Book Review: The Art and Science of Teaching Orientation and Mobility to Persons with Visual Impairments

Abstract

The Art and Science of Teaching Orientation and Mobility to Persons with Visual Impairments, Second Edition. William Henry Jacobson. New York: AFB Press, 2013,289 pp., Illustrated. Paperback, $59.95; e-book, $41. 95; by online chapter, $10.95. Reviewed by Nora Griffin-Shirley Having worked with Dr. Jacobson at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock from 1983 to 1987, I am pleased to review the second edition of his book. While I was reading the book, I was transported back in time to a period when I was team-teaching with Dr. Jacobson, and it also made me realize how he has influenced the way I teach cane classes at Texas Tech University (TTU). Phrases like When going through a door with a human guide, be within kissing distance of it, for example, or Overlearn those motor and cane are ones I still frequently use when teaching graduate students at TTU's Orientation and Mobility Program. The first edition of the textbook was published in 1993 (Jacobson, 1993), and it is approximately one-half the size of the second edition. In the introduction to the current publication, Dr. Jacobson discusses the addition of five new chapters aimed at a larger audience than just orientation and mobility (OM setting goals; program planning; selecting appropriate locations at which to provide OM lesson sequencing; and facilitating concept and motor skill development, which are foundational for professionals teaching children. Other valuable additions to the second edition include case studies, sidebars highlighting pertinent information in a succinct and clear manner, assessment checklists, charts, and photographs to illustrate content. ASSESSMENT AND CHECKLISTS Since there is no textbook aimed at the training of teachers of students with visual impairments in O&M skills for children with blindness and low vision, the first five chapters of Jacobson's book fill a much-needed gap. Specifically, in Chapter 2 the book presents a rationale for assessment, assessment procedures, and checklists for children with visual impairments. The questions provided are coupled with detailed ideas for how to perform assessments while students are having fun (for example, while they are playing games like Red Light, Green Light or Mother, May I). Two different assessment checklists are also provided in Chapter 2. Other recognized assessment tools such as the Appendix A: Screening Instrument in Teaching Age-Appropriate Purposeful Skills: An Orientation and Mobility Curriculum for Students with Visual Impairments (Pogrund et al., 1995) and Preschool Orientation and Mobility Screening (Dodson-Burk & Hill, 1989) are also mentioned by Dr. Jacobson. Two curriculums that are commonly used in personnel preparation programs training O&M specialists in the United States, however, were excluded: Anthony, Lowry, Brown, and Hatton's (2004) Developmentally Appropriate Orientation and Mobility and Huebner, Prickett, Welch, and Joffee's (1995) Hand In Hand: Essentials of Communication and Orientation and Mobility for Your Students Who Are Deaf-Blind. MULTIPLE DISABILITIES, LOW VISION, CHILDREN, AND THE ELDERLY Other interesting topics the author addressed were O&M training by travel trainers for individuals with intellectual deficits or traumatic brain injuries, as well as precautions about the use of a blindfold during assessment. The end of many chapters also included specific information for teaching persons with low vision, children, or older people. …