AMC2010 - Guide Dogs NSW/ACT

These programs emphasise the use of a
multidisciplinary approach to program development
and implementation to enhance client outcomes in
the areas of O&M and daily living skills.
2. Title: K94-U2C
Authors: Chris Muldoon, Manager RSB Guide Dog
Service and Chris Headland, O&M Instructor
Summary: K9 =canine; 4= for; u= you; 2= to;
c=see (canine for you to see) K94U2C is the
name for the Royal Society for the Blind (RSB)
Guide Dog/Mobility Service Residential Skills
Development Program for young people who
are blind or vision impaired to experience the
practicalities, responsibilities and benefits of having
an RSB Guide Dog as their preferred mobility aid.
In order to achieve this objective, K94-U2C was
developed as a “come and try” program where
participants were each allocated an RSB Training
Guide Dog, working one-on-one with RSB
instructors (both Guide Dog and O&M staff), in a
residential setting over a weekend. To date there
have been two camps.
3. Title: Orientation & Mobility Holiday
Experience: “An Innovative Program Design”
Authors: Warren Hawley, O&M Instructor (Guide
Dog) and Ross Still, Regional Manager, Guide Dogs
NSW/ACT
Summary: We would like to introduce the concept
of an O&M program which gives participants the
opportunity to have a “holiday” and participate in
recreational activities of their choice.
The activities chosen during the week present
an opportunity to apply and reinforce long cane
and orientation skills in a natural setting, with
minimal disruption to the holiday experience.
While our participants have a holiday, they are
also undertaking a self-directed mobility program
that will introduce, or refresh skills such as selfprotection,
alignment, mapping, sighted guiding
24
2:00pm Session 2, Forum A: Developing your
career as an O&M / Guide Dog specialist. Room:
Menzies Common Room
and independent long cane travel.
1. Title: The Realities of Being an O&M with a
Vision Impairment: Stories from my First Year
Author: Penny Stevenson, O&M Instructor, Vision
Australia, Western Metropolitan Region, Melbourne
Summary: People who are blind or have low vision
have a long history in providing habilitation and
rehabilitation services worldwide. This ranges from
teaching children in residential school settings to
teaching adults, in areas from Braille, to adaptive
technology. A glaring exception seems to be O&M,
particularly in the Australian context.
Since the advent of O&M as a profession in
Australia, there have been many blind or vision
impaired individuals achieve O&M qualifications but
few, if any, gain employment in the field…until
last year.
This presentation seeks to discuss the presenter’s
journey to the O&M profession, the perceived
issues from various standpoints and some
strategies, techniques & solutions.
2. Title: My Career As An O&M Specialist: The
Most Recent 40 Years
Author: Alvin Emil Vopata, Certified O&M Specialist
(COMS), USA
Summary: In the 40 years since I obtained my
Master’s Degree in O&M from Western Michigan
University in Kalamazoo in 1970, I have taught
students with visual and other impairments in
diverse residential and itinerant programs in Iowa,
Missouri, Wisconsin, California, and Kansas.
During that time, many changes occurred in our
field that affected my development as an O&M
specialist. In my presentation, I will explain how
those occurred; and how they influenced my
evolving philosophy, my interactions with students,
and my instruction methods with them.
3. Title: Neuroscience and Orientation and
Mobility: A New Way to Look at Things
Author: Roley Stuart, O&M Teacher, Kilparrin
Teaching and Assessment School & Services,
South Australia (SA)
Summary: In SA in 2004-5, as a result of a
program aimed at developing strategies to increase
the capacity of professionals to incorporate
practices informed and influenced with the latest
understandings of how the mind and the brain
work, three Universities combined to develop a
Graduate Certificate in Neuroscience specifically
for teachers.
The degree was made up of four subjects;
• Sensing and Moving, Perceiving and Acting
• The Learning Brain
• The Neuroscience of Cognition
• The Behaving Brain
While the course was designed specifically
for teachers, it provided the flexibility for the
assessment tasks to be directed towards O&M.
Having worked as an O&M Instructor since 1980,
the presentation examines the professional learning
that the author undertook and will give specific
examples of information gained through the course
of his study.