical rules and laws, such as: rights given to pedestrians, the impacts of designated lanes for bicycles, electric scooters traveling on sidewalks, access of dog guides in public settings, and traffic laws like making a “right turn on red light”.
Students need experiences, explicit instruction, and learning opportunities in a natural setting in order to gain skills for independent travel. However, COMS are presented with a unique set of barriers when attempting to support and instruct students off-campus in the community environment. These can include:
- Lack of support from administrators who might not understand the COMS role, legal requirements (in Texas), or why community support is so crucial
- Limited access to varied community environments, especially in rural areas.
- Limited transportation options for getting students to off-campus locations
- Time constraints due to tight school schedules
Even though these barriers may be present or persistent, there are still ways to support students. There are opportunities to teach new things, explore new concepts, and build awareness, without leaving the school campus, all while looking for solutions to barriers. Below are some skill areas and tips to help use time efficiently and effectively prepare students for community travel.
Tips of the Trade
Navigating street crossings independently and understanding pedestrian safety considerations are critical skills for students with a visual impairment. O&M instruction focuses on building a robust understanding of complex traffic patterns and intersections, along with skills for successfully negotiating these situations.
To set students up for success, consider using visual or tactile tools to introduce new skills, concepts, and strategies:
- Visual diagrams: Use a dry-erase board to illustrate and explain intersection layouts and traffic flow for students with low vision to enhance their comprehension of spatial relationships.
- Tactile maps and models: Use a variety of products offered through The American Printing House for the Blind (APH), like Tactile Town or Picture Maker Wheatley Tactile Diagramming Kit. Create portable hands-on tactile diagrams using materials like cardboard cutouts, hot glue, puff paints, or inverted lines using a sewing “tracing wheel”, for students with limited or no vision.
- Manipulatives: Use “Hot Wheels” vehicles to provide a physical demonstration and exploration of traffic patterns and vehicle movement.
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Tactile Town 3-D O&M Kit is useful for instruction in spatial skills, environmental concepts, and map-reading skills. -
Picture Maker Wheatley Tactile Diagramming Kit provides a variety of shapes and textures for use on a felt board (included) to create charts, maps, and graphics without special equipment. -
The All-In-One Board consists of a magnetic white board with a black felt board on its other side. It is easily adjustable to suit a variety of tasks.
COMS can utilize these tools to introduce essential prerequisite skills and core concepts. This allows students to master the basics before requiring them to demonstrate their abilities in a real-world setting, like the community. These skills and concepts may include:
Street Crossing Concepts
Intersection Designs and Features
Exploring the characteristics that make up an intersection, including:
- curb cuts
- crosswalks
- traffic islands
Intersection Types
Identifying and understanding the characteristics of various intersections, such as:
- T-shaped
- Plus-shaped
- Off-set designs
Traffic Dynamics
Examining concepts like:
- traffic flow
- traffic surge (changes in traffic volume)
- typical traffic patterns
Pedestrian systems
Understanding pedestrian signals, audible cues, and the role of accessible pedestrian signals.
- Traffic awareness—Developing the ability to detect and interpret traffic cues
- Optimal crossing times—Distinguishing the difference between “appropriate” times to attempt a street crossing and the safest times to attempt a crossing
Safety and Public Transit Concepts
- Understanding Accessibility Features: Identifying truncated domes or bumps, wheelchair ramps, other accessible infrastructure, and recognizing their purpose and proper use.
- Navigating Crosswalks and Parking Areas: Focusing on the nuance of crosswalks and the unique challenges presented in parking lots versus intersections, along with understanding parking lot layouts and barriers.
- Enhanced Traffic Awareness: Exploring different strategies and processes for safely crossing busy parking lots versus navigating active streets, such as defining concepts like “looking both ways” or “waving through traffic”, so students have control.
Public Transportation Concepts
Another critical part of preparing students is teaching them how to access and use public transportation, such as buses, rail systems, and ride shares like Uber or Lyft. To ensure students are fully prepared, some additional tips and strategies include methods such as role-playing, modeling/simulations, and practice scenarios to help students mentally prepare and truly grasp key concepts in a supportive environment, before demonstrating their abilities in the community setting. These may include:
Bus-riding Simulations
Creating scenarios using chairs arranged to mimic seating and other internal characteristics of a public bus to teach skills.
- Driver Communication: Identifying the bus number and confirming the destination with the driver upon entering or exiting.
- Ticketing Proficiency: Identifying payment types (cash or ticket), locating and using a ticket kiosk, or making payments using an app.
- Optimal Seating: Identifying and selecting safe and appropriate seating.
- Requesting Stops: Understanding the variety of methods used for signaling and requesting a stop at the desired destination, such as pressing a button or pulling a rope.
Instructor/student role-playing
Creating a mock scenario to mimic situations such as:
- Riding: Exploring community behavior standards to ensure a safe ride, or how to behave during the trip.
- Soliciting assistance: Examining how to request a ride, gathering information from attendants, or asking for help while en route.
- Scheduling: Accessing a variety of methods for determining arrival/departures, such as calling customer services, using online systems, reading hard copy materials, or through an app.
Modeling
Using tactile maps or visual diagrams to promote and maintain orientation.
- “Bus Stop” and “Bus Station” location and layouts
- Bus stop “bus ID” locations
Using What’s Available Simulations
- Schedule sessions to coincide with the actual arrival and departure of the district’s school buses, either in the morning or afternoon, to provide real-time exposure.
RideShare
Access Simulation: Coordinate with a colleague, parent, or utilize a district vehicle to explore the process.
- Scheduling
- Entering and exiting
- Sharing tracking location
- Safety precautions: Pre-planning routes, Verifying driver information
Conclusion
Supporting students with a visual impairment off-campus during community-based instruction is incredibly important for their lives after school. Community travel provides crucial learning opportunities for the development of social skills, self-determination skills, and environmental awareness. However, COMS encounter barriers like administrative misunderstandings, limited access to suitable community environments (especially in rural areas), lack of transportation, and time constraints.
Although these challenges are prevalent for many COMS, there is still a lot that can be done to prepare students. Don’t give up or get discouraged! By using creative methods and breaking down complex skills into smaller steps, many instructional goals can be successfully addressed without leaving a student’s campus.