Teacher - Special Education - Orientation and Mobility

Teacher - Orientation and Mobility Specialist

Orientation and mobility (O&M) is that part of the educational process that prepares students with visual impairments to travel independently and safely. O&M is one of the nine areas of the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) required to be evaluated for students with visual impairments. The itinerant O&M specialist travels to the students' assigned schools and/or home to provide direct and/or consultative services relating to the visual impairment.

These services enable the students to travel safely, efficiently, and independently in their home, school, and community environments. The students range in age from birth through 21 years. The students may or may not have additional disabilities. The cognitive levels of the students range from severely impaired to gifted and talented. Many students with visual impairments are totally included in their neighborhood schools.

Others are in special programs in their neighborhood schools or at various campuses throughout the district. Community-based instruction is assumed and a critical component of the O&M program. It is often necessary for instruction to occur off-campus, so the need for transportation for this community-based instruction is important.

Essential Functions:

• Perform orientation and mobility evaluations that focus on long- and short-term needs of the student for new referrals and at intervals as designated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
• Identify the needs and strengths of the student and an estimate of the length and frequency of service necessary to meet determined needs and include such information in the assessment report
• Contribute to other appropriate portions of the IEP, such as goals and recommendations
• Provide consultation and support services to parents, educators, other team members, and students' sighted peers
• Confer regularly with parents, classroom teachers, physical education teachers, physical therapists, and other school personnel to assist in home and classroom modifications to ensure reinforcement of appropriate O&M skills that will encourage the student who is visually impaired to travel independently in these settings and in the future
• Work with the teachers of students with visual impairments to conduct the functional vision assessment as it relates to independent travel
• Evaluate the student's progress on an ongoing basis and keep progress notes on each student
• Instruct students with visual impairments in skills and knowledge that enable them to travel independently based on the IEP
• Teach students to travel with proficiency, safety, and confidence in familiar and unfamiliar environments
• Prepare sequential and meaningful instruction geared to the student's assessed needs, IEP goals and objectives, functioning level, and motivation level.
• Be responsible for the student's safety during O&M instruction and in other environments while fostering maximum independence during O&M lessons
• Prepare and use equipment and materials, such as tactile maps, models, optical devices, pre-canes, GPS devices, and long canes for the development of O&M skills
• Provide orientation of new buildings and new class schedules to students with visual impairments as needed, including those community settings where students receive instruction
• Provide Instruction based on the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) in the areas of concept development, gross motor skills, visual efficiency skills (with and without optical devices}, sensory efficiency skills, cane skills (including adaptive mobility devices}, map skills, social skills, self-determination, independent living skills, recreational leisure skills, outdoor travel skills, residential, commercial, public transportation, personal safety, and support services
• Provide assistance to the students with visual impairments in understanding their attitudes and those of others concerning their visual impairments
• Emphasize social integration with peers and facilitate opportunities for interaction

Administrative/Record Keeping Duties:

• Submit requests for instructional materials, conferences, and reference materials
• Be knowledgeable of community-based resources that may be available to and useful for students with visual impairments
• Provide in-service training to general and special education personnel, administrative personnel, sighted peers, and parents concerning the O&M needs of the student and appropriate methods for interacting with the person who is visually impaired that will foster maximum independence and safety
• Participate in parent conferences and meetings as well as teacher staffing meetings related to students with visual impairments
• Maintain adequate records on all evaluations, IEPs, and progress reports/data collection
• Provide progress reports to parents
• Arrange and prepare paperwork as appropriate and attend all staffing meetings on students with visual impairments as they relate to O&M
• Communicate with specialists in low vision, ophthalmologists, and optometrists…