Outline of O&M Skills/Concepts

BASIC SKILLS

Cane:
- Constant-contact / Touch techniques
- Stairs
- Explore objects contacted with cane
- Shorelining / trailing with cane
- Negotiate obstacles contacted by cane
  - Walk around obstacles or corners without tripping on obstacle or corner
- Modification when walking with a guide
- Cane technique maintained without concentration
- Cane information (obstacles / drop-offs) noticed when distracted
- Able to use cane in either hand
- Locating door handles
- Explanations
  - Three things that cane won't warn of
  - Reason for (and decision of) centering hand
  - Reason for keeping in step
Human guide:
- Narrow passages
- Doorways
- Stairs
- Seating in a chair; at a table
- Opening the door for a female guide
- What the guide needs to know
- Locating objects by following guide's arm
Maintain orientation through building
- Builds a cognitive map
- Is aware of direction/space whenever turning
- Maintains orientation when guided (including turns
Kinesthetic sense:
- Maintains line around obstacle
- Accurate turns (active and passive/guided)
- Distance measurement while walking
Hearing
- Localization
- Echolocation:
  - Detect corners / openings / walls
  - Determine room size / distance of wall
Vision:
- Able to combine visual with nonvisual/cane information
- Eccentric viewing
- Scanning for objects
Car familiarization
Hines Break
Hand and forearm techniques: Upper, Lower
Trailing with hand
Squaring off
Direction-taking
Room familiarization
- Can familiarize self to new room
- Uses landmarks
- Drop-off (reorient in room / building without assistance after being intentionally disoriented)
Locating dropped objects
- Three techniques for getting down while protecting head

OUTSIDE TRAVEL

Sidewalk travel
- Cane technique maintained / snags controlled
- Three-point touch cane technique
- Recovery from veer in driveway
- Features of driveways vs. streets
- Use of sound shadows and echolocation
Orientation
- Use of sun for orientation
- Use of features and landmarks
- Drop-off (reorient in familiar community without assistance after being intentionally disoriented)
Street crossing
- General street-crossing skills:
  - Recognize street edge
  - Determine width of street / distance of passing cars
  - Initial alignment strategies
    - Maintain line of travel
    - Use traffic sounds
    - Curb alignment inside from corner
    - Return and approach again, maintaining line of trave
  - Understand time needed to cross various widths
  - Maintain straight line of travel during crossing
  - Recover from veer
  - Determine sources of danger, know how to reduce / avoid risk
  - Know and use alternative strategies when risk is not acceptable
  - Analyze unfamiliar intersections -- determine:
    - Geometry
    - Traffic control
    - Appropriate crossing technique
- Crossings with no traffic control
  - Judge gap detection and risk
  - Understand pedestrian laws
  - Visually scan / glance for traffic efficiently
  - Understand the effect of masking and blocking traffic sounds
- Signalized intersections
  - Actuation vs. fixed-time
    - How actuation works
    - Common features to recognize actuation
  - Analyze traffic pattern
  - Determine best time to cross
  - Three sources of danger:
    - Reduce / avoid risk
  - Pedestrian buttons / WALK signals
    - how to find and use pedestrian buttons
  - Separate (channelized) right-turning lanes

COMMUNICATION / INTERACTION (for deaf-blind people)

Understand strategies / options for communication
Choose preferred communication techniques
Practice / assess use of technique(s)
Feedback on use of technique(s)
Re-selection of / improvement in technique(s)
Understand principles of successful interaction

BUSINESS AREA TRAVEL:

Find destinations
Interact with and get assistance from the public effectively
- understand principles of interation with the public (as appropriate)
Shopping:
- Interacting with salespeople
- Handling money
- Grocery shopping
Orient self to unfamiliar destination and find it again independently
Buses
Metro system
Soliciting aid
Escalators
Elevators
Find unfamiliar destinations (gather information, plan trip, and execute independently)
Cabs

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