"What do all these acronyms mean?" asked a new member of the email group for parents of blind and visually impaired children. Many teachers and parents of visually impaired children who have been using terms for a long time slip into using acronyms which can be confusing to new parents.
Most of the acronyms used in discussions about blind children refer to educational or related services. All the acronyms can be as intimidating as meeting all the professionals who work with one's child. Below is a discussion of not only the acronyms but the ways in which the person or service helps a child who is blind or visually impaired.
The TVI may be the person who interacts most often with the blind child other than the classroom teacher. TVIs teach skills such as braille and use of adaptive technology. They may also help students to learn how to integrate and efficiently use information gained from visual stimuli and the other senses. Often TVIs help students to learn about concepts which help them succeed in the regular classroom, and they may sometimes assist with some academic subjects.
TVIs consult with other professionals regarding the blind or visually impaired child's needs. They may provide general inservices about blindness or collaborate with teachers and therapists to develop materials and interventions which are appropriate to a child's individual needs.
TVIs also work with parents of young blind children and help them to understand blindness and the effects it may have on their child's learning and development. TVIs and parents work together to help the child learn skills such as feeding, dressing, and emergent literacy skills.
O&M refers to the way a blind person relates to and travels in the environment. O&M instructors or specialists generally work to help tstudents to develop a clear understanding of the relationship of objects to one another and to the environment; effective use of low vision for navigating in the environment; and travel with the white cane.
The term "O&M" is often used to refer to the field or topic of orientation and mobility, but it is also often used to refer to a professional who works in this field. Certification of O&M specialists is becoming increasingly important. The term "COMS" refers specifically to an O&M specialist who is certified.
For more information about O&M, see the article, ""O&M: An Introduction"".
OT may also be used to refer to the occupational therapist. Occupational therapy may address any of a number of difficulties. In a discussion with a group of parents online, occupational therapist Gay Singletary provided the following explanation.
OT in the school is ONLY going to address things that are "educationally relevant". That can be interpreted in a very broad or very limited way depending on the school system. Generally, the younger the child, the more broad the interpretation.
Things I look at when I do an evaluation are:
- Postural control and gross motor skills - what are the trunk, head, neck, and extremities doing to support or hinder the child's ability to be successful using their hands and eyes in a variety of activities.
- Fine motor skills--what can the child do/not do AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, how do they do them?
- Visual perceptual skills - if a child already had a diagnosis of vision impairment, I would look at this very generally, documenting how I observed the child using any residual vision. I'd also get info. from the vision teacher.
- Self-help skills -- relevant to school--things like feeding self, opening food containers, managing cafeteria tray, managing coat, managing clothing for toileting.
- Sensory processing - what information does the child gain and use from different sensory areas? Hypersensitivity? Defensiveness? Hyposensitivity? Modulation of arousal level/state? Sensory seeking behavior?
In an article which appeared in the fall, 1997, issue of Future Reflections, Gail hatch explained, "As a pediatric physical therapist, my goal is to facilitate functional and efficient movement in a child and to promote motor development." Hatch went on to discuss the importance of understanding the need to be aware of emotional, mental and visual difficulties which may affect the child's development.
Sometimes blind children experience difficulties with learning to speak or use language correctly. This is particularly important if a child has other disabilities in addition to blindness. SLTs work to help the child to learn to articulate correctly and to use language appropriately.
The term speech/language pathology (SLP) is sometimes used interchangeably with SLT.
This document is copyright 2003 by Sarah J. Blake. For permission to reprint, please email Sarah at sarah@growingstrong.org.
The development of content for this site is supported by your contributions and by the sale of products through various affiliate programs. If you have been touched by the material on this site, please consider shopping at Sarah Jane's or making a contribution using the Amazon Honor System.
This site is graciously hosted by LinuxPowered.