I stood outside of the bathroom for over 20 minutes. “She has been in there for a really long time.”, I thought. 

When I went to check in on her, my student was still in the stall. She was lost and could not find her way out. 

What do you do when your Orientation and Mobility Student is lost in the bathroom? 

What I couldn’t have imagined happening that day was exactly what happened. My teenage student was lost in the stall of her bathroom. She wasn’t able to get herself out of the bathroom stall that day. 

While that example is the most extreme that I’ve faced in the 12 years of teaching Orientation and Mobility, students getting lost is certainly not an unusual occurrence any more. 

With the advancement of medicine, we are seeing a lot of visual impairments that also incorporate neurological and pituitary gland issues. These issues seem to exacerbate the usual spatial awareness difficulties we see, making it even more imperative that we know which current teaching strategies to use in these instances.

Indoor Orientation and Mobility Teaching Strategies That You Might Be Doing Wrong 

When teaching indoor travel to my Orientation and Mobility students, I often see other Orientation and Mobility Specialists making the mistake of giving repeated verbal instructions. At the end, the student might be able to repeat the verbal instructions, but they aren’t able to travel the route without the O&M Specialist. 

Sometimes the Orientation and Mobility Specialist gives the student a map that they, the O&M Specialist, have created. 

For students with spatial awareness issues, they need a hands-on approach to help the information to assimilate within their brain. While using verbal prompts and pre-made tactile maps is not bad, there are a few other steps that we need to take in order to have our students see more success. 

1. Make sure the student travels the route correctly the first few times you practice the route. 

2. Have the student co-create their object prompts with you. 

3. Give less verbal prompts and have the student be more responsible for their route. 

For students with spatial awareness issues, they need a hands-on approach to help the information to assimilate within their brain. While using verbal prompts and pre-made tactile maps is not bad, there are a few other steps that we need to take in order to have our students see more success. 

1. Make sure the student travels the route correctly the first few times you practice the route. 

2. Have the student co-create their object prompts with you. 

3. Give less verbal prompts and have the student be more responsible for their route. 

Is your student having trouble traveling in their classroom building? Take a look at this free Orientation and Mobility indoor travel set of lesson plans to get a better idea of how to incorporate these new ideas in to your lesson plans! 

I’ve created a free set of lesson plans to help you get your student from their classroom to the building door. But, you can use the lesson plans for ANY indoor (or outdoor) route

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