Orientation and Mobility Review- Foundations/Fazzi & Barlow

O&M

protective techniques

designed to help people avoid immediate danger while traveling indoors or outdoors

Cognitive Mapping

the way that people create and recall mental images of the distances and directions to places out of range of their perceptual systems.

Allocentric

• Object-to-object: Understanding the locations of objects or places as related to one another.

Egocentric

• Object-to-self: Your body in relation to objects/locations

Path integration (spatial updating):

Information about self-movement; maintaining orientation by the continuous processing of signals

Present requirements of O&M Certification

Classes and taking the test for certification

Environmental Flow

Orientation

he process of perceiving and using sensory information and concepts of body and environmental space to determine current location, location of desired destination, and position to other significant objects and features in the environment, while stationary or moving

Concept of self

body image

Principles of Orientation

1. Where am I?

2. Where is my desired destination? 

3. How do I get there? 

Indoor familiarization of individual rooms

• Perimeter and Gridline Patterns 

• Reference Points 

• Labeling walls- establishing landmarks

Indoor familiarization to buildings 

• Main entrance as reference point – establish directional position of entrance, landmarks 

  • Position of entrance to lobby, main hall, direction of main hall 

  • Establish landmarks in main lobby 

  • Explore main hallway, identify connecting hallways/directions of hallways 

  • Clues/landmarks that apply to multiple floors  

  • Establish numbering system in building 

Outdoor familiarization

• Blocks and corners 

• Intersections

• Directions of streets (N/S, E/W streets)

Spatial Updating

• The process of keeping track of the changing distances and directions to objects or places that result from self-movement. If an object is in front of you and then you turn right, now the object is to the left of you. The ability to keep track of changing self-to-object relationships during locomotion.

Frame of Reference (self to object)

• YOU in relation to a street, building, or other object. “straight ahead and to the right” 

Allocentric Frame of Reference (object to object) “Allo” means “other.”

• Information relates to locations of objects or places to one another INDEPENDENT of the location of the traveler. Burger King is next to Sonic on North Street.

Topocentric

information about the locations of landmarks or unique features. Think of a topographical map.

Elevation

Polar centric

• information which refers to the use of compass directions to describe the directions among places. Cardinal directions

Cartographic

• information which specifies the location of places in relation to a pattern, such as a grid pattern, building shape or systematic numbering or labeling.  

• Maps

(polarcentric)

The student is walking south (polarcentric)

(cartographic information).

she knows she needs to keep North Street on her left and she will cross two streets that feed into North Street (cartographic information).

(topocentric)

When her cane detects a slope and the smooth sidewalk turning into a gravel base (topocentric)

Elevation.

(polarcentric)

she will take a right (go west) on the intersection sidewalk (polarcentric).

“Dead reckoning”

• “is also used to estimate turns, distance walked and is guided by internal cues- proprioception 

Primary Landmarks

permanent locations in the environment- difficult to miss as one travels along a path (change in surface under feet) 

Secondary Landmarks-

might miss because of location (box for book returns at a library) 

Information points-

not unique along a path, but best when used in combination with other features (parking meter by a fire hydrant)

Low Vision

person with usable vision that is not fully correctable by standard eyeglasses, who experiences difficulty performing visual tasks for the purpose of mobility

Functional Low Vision Mbility Problems-

(4 consistent problems)

Managing light- too much or too little, light adaptation

Detecting changes in terrain & elevation- stairs, curbs 

Reducing unwanted contact with obstacles- commonly in cluttered or crowded areas

Negotiating street crossings- anxiety and fear in some

Negotiating Street Crossings

• Problems:  judging speed and distance of vehicles, time to cross, confusion/concern about right on red turn vehicles, anxiety/stress, possible inconsistent ability to acquire information

Negotiating Street Crossings

• Challenges:  color identification of traffic light, crosswalk lines, visually identifying traffic

(VA)
 

Reduced Visual Acuity

(VF)

Visual Field

Role of COMS- Optical Devices

• Familiarize user with prescribed optical devices 

• Offer instruction with near, distance, and field enhancement devices 

• Ensure devices can be used in real world vs clinical setting 

Younger learners

may learn skills through age appropriate activities and games (I Spy)

Present Requirements of O&M Certification

Take the classes and pass the certification Exam

Older adults

• may learn more systematic visual skills in home and community 

• Instruction may need to be broken down into parts- to accommodate for health/stamina 

Additional Disabilities

• For those with Intellectual disabilities- integrate vision along with other senses and mobility devices (wheelchairs) 

Functional Low Vision Mobility Problems-

(4 consistent problems)

1. Managing light- too much or too little, light adaptation

2. Detecting changes in terrain & elevation- stairs, curbs 

3. Reducing unwanted contact with obstacles- commonly in cluttered or crowded areas

4. Negotiating street crossings- anxiety and fear in some 

Oder of Alignment

Approach

Parallel

Tactile

pedestrian button

tactile

listen and confirm w/traffic

Germans

• pre-dated everyone in the dog guide business (WWI).

John Metcalf

• Road builder who traveled with a cane up to his hat

Dorothy Harrison Eustis –

• Co-founder of The Seeing Eye - 1929

Dorothy Harrison Eustis –

was an American dog breeder and philanthropist, who founded The Seeing Eye, the first dog guide school for the blind in the United States. Originally in Nashville TN- but moved to Morristown New Jersey.

Morris Frank

First formal mobility training in the U.S. 1929 (Dorothy Harrison Eustis, Morris Frank)

vestibular sense

a sensory system in the inner ear that helps us maintain balance and spatial orientation.

Kinesthetic sense

the ability to sense movement and the body's position without visual aid, a talent sometimes referred to as muscle memory

Haptic/tactile sense

One part of haptic sensing is tactile sensing, which is the detection of force on the skin surface, whereas the other part of haptic sensing is kinesthetic, meaning the sensing of body movement and muscle strength.Jan 2

Dr. Richard Hoover –Warren Bledsoe –

Former teacher at Maryland School for the Blind, part of initial War Blind Program @ Valley Forge Army Hospital, originator of the in-step Touch Technique at Valley Forge Army Hospital

*Established O&M Program

Father Thomas Carroll –

atholic Guild for the Blind, Chaplain at Avon.  Hosted the Gloucester Conference to define the role and training of the mobility instructor

*conference in his house to push for University Programs

White Cane Law

Lion's Clubs International in Illinois 1930

Russ Williams

• father” to several techniques we use today, including: Guide Technique, Hines Break, Protective Techniques, use of sound clues, projecting a line of direction, use of Touch Technique all the time (was previously prohibited indoors), diagonal to Touch Technique in the stairwell. 

Valley Ford Avon, Fledsher

Established VA training Hines 1st VA Hopital training

first University O&M programs

*Boston College (1960)

2nd Western Michigan (1961) 1962

Stephen F. Austin State University (1972):

Since the early 70s, the orientation and mobility (O&M) program has been training candidates to work with persons who are blind or visually impaired

Code of EthicsCode of Ethics

5 key principles:  autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice, and fidelity

Behave the same way (Principal of Professional Behavior)

Telescopes

higher the power the better you see ( smaller tunnel)

Bioptics

teach shapes of interception scanning (driving)

Environmental flow

emphasis on how walking creates observable environmental flow and it helps to promote self to object and object to object

Optic flow (Emerson Foulke)

visually perceived pattern of changing spatial relationships.

senses: hearing, touch, temperature, and smell.

field of view

Hearing provides a larger “field of view” because we can hear sounds from all directions. Vision is well suited to keeping track of many objects at one time but hearing can become overloaded by multiple sound sources.

perceptual learning

experience-dependent enhancement of our ability to make sense of what we see, hear, feel, taste or smell

Procedural knowledge:

• Knowing how and where to do things, the ability to carry out specific motor skills needed for a task (Different cane skills such as the T.A.P.I.N method for sidewalk recovery).

• step by step learning

Episodic knowledge:

Knowledge of places and events from experience.  Being familiar with an environment such as a building, neighborhood, or downtown. Knowing efficient routes in that environment, where the sidewalk is broken, where the curb doesn’t line up with the crossing, etc. 

Conceptual knowledge:

Knowledge of general patterns (layout and traffic patterns of typical intersections, cardinal directions, numbering systems). Needed for dealing with new situations w/out having to start from scratch.  

Perceptual Errors

 Detection Errors-

occurs when presence/absence of important environmental features or events is misjudged.

Localization Errors-

ccur when the distance or direction to an environmental feature or event is misjudged.  

Constant error

onsistently making the same kind of localization error such as overestimating or underestimating a distance, misjudging a direction, or veering

Variable error

is committing the mistake on occasion.

Perceiving with Low Vision

Walking Surfaces Elevation changes

Information about Objects Stationary ObjectsMoving Objects

Crossing Streets without Vision

Four tasks involved in crossing streets:

~ Detecting street

~ Aligning the body correctly

~ Determining when to cross

~ Walking straight to cross the street

body awareness

the ability to be conscious of and connected to your body, including its position in space, how it feels, and how it moves.

proprioceptive sense

also known as kinesthesia the body's ability to sense movement, action, and location

Proprioception is present in every muscle movement, and it's essential for everyday activities like walking in the dark or using a car's foot pedal.

proprioceptive knowledge

proprioception, the body's sense of where its parts are in space, their relative position to each other, and their movement. It also helps us sense tension, force, and how hard our muscles are working. Proprioception is often called the body's "sixth sense

directionality

helps people who are blind or have low vision navigate their environment safely and independently. O&M training teaches people to use compass directions, landmarks, and environmental cues to help them understand their position in space and how to get where they want to go:

literality

the field of instruction designed to teach individuals who are blind or visually impaired to travel safely and efficiently from one location to another.

magnification is increased

the field of view decreases,

For example, at low magnification, you might be able to see an entire organism, but at higher magnification, you'll be zooming in on a smaller part

magnification is decreased

the field of view (FOV) increases

For example, a single eyepiece with a magnification of 10X will reduce the field of view by a factor of 10. 

optical devices

An optical instrument is a device that processes light waves