Chapter Three: Navigating Without Vision
The most important role performed by the school based orientation and mobility specialist is to teach blind students how to navigate in space. The mobility specialist must have both a deep and a broad understanding of how human beings navigate. Like the human vision system, the brain level mechanisms governing navigation are complex and poorly understood. New teaching strategies will evolve as research becomes available. What follows only touches a complex and not completely understood subject.
Exploration and play
Gaging initial position
Learning to set a course
Monitoring travel
Remembering layouts and routes
Crossing streets
Community travel for blind students
Navigating defined spaces: malls, stores, parks, etc.
Navigation bibliography
Teaching echolocation to blind children
This is a link to an echolocation training guide provided by Dan Kish, CEO of World Access for the Blind.
