Orientation and Mobility

Learn tips and techniques for teaching orientation and mobility (O&M) to young children who are blind, including developing cane and precane skills for both kids who can walk independently and for kids in wheelchairs.

a yellow lab puppy

Orientation and Mobility, Visual Impairment

Southeastern Guide Dogs

Southeastern Guide Dogs places skilled companion dogs with children with vision loss and guide dogs with teens as young as fifteen.

A group of four yellow labs

Orientation and Mobility, Visual Impairment

Guide Dogs of America

Guide Dogs of America is dedicated to its mission to provide guide dogs and instruction in their use, free of charge, to blind and visually impaired men and women

a little girl in her assistive rolling chairs for kids

Orientation and Mobility

ZipZac Mobility Chairs

The ZipZac 1 & 2® are great mobility chairs for kids who need assistance. The chair was originally developed for a young boy with spina bifida who could move his...

blind student walking at school

Orientation and Mobility, Visual Impairment

Hand Use While Walking: Helping Your Child Who is Blind Understand His Home

Certified Orientation and Mobility instructor Susan Shier Lowry gives tips on how to encourage young blind children to reach out and touch while walking through familiar environments. Trailing techniques are...

Eric using an anticipator

Orientation and Mobility, Visual Impairment

Anticipators for Young Children with Visual Impairments: Push Toys, Pre-Canes and Long Canes

Early Orientation and Mobility skills for blind children can be taught with pre-canes or push toys. Learn how to choose the best tools and when to introduce them.

Smart Cane recongizing owner's faces

Assistive Technology, Orientation and Mobility

Smart Cane Recognizes Faces

The XploR cane uses smartphone technology to send vibrations to the user when it detects a familiar face.

Daniel Kish in a collared shirt holding a cane against a blue background

Orientation and Mobility

Learning to Navigate through Echolocation

Daniel Kish demonstrates his controversial echolocation technique that allows those who are blind to navigate using sonar in this TedX talk.

Red Lechal shoe

Orientation and Mobility

These Shoes Were Made for…Giving Directions?

Ducere Tech, an Indian start-up, has created new technology whereby your shoes can tell you which direction to take by connecting wirelessly with your GPS nav system. This could be...

Ivan at the grocery store

Orientation and Mobility, Visual Impairment

Community Trips for Little Explorers: Teaching your child who is blind about the community

Children with visual impairment learn by having direct, hands-on experiences with objects and events, including those in their community. These experiences can build important concepts that will prepare your child...

Smartphone over printed text, showing larger.

Assistive Technology, Orientation and Mobility

Verizon Creates Navigational Tools to Promote Independence for Blind Users

Being blind means giving up a lot of independence; this new technology from Verizon gives blind people real-time information about their environment, including colors, textures, nav cues, and more, using...

little boy in a go baby go car

Orientation and Mobility

Go Baby Go Provides Mobility Inspiration!

Dr Cole Galloway from the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Delaware is adapting motorized ride-on toys for children with mobility special needs.

Blind Square

Assistive Technology, Orientation and Mobility, Visual Impairment

Getting Around Using Assistive Technology when You’re Blind

Getting around keeps getting easier for blind travelers thanks to new assisistive technology. Find out about a new O&M iPhone app and an UltraBike!

girl listening

Orientation and Mobility, Visual Impairment

Echolocation for Blind Children

Echolocation is the use of sounds to gain information about the environment and surrounding objects. Blind kids can learn to use echolocation to augment traditional orientation and mobility!

Joe Cutter

Orientation and Mobility

Little Long Canes

This is a wonderful 18 minute video interview with Joe Cutter, renowned early childhood Orientation and Mobility instructor who pioneered the use of the cane with very young children. He...

Orientation and Mobility

UltraCane

The UltraCane is an electronic cane for visually impaired users that delivers feedback through small vibrating buttons in the handle. Its ultrasound system provides information about obstacles in front of...

ivan touching a tree

Orientation and Mobility, Visual Impairment

Adventure Walks: Helping Your Child Who is Blind Move Around Outdoors

Getting your blind child outside and moving around in the community can help them develop motor skills as well as Orientation and Mobility skills.

Picture of a steering wheel with a pole that has a wheel at the end

Orientation and Mobility, Toys

Go Wheelie: An Early Mobility Toy?

The Go Wheelie features an easy turning steering wheel and makes a fun clicking noise as children drive to their destination. It provides a fun, safe way for children to...

2 guide dogs

Orientation and Mobility

MIRA Guide Dog Foundation

The MIRA Foundation is totally dedicated to helping disabled individuals by teaming them with dogs bred and fully trained to respond to their adaptation and rehabilitation needs.

Holding a white cane

Orientation and Mobility

Free White Cane Program

NFB believes the long white cane is a means to independence and with this in mind NFB has created a program to provide free white canes to people who are...

Boy walking on stairs with his cane

Orientation and Mobility

Early Explorers: A Cane Travel Program for Blind and Low Vision Children

This is a program for children age birth to 7 years old. It provides a white cane, instructional DVD, and other resources to help parents assist their children with O&M...

Walking with cane

Orientation and Mobility

Watch a Blind Baby Walking with His Cane!

Watch ten month old Alan walk around his living room with his new cane. He's totally blind, but does a wonderful job getting around obstacles!

Sami Stoner running with her dog, Chloe

Orientation and Mobility

Blind Teen Runs with Her Guide Dog

Sami Stoner, a teenager in Ohio, has always been a runner, but when she began to lose her sight due to Stargardt's disease, she thought she would have to stop...

Ivan playing with his toy

Orientation and Mobility, Visual Impairment

Helping Your Blind Baby Learn How to Reach for Objects

Susan Shier Lowry, an Orientation and Mobility specialist, writes about how you can encourage your child to reach out for objects and how reaching can help develop orientation skills needed...

3 kids walking with their canes

Orientation and Mobility

Precane vs Long Cane

Susan Lowry, Orientation and Mobility specialist, answers the question: Is my child ready for a long cane or a precane?