EDSPX505.M3R - Making Meaningful Mobility Routines: A Team Approach

Course Description

Number of Credits: 1

Over three, 2-hour sessions in this course, you will examine three primary areas: 1) integrating communication, tactile support, and assistive technology in mobility lessons, 2) collaborating with teams and families on orientation and mobility activities, and 3) successfully planning and documenting progress. Participants will gain knowledge and skills for more adequately and effectively working with individuals with multiple disabilities, complex communication needs, or those who are deafblind. 

Session 1: Integrating communication, tactile support, and assistive technology in mobility lessons

This first session will discuss who access to safe and efficient mobility is deeply connected to both opportunities, people, and quality of life. For individuals with multiple disabilities or those who are deafblind, communication is intertwined with mobility. We explore how to create meaningful and motivating mobility lessons that integrate communication, tactile support, and assistive technology.

Session 2: Collaborating with teams and families on orientation and mobility activities

The second session in this series will focus on how traditional O&M (orientation and mobility) techniques do not always include examples of how to work with students who have multiple disabilities, complex communication needs or those who are deafblind. In this session we explore effective collaboration with teams and families to design meaningful person-centered O&M activities with students who have complex needs.

Session 3: Orientation and Mobility: Successfully Planning and Documenting Progress

The third and final session in the series will discuss how people who have mobility skills are more likely to have access to work, community and better quality of life. With students who have multiple disabilities it can be challenging to recognize incremental student progress. In this session, we explore ways to not only document progress and success, but ways to use this progress to plan for the future to develop more inclusive and meaningful lives. 

Instructor Information

Valerie Aker-Player

Phone - (208)-885-8786
Email - akerplayer@uidaho.edu

Course Objectives:

1. Participants will be able to describe the connection between communication and mobility.
2. Participants will be able to describe the use of preference assessments for designing meaningful mobility routines.
3. Participants will describe the role of tactile support and proprioceptive activities for building O&M skills.
4. Participants will use the MOMMAS framework to design meaningful mobility routines (Motivation, Orientation, Movement/Muscles, Mobility, Adaptions/Aids, Synergy).
5. Participants will able to identify the benefits of effective collaboration with teams and families to design meaningful person-centered O&M activities with students who have complex needs.
6. Participants will be able to describe ways to document progress and success on O&M goals and how to use this progress to plan for the future.