TAER 2025 Conference

Have you ever heard, thought, or said that a student does not qualify for orientation and mobility because they are not moving? What is your role as an O&M when the student is not moving? How does a child begin to move? If you are unsure what to do, then this session is for you!
This session will highlight the importance of movement through play to develop the fundamental skills necessary for future development. From evaluation to services, play and movement are essential to the student’s development. The targeted population is students with visual impairments from birth to 48 months, or students functioning at this developmental level. All participants will make a device for their student as well as a jumpstart to ideas for your caseload.

Join the out of the box thinkers in FUNctional and meaningful creative solutions to aid in purposeful learning and movement. Be ready to share your own hacks or creative solutions so we can learn from each other!

Numbers of individuals who would benefit from O&M has increased. This session explores the non-traditional approaches for provision of O&M that supports generalizable O&M skills in a variety of environments. A collaborative approach for expanding O&M skills is shared. Strategies for educating support networks for increasing independent travel are explored.

Students who meet the visual criteria to drive may have received limited O&M instruction as they often fly under the radar with visual measures above legal blindness and resist use of a mobility cane. Foundational concepts within O&M instruction are key components of pedestrian travel and apply to pre-driver readiness.

We know that kids enjoy exploring and learning. Kids learn best through incidental learning in the natural environment. Many of our students are not able to access their environment without some accommodation or modification. Join in the discussion on how we can create those learning environments through defined play areas.

Delve into the Braille Game and the Cross to Win intersection game. A more in-depth look, and play, of the two games I've created.

Discover how artificial intelligence (AI) can revolutionize orientation and mobility (O&M) services. This session explores strategies for reducing administrative burdens, creating data-driven lesson plans, and improving outcomes for students. Learn about real-world applications, potential challenges, and implementation plans to empower O&M specialists and enhance service delivery.

Veering, swerve, spiral, whatever word we use, this can be an issue with our students and clients affecting orientation and safety. We conducted a test or study to learn more about veering and other travel issues and would like to show some numbers and results.

A variety of Independent Living Skill gadgets will be presented to help one teach students of varying abilities different ways to approach kitchen skills. Additionally, images of high-marked appliances will be shown to provide guidance for increasing accessibility at school and home.