Berks County IU 14, PA -

Orientation & Mobility

The BCIU provides orientation and mobility (O&M) services to students ages 5 through 22 from various Berks County school districts. BCIU personnel work with blind or visually impaired children to enable those students to attain systematic orientation to and safe movement within their environments in school, home, and community.

O&M services include teaching children the following, as appropriate:

1. Spatial and environmental concepts and use of information received by the senses (such as sound, temperature, and vibrations) to establish, maintain, or regain orientation and line of travel (e.g., using sound at a traffic light to cross the street).

2. To use the long cane or a service animal to supplement visual travel skills, or, for children with no available travel vision, as a tool for safely negotiating their environment.

3. To understand and use remaining-vision and distance-low-vision aids.