In
the
It
is often helpful to have a general guideline to determine service time that is
appropriate to provide for students. The
following have been found to be useful:
Adaptations of the ·
New York City Public Schools developed an adaptation
of the Michigan O&M Severity Rating Scale for use by a large urban school
system with students who are newly blinded, and/or transitory. This adapted scale is on the NYC Special
Education website at: New
York City O&M Extent of Service Need and Recommendation Guidline Suggestions,
stories, and resources regarding this process: ·
using rating
scales to determine service time and caseload I have always found the Michigan Severity
Rating Scales helpful in justifying service levels. Judi Cuffney bjcuffney@aol.com The Michigan Severity Rating Scale can be
used in several different ways: 1. as a guide or estimate of o
O&M service
and intensity of need (i.e., amount of service time); o
type of service
need (direct, collaborative, a mix...) 2. as a rationale for administrators who sometimes fear
that O&Mers “pull the recommended service time out of a hat.” The Michigan Severity Rating Scale
provides a range, but that range can be very helpful – I have found that it
justifies my professional instincts. I
use it for each and every student – I use it at IEP reviews and at the
beginning of each academic year (placement and setting sometimes change the
need, which can then drive the need for an IEP review). The Rating Scale has
room in it for professional consideration, other available supports, etc. and,
as mentioned, provides a guide for type of service delivery, range of service
time needed. From there, the O&M specialist and the team can have
additional discussions regarding the individual student. I consider it one of
the many accountability measures that I use as a professional. I also use the collection of these scales
for the workload I have the honor of working with as rationale for staffing
needs-- sharing them with my administrator establishing a consideration for
adding positions as the program needs dictate. How many of us have received a child with
an IEP in place and felt that the service level was too high or too low? If you
work in a large department like I do (4 teachers of visually impaired children
(TVI), 1 O&M specialist, and 1 braille transcriber), it even happens within
the department that we disagree on service levels. So a few years back when a
TVI was retiring, our special education directors commissioned us to
standardize caseloads to determine whether to replace her or not. The website
at the My school district (in Arizona) adopted
the Michigan Severity Rating system, in which several factors (visual acuity
and field, braille/print, previous training, etc. are given numeric weight. The
final result offers a suggested level of service (mitigating factors weigh
in). This enabled us to justify hiring
the staff person we needed at the time, but has also helped us to provide
services on a fairly consistent level among service providers (really helps
when assigning/shifting caseloads from year to year). Meanwhile, ASDB utilizes
QPVI. I think TSBVI outlines at least 4 systems for evaluating caseloads and
need for services. Pulling it out of thin air, even though the figure may be
based upon our vast experience, rarely cuts it with administrators. Kartar Kaur Khalsa" <KartarK@cox.net> ·
IEP meetings As an O&Mer and former SPED teacher, I
can tell you that the SPED team can request an evaluation for O&M and
recommendations for the IEP. The IEP is not a static document – it can be
changed whenever a need arises, not just at an annual meeting. A good
O&M evaluation and recommendations can prompt a new meeting and an IEP
amendment. Also, very importantly, if the parents have been denied
an O&M evaluation or feel that their child is being appropriated inadequate
O&M service time for the level of the needs of their child, they can invoke
their rights (they should have received a rights and responsibilities document
prior to every IEP meeting) and demand an evaluation and an IEP
amendment based on the needs and safety of their child. The ball is always in their court. Every
school district that I have been involved with trembles when parents know and
exercise their rights. No child should be put at risk, so if the parents
become forceful, they will get what they want. Barbara Seever Barbara.Seever@state.co.us ·
assessments and parents’ rights in the Parents who feel that their child is not
being allotted enough O&M time should just not settle. They are their
child's best advocate. The school district is legally mandated to pay for at
least one outside evaluation, and the parents should insist upon it if they are
unable to obtain satisfaction for their child. Kartar Kaur Khalsa KartarK@cox.net I remember a mother contacted the
non-profit agency I worked for and asked for an O&M Assessment for her 14
year old son. He was not getting O&M in the school setting but was on
a “consult” because that was how it had been. She tried telling them that his
vision was getting worse and that he needed more O&M but they disagreed and
his IEP was written with just a “consult.” So, she had me do an O&M
Assessment & Report for the IEP and had me attend his IEP meeting.
Along with contacting the Center for Independent Living and getting someone
there to help advocate at his IEP meetings, this was sufficient to get his IEP
O&M goal/time changed. Victoria
Burns VBurns@clovernook.org One alternative that I've seen is that the
family hires an outside assessor either from the state school for the blind or
an out-of-state resource in the particular specialty area. They then use
this assessment at the IEP meeting to support services. If that doesn't work, the parents go to due
process. Gina J. Schmid Gina_J_Schmid@mcpsmd.org If parents are not being supported as to
amount of service then I would suggest that they write their own IEP goals and
have them added to the IEP. For example,
if the O&M specialist's goal is to travel around the classroom
independently, the parent could agree and then add the playground as well. So,
agree to the first goal and the amount of service needed for THAT goal, then
add their own (another) goal which would add more service. Or during the IEP ask the classroom teacher
how well the child is getting around the campus/classroom and if they state
poorly, then that will give the O&M the opportunity to chime in to add more
service. Robyn Herrera RHerrera@LDC.DDS.CA.GOV ·
benefits of O&M for children I
use the research and article by Alan Koenig and Carol Farrenkopf in the Journal
of Visual Impairment and Blindness (Jan-Feb 1997) “Essential Experiences to
Undergird the Early Development of Literacy” as a foundation for O&M
training for young children and the TAPS curriculum and checklist. They really
speak to real-world applications and the long range benefits. I've never found
a way to vicariously teach riding an escalator, negotiating a revolving door,
or crossing a roundabout. Craig Phillips craigphillips@smsd.org O&M specialists have used
the following strategies to augment or expand their O&M services: ·
collaborate with
other staff to augment / reinforce O&M skills ·
provide some
O&M training through group sessions (see position
paper on group sessions) ·
Use an O&M
Assistant (see position
paper on best practice for O&M Assistant programs) Some O&M instructors are required to provide all
their O&M instruction in the building and/or on the grounds of the school
or center where they work, and others are not allowed to transport students to
the site of their lesson. To assist with this problem, the position paper Orientation
and Mobility in Natural Settings was developed. It is hoped that this paper will aid
practitioners whose administrators may not understand the fundamental nature of
providing O&M assessment and instruction in the environments in which these
O&M skills and techniques will be used, to help administrators of O&M
programs understand the necessity for irregular work schedules (including night
lessons) and instruction in the community.
It was approved unanimously at the O&M Division business meeting
July
17, 2006. Suggestions,
stories, and resources regarding O&M lessons off campus and transporting
students to the lessons: If the O&M requirements in the IEP call for training with intersections, the
school district is responsible for transportation, just like a field trip
or a ride to school. There must be a transferable reason though, such as
the child walks home or is old enough to consider going away to college;
transition is another good venue for justification – if they do not want you to
transport the child they must make reasonable accommodations
for the education of the child. O&M in some special education
settings can be a separate class all together,
instead of PE... Desiree McKey, COMS
mckeyd2@NETSCAPE.NET My experience with the transportation
issue might be helpful. I was hired and had a county car available to
me. As the county car mileage increase and the performance decreased I
was concerned for the replacement of the car, which the district wasn't sure
they would do. Since transporting students by approved teachers (as was
done in School Community Based programs) was stopped several years back (they
use buses now), they weren't sure they would replace my county car and they
offered no other support. My concern was if I need to use my personal
car, the liability is definitely on my insurance, but what if I am sued
personally in the event of an accident? In researching the transportation
handbook at our district there was a statement or employee right that if your
job included transporting students in your vehicle, then the district is
responsible in providing the additional insurance. Using this info I
encouraged my super to look into this and stressed the liabilities
involved. Fortunately, it worked –
the remaining O&Mers in my district do have available to them the
extra insurance available in transporting students which is paid by the
district. This may be worth looking into and be helpful in getting
additional coverage on your car insurance, as well as allowing you to transport
students to necessary training areas. Gina Schmid Gina_J_Schmid@MCPSMD.ORG
PROBLEM: Limited
O&M personnel to provide services
PROBLEM: O&M
lessons restricted to building or campus, and/or no transportation to the
lessons