World Access for the Blind - Opening a New Way. World Access for the Blind, a non-profit organization, uses a modern, no-limits approach to equalize opportunities for the success of blind people.

Home | Contact Us | Documents & Video | Donate

 
 

Instruction: Training and Workshops

Instructional Program and Methodology

This program outline is broad in scope. It is modular in nature and addresses the needs of blind and low vision students of all ages and levels of functioning. Student needs are addressed and strategies for meeting these needs are approved by the service team. It is expected that the student will emerge from this program with the ability to function in all listed domains comparable to age or developmental peers in the "mainstream", and attain and maintain an overall quality of life comparable to age peers.

  1. MOVEMENT AND NAVIGATION: negotiation of all environments and environmental conditions relevant to the student's current and anticipated life style. 
    1. Perceptual training to optimize use of all remaining senses. (For more detail on our perceptual development approach, see *Alternative Perception and flash sonar.) The entire sensory/motor system is refined to maximize its active awareness of and self-directed interaction with the environment through all sensory modalities.
      1. Audition and flash sonar

        1. Perception and processing of the auditory environment: (increasing auditory perceptual thresholds): sound isolation, localization, and recognition; environmental cuing.

        2. Sonic Environmental Perception (awareness of objects and environmental features using sonically based techniques): flash sonar, sound shadowing - allows the blind to perceive what is around them by the way sound waves bounce off their surroundings.

        3. Spatial Gestalting and Self Orientation: Using auditory cues including planted source sounds (tags) and flash sonar to hearing the location of an array of points in a large space, and to be able to image and to navigate among those points.

      2. Visual Efficiency (scanning, eccentric viewing, blur interpretation, closure, etc.)
      3. Development of tactile, kinesthetic, and Haptic sensation and awareness: Tactile maps and models, tactual/haptic probes like the long cane and adapted mobility devices, and perception of surface gradient topography, such as street camber and driveway slopes.
      4. Cognitive Mapping: The ability to develop, maintain, and manipulate spatial layouts mentally.
    2. Training in and/or facilitating the use of any and all devices and aids related to movement, navigation, and perception with consultations as necessary.
      1. All forms of long cane training where appropriate, and the use of adaptive and supportive mobility aids with consultation as appropriate.
      2. Non-optical and optical aids with consultation as appropriate including monoculars and binoculars.
      3. Technological Environmental Perception Systems which enable detailed awareness of the dynamic environment.
        1. Movement Facilitation: ultrasonic sonar and object detectors, echolocation enhancement devices.
        2. Navigation and location information devices: global positioning systems, directional systems such as tactile and talking compasses, integrated magnification systems, optical to speech or tactile reading systems, and accessible sign technology.
        3. The use of navigation strategies, such as landmarking, auditory/visual perception of distant objects or environmental features, environmental cues, cardinal directions, maps (auditory, tactile, digital, etc.), etc.
        4. The optimization of lower and upper body, and manual fine and gross motor strength and coordination, including remediation of vision related gait and postural anomalies with consultation as appropriate.
        5. Assisted Movement, such as by a human or dog guide where necessary.
  2. INFORMATION ACCESS
    1. Interactive Literacy: moving blind children and adults toward methods of emergent literacy in connection with sighted peer development - phonics, interactive reading, emersion with family and classmate involvement; based on the idea that literacy is typically learned interactively in social contexts in which the written word is shared. Family training, accessible literature dissemination, professional training, and team reading approaches are used. Covers Braille, aural, and low vision reading techniques, technology, and strategies.
      1. Braille Literacy.
      2. Large print and magnification devices/options including modern portable options.
      3. Aural and digital literacy options.
      4. Combinations of the above for full access.
    2. Computer Literacy: Evaluating, applying, and developing the very latest in computer access technology to promote complete, not restricted computer access. Systems are assembled and adapted as necessary to student needs.
    3. Access to public media and documents including newspapers, public libraries and on-line sources, money, government documents.
  3. ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING
    1. Domestic management including cooking and food preparation, cleaning, adaptation and use of household appliances, and structural maintenance (use of basic repair tools). B. Personal care (where appropriate) including feeding, dressing, grooming, and hygiene.
    2. Life skills including shopping, money management including banking, organization of personal affects, and handling public forms and paperwork including effective record keeping.
    3. Basic consumer knowledge (where appropriate) including utilities up-keep, matters of credit, housing issues, insurance issues, and general consumer awareness.
  4. COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION - assisting the student to implement adaptations as necessary to facilitate mainstream community participation and assisting student to address social barriers.
    1. Facilitating student self-sufficiency in the areas of education, vocation, and career through informational counseling, search and evaluation process for educational programs and jobs, exploring all options, assisting the student to address specific barriers, and preparation (resume, interview style, work ethic).
    2. Leisure and recreation based learning - Extreme and interactive activities are used as a medium for rapid development of highly advanced perceptual/motor functioning which transfers to every aspect of living. World Access for the Blind currently implements a mountain biking program in which blind youth traverse technical terrain at high speeds on solo mountain bikes. An independent mountaineering program enabling the blind to travel the wilderness without sighted assistance is also being developed, along with strategies for participation in a wide variety of mainstream ball sports. Strategies are being developed to allow blind youth to participate fully and productively in a wide range of community programming such as scouting and league sports.
      1. Methods used.
      2. Outdoor activities including mountaineering, biking, skiing, beach going, and picnicking).
      3. Indoor or contained activities including theater, amusement parks, and interactive gaming.
      4. Interactive sports, such as ball play and wrestling with techniques based on the Access Sports Model (ASM) designed by Professor Paul Ponchillia and associates.
      5. Hobbies and self sports.
      6. Integration into "mainstream" community programming as appropriate - church, clubs, scouts, camps, gatherings, and volunteerism.
    3. On the Move: The efficient use of all forms of public and private transportation based on the Finding Wheels curriculum.
    4. Community Connection: The strategic use of all public and community resources for the acquisition of information necessary to enhance quality of life including community programming and assistive or adaptive resources.
    5. Traffic management and negotiation based on gap detection strategies and lane by lane scanning: being able to analyze and negotiate all kinds of vehicular traffic under all types of conditions.
    6. Social skills training as appropriate.
  5. ATTITUDE FOR SELF-DIRECTION - helping students to understand and adopt the "No Limits" attitude of mutually meaningful, positive living, self-directed living.
    1. Exposing student and support system to positive, successful blind role models through blind instructors and contact with blind people who value "no limits" ideals.
    2. All individuals in student programming value the No Limits philosophy, and seek to facilitate and support student growth.
    3. Providing written information to students and significant others about blindness.
    4. Development of self-advocacy and assertiveness, and service team administration.
    5. Regular, peer support group sessions for students, and for significant others.
    6. Connection to on-line support groups including blindness chat rooms and news groups
    7. Referral to psychological counseling as needed.
  6. We emphasize the following methods, models, and perspectives in our instruction
    1. No Limits Perspective: Our students are grounded in the knowledge that limits are to be self chosen, not impose by others. Our students are encouraged to enjoy the freedom and strength of character to discover their own limits without presumption of limitations by others. They are introduced to a new frontier of possibilities and promising realities. Limits are re-evaluated and redefined.
    2. Self-directed Discovery based learning: This is based on the structured discovery method as documented by Richard Metler, and person centered approaches in psychology as developed by Dr. Karl Rogers. Students develop advanced skills in self-directed environmental interaction and decision making through a process of "doing." This process is discretely fostered by specialists and coaches. Students learn to develop their travel style more by encountering the world, and less by instructor direction. Students are often encouraged to participate in the planning of their own lessons involving places and activities that interest them.
    3. Perspective Building: It is a process that recognizes the necessity for a positive attitude of self respect in and beyond the instructional process. This strategy holds that, when pushed to the brink, humans are motivated more by what we feel than what we think. Blind students must build a foundation of self respect and positive thinking before skills can be readily and fully learned and actively applied. The emphasis is not on teaching a bunch of skills, but on facilitating a condition by which these skills unfold more or less naturally within the student. When students feel they can function and can build their lives or put their lives back together, learning becomes much faster, more enjoyable, and nearly automatic. This is done by continually facing students with the reality that they can do more than they ever believed by exposure to blind successes, high impact activities, and perceptual enhancement strategies that allow them to "see" in ways not previously thought possible.
    4. Gain Model Perspective: The gain model is articulated by Joe Cutter, which views blindness as a process of gaining information and perspective through alternative channels and modalities to construct a fully functional, viable approach to environmental access. This is in some contrast to the more traditional deficit model, which views blindness in terms of what one no longer sees, with emphasis on loss of information, and remediating that loss. The focus is on perceptual development without reference to loss or limitation.
    5. Instructional Coaching: Coaches are usually former blind and low vision students who exemplify our No Limits perspective, and are firmly grounded in all our techniques of self-direction. They are assigned to foster the movement of a blind or low vision student or family member through the process of adaptation into full realization of potential and ability. In general, coaches are matched with students in terms of gender, age, and blindness or low vision. They provide an indispensable support to the instructional process by infusing it with the blindness perspective. Coaches actually assist in the instruction of techniques, while also serving as a mentor and role model. (See *Instructional Coaches for more detail on the coaching concept and coach duties.)
    6. Sleep Shade Training: This is based on an established approach of grounding students in nonvisual perceptions and skills. When appropriate, this form of training helps to detach students from concerns about what they can no longer see, or what they must now struggle to see, and refocuses attention on environmental access through alternative seeing strategies.
    7. Community Context Learning: The student is generally served in and around the community in which they live and/or will live. Transition from supported living to more self-reliant living is facilitated where appropriate. For example, if student is still living with parents, options are explored and implemented according to the above domains to facilitate movement into an apartment or dorm. Functioning around all aspects of the local community and work place or school is addressed, together with options to travel beyond the community where appropriate.
    8. Flash Sonar: developed by World Access for the Blind, this is a means of learning to "see" the environment by the strategic use of refined, active sonar based on user controlled, flashed signals. This technique is much more powerful and accurate than passive sonar where the user relies on incidental sounds in the environment. This method features an echolocation enhancement device called the SoundFlash, which provides flashed sonar signals that optimize perception of objects and features of the environment. (For more information, see *Flash Sonar, and *SoundFlash.)
    9. Audification/Visification developed by World Access for the Blind. Key features and elements of the environment are made audible or more visible by specialized strategies so that the blind and low vision can engage and interact with the environment fully in conventional activities. A ball that is perceivable by audition or made more visible can be engaged with precision. Games are broken down into an objective, and a means of achieving that objective. Both must be perceivable and doable. If objectives are tagged or audified with audible references, or visified with visible elements, then visually impaired people can engage the necessary actions to achieve the objectives. This approach is used in an Access Sports Model (ASM) context developed by Western Michigan University and the United States Association of Blind Athletes.
    10. TeamBat: TeamBat is the recreational arm of our instructional program. It focuses on challenging movement recreation of all kinds, most notably bicycling, wilderness travel, interactive ball, and self sports. It provides rich and enjoyable opportunities to apply and refine skills and perceptions. It is based on the idea that improvement of perceptions and skills is best facilitated for blind people in the same way that it is for sighted people - through frequent practice and experience under challenging circumstances, within a context of high standards and mutual respect. Recreation provides an extremely rich and effective context for this, because the process is enhanced by enjoyment, mutual cooperation, and friendly competition.
    11. Finding Wheels: designed by Professor Anne Corne and associates - comprehensive system of obtaining and using transportation of all sorts.
    12. Access Sports Model (ASM) developed by Western Michigan University and United States Association of Blind Athletes. This model provides a systematic way to address three components of sports interaction - targets and goals, boundaries, and rules.
    13. Gap Detection Methodology: developed by Dona Sauerburger, this ingenious strategy helps enables students to analyze any crossing of vehicular traffic so that it can be negotiated safely, or avoided as appropriate.
    14. Lane by Lane Scanning: developed by Dr. Sandra Rosen and Associates at San Francisco State University, this method provides an effective system of scanning for traffic during crossings to maximize safety.
    15. Specialized Instructor Selection and Preparation: Instructors are selected very carefully. They must meet more than the minimum of COMS or NOMC certification. They must subscribe to our No Limits perspectives, as well as our approaches to building attitudes of self-direction. They must be able to demonstrate competence in blindness and low vision skills. They must understand the perceptual adaptation process from first hand experience, and they must be able to assess and instruct using perception based methodologies. Instructors are tested and trained in the use of blindfolds and low vision emulation. Instructors are not necessarily required to master these skills. That falls to the coaches. But, instructors are experientially trained to be able to articulate and exemplify the process of perceptual adaptation.
    16. Access Based Student Programming and Progress Assessment: Our programming and progress assessment is not based on loose definitions of what a student needs, nor a litany of specific skills that a student can or cannot demonstrate. It is based on what all students are presumed to need in terms of access to their environment. The assessment process is broken down into five areas of access to the environment - physical, symbolic, social, psychological, and physiological. Each section of the assessment report is divided discretely into student strengths and areas for development. Student progress is tracked along these areas of access, and along stated strengths and areas for development. Each report contains a perceptual profile which details how a student appears to perceive and process information. The report then focuses on how students use this information to interact with the environment. Detailed recommendations are provided for the purpose of developing a sound program in movement.
  7. Methods under development
    1. Virtual Reality Acoustic and Partial Vision Training - This will enable students to interact dynamically with computer generated environments which can be easily modified to augment or diminish acoustic or visual features to maximize learning. Such a technique would be used to simulate instructional environments through interactive games and scenarios.
    2. Neural-Response Feedback - Students will learn to achieve and maintain states of mind that are pre-determined to be most conducive to acute perceptual awareness and ease of functioning.

Alternative Perception Approach

Alternative perception refers to the development and use of one's full perceptual system to perceive one's environment more completely and accurately. For the visually impaired, this means developing one's remaining vision and nonvisual perceptions to "see" without sight. Thus the term "alternative" refers to alternative ways of "seeing" the environment. When vision is reduced, distorted, or absent, one's functioning in a sighted world can be challenged by substantial changes to how one must access information. World Access for the Blind applies technological and strategic approaches to foster in students the ability to access critical information, and return to full functioning. Under the direction of a blind Developmental Psychologist and Special Educator, perception specialists and scientists have developed and integrated innovative, high impact approaches to enhance remaining vision and nonvisual perception. This means that blind people can develop other ways of "seeing" their environment with little or no vision.

In brief, our program teaches blind individuals how to get from any point to any other point safely, gracefully, confidently, and with enjoyment. Students learn to handle any needed or desired task or activity. With this approach and attitude we have found this not to be just a far-fetched ideal, but an attainable reality for most blind students who wish it to be. Since movement comfort and competence has been found to correlate highly with employment and psychological adjustment, we anticipate that intensive training in alternative perception will help blind students become more socially and vocationally adjusted, and improve quality of life overall.

Perception Based Instruction

The distillation of disability into the simple notion of quality of access (See *Instructional Principals) leads to the idea that our quality of access is based on the efficacy of our perceptual system, which includes how efficiently we comprehend and use information that we perceive to govern our actions. Our perceptual system is our connection and bridge to our environment. A sensitive and well tuned perceptual system allows us to be aware of our options, and exercise them. Thus, we help students maximize their access by focusing on their development of an effective and reliable perceptual process.

The curriculum of World Access for the Blind is based on the latest findings in neural research, which demonstrate that the perceptual system with regard to movement is designed around spatial processing, not necessarily visual processing. The healthy sensory system is an integrated whole with no single modality predominating. All sensory modalities go into the construction of dynamic, spatial imaging. When vision is absent, the brain naturally attempts to construct a dynamic, functional spatial image from information gathered through remaining modalities. Although this is a natural process, it seems to be a fragile process that can be impeded by negative external forces, such as low expectations, over use of external guidance, or accompanying involvements. However, we have found success in fostering development of nonvisual spatial imaging through instruction in perception, self directed discovery, and positive attitude building.

The key factor here is that the human perceptual system develops, changes, and assimilates information based on a process of self directed discovery. This process is scaffolded or supported by "those who've been there", but it is directed intrinsically by the organism's will and interest as stimulated by a direct connection to the environment. This is not only true among humans, but among all mammals, and many other animal species.

We may think of the perceptual system as analogous to the intake, digestion, and metabolization of food. Information is like food. With it, we nourish our minds, and support adaptive action. A healthy perceptual system seeks information, distinguishes useful from non-useful information, then processes this information to develop insights and ideas, and gain better access to all aspects of our environment. We use information to govern our interaction with our environment. Thus, a healthy perceptual system fosters a healthy interaction with our environment, one that is adaptive to the organism. In essence we register and learn to identify elements of our surroundings, and we use this information to establish intent about how to interact with these elements. The stronger is our perceptual process, the stronger and more interactive can be our intent.

Disruption to the Perceptual Process

Blind people are often erroneously subjected to a great deal of physical and verbal direction from others throughout their early years, and throughout the stages of adaptation. This external imposition of direction shifts the organism's locus of control from internal to external - from self-direction to direction by others. In other words, the organism learns to forego interaction through self-direction, and becomes a recipient of direction by others. This often happens at a time when the individual is vulnerable to inculcating external influences into a perception of self. In this case, these negative influences can become deeply seeded to develop a self that cannot engage in the self directed discovery process, and therefore suffers a stunting of perceptual maturity. Access to the environment becomes mediated by and relegated to external forces. Although humans appear to be receptive to this negative condition, the human perceptual system doesn't mature under these conditions. When direct connection to the environment and the self will process is usurped or blocked by frequent direction imposed by an external agent, the perceptual development process becomes short circuited and fails to thrive. If we examine human and animal behavior, we never see the perceptual system fostered by direction from external forces. It would seem that we aren't wired to mature under these restrictive conditions. A baby bear may occasionally ride on its momma's back, but it remains connected to the surrounding environment while it travels, and typically enjoys discovering the meaning of what it senses when it is not being carried. When a blind child or newly blinded adult is tied to the arm of another, or is restrained from using his cane or his echolocation, direct connection to the environment is broken, and the individual is forced to give up the reigns to another rider. The individual becomes a passenger to his own perceptual process. In this way, the perceptual process of the individual is relegated to a second class status, and the adaptation process through self directed discovery is crippled or altogether negated. In the early stages of blindness, it only takes a few such incidents to throw the adaptation process completely off kilter.

The organism, humans in this case, must be free to explore with his or her own body, directed by his or her own perceptual system. The scaffolding that may occur from caregivers is intended only to foster the organism's ability to reach beyond himself with assurance and purpose. The intent is to point the developing organism in the right direction, and protect from dangers. But, it is not done by consistently taking over control of the learner's functioning. It is done by mentoring, encouragement, and facilitation with a minimum of force or direction.

Self-Directed Attitude Building

At the foundation of our system, we teach and apply techniques of self-directed attitude building and mindfulness. Our approach rests on the understanding that progress is made most quickly and naturally when attitudes about oneself, one's relationship to the world, and one's future are positive and without perception of limits imposed by others. A key part of this involves the management of apprehensions or fears about oneself and the world. We use high impact methods of sensory integration and meditative focusing to teach students how to calm their minds so that perceptions become open and un-confused. For example, many blind children exhibit difficulty listening attentively to gain information before acting. They often fidget or bounce unproductively, and move and random directions. We've discovered that placing small but heavy beanbags on their head, shoulders, or wrists greatly improves body concepts, and increases attention to purposeful, self-directed movement. Another example: many blind adults, especially those who have once driven, are jumpy, bewildered, and apprehensive around traffic in parking lots and street crossings. We provide several strategies for attending thoroughly and calmly to surroundings so that important information is not missed. For example, awareness of breathing and open perception. With open perception, the student and instructor compare notes about what they can hear and perceive in their surroundings. This simple method challenges students (and instructors) to attend more mindfully to what is around them, by bringing to light the wealth of information that we miss by inattention.

Flash Sonar

Central among our sensory techniques is the use of Flash Sonar, which is a technique based in natural human echolocation. (For more information about Flash Sonar and instructional methods, see *Flash Sonar, a new way of seeing, Flash Sonar Training Guide, and Sonic Echolocation: a current review and synthesis of the literature.) With flash sonar, blind people can establish similar connections with their environment through a process of hearing space. Flash sonar and related technology leads to enhanced perception of physical objects, spatial boundaries, and environmental features. This greatly improves object to object and self to object relational awareness, plus recognition of distinct environmental features, such as openings, corners, alcoves and entry ways, passageways, landmarks, landscaping, and very much more. Open spaces can be crossed without disorientation. Objects such as trees, cars, buildings, planters, poles, and so on can be recognized tens or even hundreds of feet away. Students learn to use sound instead of light to sense their surroundings much like a bat. Blind humans using flash sonar can move about as though they have a crude but effective form of vision. They are well oriented, negotiate obstacles gracefully, quickly, and safely, and enjoy a broad variety of meaningful life activities.

In this way, spatial concept building is approached through expanded spatial perception based on sound rather than light. What is more easily perceived can be more easily conceived. Sighted people are connected to their surroundings largely through vision.

Other Areas of Applied Perceptual Instruction

We apply a curriculum of sophisticated orientation strategies - both technical and mental. Among the technical, we focus attention on use of talking global positioning systems and use of a Braille compass. Training in cardinal directions is useful, but we have found that specific training in compass use dramatically speeds up the training process, and improves student assurance at a minimal cost.

Specialized tactual/kinesthetic techniques are used to improve awareness of surface gradient and textural information. Refined tactual awareness improves sidewalk travel, crossing driveways, and maintenance of alignment during street crossings. For example, a stimulus transfer technique combined with street cambre analysis and echo detection is applied to improve street crossing ability. With tactual awareness, one can learn how to maintain one's alignment based on how cement panels are laid in sidewalks. These panels are usually laid at right angles to each other, and at right angles to nearby structures. In this way, especially for those with reduced hearing, improved orientation to surrounding structures can be achieved by tactual awareness of ground surface construction.

Manual coordination issues are also addressed where needed using a new technique based on perceptual psychology called successive approximation. This is used to improve manual and daily living tasks. This is combined with a freeze frame approach to perfect shoe tying - a common difficulty for young blind children.

A key area that we address is community participation through leisure and recreational involvement. Recreational movement and exploration is found to be the key catalyst for body awareness, social development, and psycho-emotional development. Ball play, mountaineering, and bicycling are a few of the pastimes that we address.

In summary

instruction generally covers the following areas (See *Instructional Program Outline for more details.):

  1. Object detection and recognition (walls, trees, fences, bushes, cars, and poles).
  2. Ability to move comfortably around objects to find, avoid, and otherwise interact with them - walking parallel to walls, turning corners, passing through doorways, ducking under tree branches, not running into poles or tripping over planters, finding entrances to buildings.
  3. Orienting self to unfamiliar areas - finding one's way around rooms, shopping centers and malls, stores, schools, neighborhoods, and transit stations, and knowing how to find what one is looking for without loosing one's way.
  4. Crossing streets, driveways, parking lots, play yards, and other open areas safely and independently without confusion. Crossing broad spaces is historically one of the greatest challenges facing the blind and their instructors. It is common for blind children not to be able to find their way back to class, because they get lost trying to cross the play area. High school students often cannot find their way across court yards and quads. College students become confused among meandering pathways, and adults may never visit the mall without a sighted guide. Finding one's way to work can be an insurmountable challenge. The blind are traditionally taught to rely on others for negotiating broad spaces. Street crossings are generally taught with independence in mind, but only a minority of blind people learn to accomplish this task safely and comfortably. Sensory development with emphasis on distant object perception is the only way known to allow the blind to undertake these tasks with ease.
  5. Interacting with a ball, and strategies for fostering community participation. It is common for blind people to find themselves segregated from the general population and mainstream life. In schools, the blind kids can often be found standing in their small group against a fence, or sitting on a bench or planter while all the other kids develop and grow through active play. Even active blind kids are drawn more to self sports than interactive games. We have developed strategies based on the "Access Sports Model" (Western Michigan University and U.S. Association of Blind Athletes) to give the blind the opportunity to participate purposefully and interactively in mainstream sports, games, and life in general.
  6. Transportation: Efficient, affordable transportation is one of the greatest barriers confronting blind people. We implement a transportation curriculum based on the "Finding Wheels" curriculum (Dr. Anne Corne). This involves the use of all forms of public transportation, para-transportation options, private transportation options including taxis and hiring private drivers. Transportation scheduling and planning is a critical factor. Affordability is addressed through discount ride programs, rehab transportation reimbursements, SSI PASS program supplementation, and tax deductions.
  7. Shopping and domestic organization techniques using tactile writing implements and voice recorder.
  8. Manual skills development according to a common daily living tasks program. A combination of successive approximation and freeze-frame paradigms are used. These may include shoe tieing, pouring, food preparation, cutting with scissors, folding paper, taping, opening and closing packages, packing a suitcase or backpack, rolling up a sleeping bag, making a bed, cleaning (vacuuming, dusting), and so on.

Instructional Workshops

World Access for the Blind offers many opportunities for professional development, parent workshops, and student group workshops. We offer several formats from half day seminars to 3 day hands-on instructional courses. We can design a format and structure content to meet your needs. Instruction in foreign languages may be possible. Our workshops are highly dynamic, experiential, and interactive. Video examples, live demonstrations, blind student participants, and hands-on work in the community are central to our presentation style.

Sample Three Day Format

Perceptual Development and FlashSonar Training: How we can teach the blind to see without sight

ABSTRACT

Perceptual development is a process of stimulating the brain to perceive and interact with its environment more fully and in greater detail at greater distances and with greater ease. All the use of all senses is enhanced. Flash Sonar is perhaps most inspiring and useful for seeing details in the environment from a distance. This is done by using sound instead of light. A comprehensive overview of perceptual development and principals of perception based instruction is provided and demonstrated. Advanced perceptual skills are also demonstrated. Participants learn to apply perceptual development principals to teach Flash Sonar by first hand experience with sonar imaging, observing the curriculum taught to blind student assistants, and by practice teaching. One or two blind participants learn the core curriculum in a supported, pedagogical setting under observation of professional participants. Individualizing the curriculum to fit unique student needs and circumstances is covered.

  1. Purpose and Objectives: (for continuing education credit)
    1. Purposes:
      1. Affordable training, teaching, and public speaking experience to one or two blind student assistants: Blind student assistants will learn the core skills of sonar guided mobility to a moderate level of environmental complexity in dynamic, community contexts in a supported, pedagogical setting. The student assistants will understand how to execute all major skills. (See section III for general activities and skills.) It is expected that student assistants will be motivated by the unfolding of their new abilities to work toward solidifying and advancing their skills beyond the workshop setting. Skill mastery and advancement will occur with practice and follow-up. Student assistants will also articulate their learning and perceptual experiences to professionals, and will have opportunity to provide support and guidance to professionals to foster understanding of how to teach these skills.
      2. Applying Perception Based Principals: O&M professionals will understand the process of perceptual development, and how to apply perception principals to fostering perceptual development in students to advanced levels.
      3. Integrating flash sonar training into Orientation and Mobility program: O&M professionals will understand the method and functions of sonar guided mobility. They will learn how to integrate this training into their already existing program. Although there is an initial time investment in teaching this specialized skill, this investment is made up over the long term by improved student motivation, confidence, and overall travel performance. These factors accelerate the learning process. Instructors are not expected to master the process from this workshop. But, they will gain a solid foundation of skills, confidence, and experience to begin teaching it effectively, and to develop there own method and style of teaching with experience. Mastery may occur with time, practice, and colleague support.
      4. Non-O&M professionals can encourage and support learning: Non-O&M professionals will be able to understand perceptual development and the sonar imaging process, and will learn strategies to help the process unfold. Positive attitudes, recreational activities, and daily skills will be addressed for daily reinforcement.
    2. Professional Development Goal: O&M Specialists will acquire the skills, knowledge, and confidence to integrate principals and methods of perceptual development through the core curriculum of Flash Sonar instruction to a moderate level of environmental complexity into their program to foster the development in students of more rapid acquisition of other mobility skills, improved orientation, higher velocity travel, greater confidence, more graceful and precise interactions with the environment, and potential to participate more effectively in a wider range of activities.
      1. Participants will understand the perceptual development process as a fundamental mechanism of the brain, how this becomes systematically disrupted through the imposition of inadequate and maladaptive perceptual substitutions, and the devastating long term implications of this disruption.
      2. Participants learn to apply perception principals to engage natural brain mechanisms to foster perceptual development even when it has been disrupted, with focus on FlashSonar as a key mechanism of self-directed discovery.
      3. Participants will learn the scientific basis of sonar based imaging including pertinent density wave theory, necessary perceptual variables, and necessary environmental variables for optimal performance.
      4. Participants will understand the practical uses, strengths, and limitations of flash sonar including issues in figure ground, velocity, and environmental complexity.
      5. Participants will understand the sonar imaging process by direct, successful experience and practice of echolocation, including an experience of teaching a basic movement skill to a colleague, and being taught.
      6. Participants will observe and experience the core curriculum of major skills, with expectation that they will be able to teach these skills in an individualized program.
      7. Participants will understand the psychological impact of extended environmental perception through flash sonar in terms of confidence, autonomy, self image, neural stimulation, and social efficacy.
  2. The workshop Includes:
    1. Comprehensive overview of perceptual development delivered in a large group, seminar format.
    2. Video demonstration of Flash Sonar and what students learn to do with it.
    3. Audience participation in sonar exercises and experience, with guided practice teaching each other a basic, sonar directed movement exercise.
    4. Theory and explanation of Flash Sonar - scientific basis, what can be detected, environmental variables.
    5. Extensive work with one or two blind student assistants. These are selected before the workshop, are taught how to do Flash Sonar in front of an audience of professionals, and they assist in presenting information and guiding professional development by articulating their experiences. They will be active participants in teaching the audience how to facilitate development of this skill. The majority of this work will take place outdoors in the community.
    6. Real life demonstrations of advanced sonar skills.
    7. Program individualization: special issues covered may include hearing and other impairments, very young or very elderly students, resistant students, family issues, aversive environments.
    8. Brief handouts, with references to on line resources and curricula.
    9. Unlimited email or phone consultations for one year.
    10. An optional, extensive assessment write up that addresses perceptual development issues and factors of the blind student assistants, and a proposed program plan for continuing their perceptual development.
  3. FLASH SONAR ACTIVITIES AND REQUIREMENTS: This is a general outline of activity areas, together with environments found suitable for each activity. This is a rough sketch based on skills to be learned, not necessarily the order.
    1. Sonar Cue Awareness: This activity just involves flat panels. The student stands still, and orients on the panel as it is positioned in different locations around the head. A wall may be used, where the student moves with respect to the wall. A large, flat wall with at least 3 meters of open space before it is helpful. These exercises can be done indoors in an auditorium setting.
    2. Interior Corner Detection: This is simply an activity to learn to find a corner. A corner is needed with at least 3 meters of clear space before it. This may include detection of alcoves, such as an entrance alcove. This can be done in an auditorium setting.
    3. Finding a Pillar or Tree and Circling it: This involves locating an object in a broad, open space. This object can be a pole, pillar, or tree. The student is asked to circle the object, and return to its beginning by establishing points of reference. This can be done in an auditorium setting if support columns exist, and if there's space around them. If not, this must be done outdoors, typically using trees in a park, or outdoor support columns at a college or school, or poles on black top, or playground equipment.
    4. Moving Among Obstacles While Maintaining Orientation: parked cars (parking lot), game of ball, hide and seek, sword play, and/or laser tag among obstacles in park or on school ground, may be played on grass or black top.
    5. Traversing Open Space Toward an Objective: moving toward a building or large wall across open space, and maintaining orientation. Need a large park or play area or parking lot (at least 15 meters) with large wall or building.
    6. Crossing a Residential Street: using street cambre and echoes from opposite side to guide movement, locates opposite curb.
    7. Moving Along Aisle Says: A store (toy store, hardware store, department store, or grocery store) with tall aisle ways (grid pattern preferred). Student moves along aisle ways, makes turns, finds intersections, returns to starting point.
    8. Object Identification: outdoor environment with highly varied features - objects that are tall, short, wide, narrow, bushy or sparse, solid or dense. Schools/colleges with varied landscaping tend to fit these needs - containing trees, bushes, fences, walls, hedges, poles, planter boxes and retaining walls, awnings, steps, etc.
    9. Perception of Environmental Layering and Layout: perceiving multiple elements in the environment, classifying and identifying them, and perceiving their relationships.
    10. Self orientation to a new area: selecting a number of objects, keeping track of where the objects are relative to each other and to a point of reference, returning to the point of reference; re-locating each object that was found.
  4. FORMAT:
    1. The workshop will cover a 2.5 day period. Sessions running from 8:30 to 5:00 are recommended, with two 15 minute breaks and an hour for lunch. The first 2 days are spent with the student assistants directly involved. Work, seminar, and discussion takes place indoors in an auditorium setting for about the first 4 or 5 hours, then moves outside into the community. The last half day is spent with instructors teaching each other a specific sonar skill for about 3 hours, plus discussion of specialized concerns. Additional, success oriented blindfold experiences will be provided to professional participants throughout the workshop.
    2. No more than 20 participants is recommended, as much of the workshop will take place in the community and public establishments. However, there is no limit on the recommended number of participants for the first 4 or 5 hours, which cover the perceptual foundations and principals, and are primarily seminar format.
    3. One or two evening presentations, instructional sessions, or private consultations may also be scheduled, usually directed to larger professional groups or families. These may include presentations to family groups, brief instruction with interested students, or professional consultations. These may include discussions about applying flash sonar to specific students or special circumstances.
    4. If student assessments and proposed instructional plans are requested, these will be written up and provided a month or two after completion of the workshop.
  5. Preparation:
    1. The blind student assistants are pre-selected from your area according to an application process.
    2. Half a day is needed before the workshop to meet the student participants, prepare specific materials and exercises, and investigate places for teaching. An hour or so may be spent coming to understand the students' learning styles and interaction, priming them for auditory training, and building rapport.
  6. Additional Considerations:
    1. Depending on the situation, we may be able to provide trainings in multiple languages.
    2. The student assistants should be present throughout the entire workshop so they receive explanatory information, and to help professionals during the last half day.
    3. We may ask a volunteer to videotape some or all of the workshop. Copies of any video will be made available to you upon request.
    4. For the student assistant application form, please see attachment.
  7. Our Fees:
    1. The 2.5 day flash sonar workshop plus half day preparation is discounted to $2,995, plus travel and lodging. This assumes that someone is provided to video most of the workshop. We will furnish you with a copy of the video free of charge. Formal lodging is not required; domicile accommodations are more than satisfactory.
    2. We offer a 2 day format for $2,495. That format focuses on the training of student assistants under professional observation. This format does not contain the individualization element, nor the instructor training practice session, although these elements could be touched on in a special evening session for those who desire. We have found that the third day coverage of individualization, special issues, and instructor training practice is much desired and appreciated.
    3. Unlimited consultations by phone or email or provided for one year after the workshop, free of charge.
    4. The evening presentations if desired are included for a negotiable charge.
    5. More in depth instruction, private sessions, or expanded services subsequent to the workshop can be arranged at a negotiable charge.
    6. The student assistant assessment write-ups and proposed program plan are provided for $195 per report. These reports are extensive and comprehensive. For a sample, please visit our web site
    7. Please add $195 USD to total cost for over seas bookings to account for extra travel time.
    8. We make every effort to work around budget constraints. We can provide fund raising assistance, group rates, payment plans, and other cost saving measures depending on your situation.
  8. BILLING INFORMATION:
    1. Billing address: Georgia Jackson, Accounts Manager 5761 Middlecoff Dr.; Huntington Beach, CA 92649
    2. Fax: (714) 840-2040
    3. For billing matters contact: Georgia Jackson "gmj17_hotmail.com
    4. Tax id: 33-0936778
  9. FOR MORE INFORMATION
    1. Letters of reference from previous workshop attendees and sponsored are available upon request.
    2. Email: daniel.kish@worldaccessfortheblind.org
    3. Phone: (866) 396-7035. Ask for Dan Kish.
    4. See For more information about the science or implementation of FlashSonar, and for a professional bio of Dan Kish, Visit our web site: http://www.worldaccessfortheblind.org

Student Presenter Screening and Qualifications:

This screening will provide information to allow selection of one or two blind student participants to assist as presenters in a perceptual development and FlashSonar training workshop. The circumstances of presentation will be rigorous. We will be "performing" in front of a large, diverse audience under time constraints with little rapport or preparation. It will be imperative to be able to foster a productive learning environment under these rigorous conditions. In order to maximize the likelihood of a successful experience for all concerned, I have applied selection criteria according to my experience with students of many types and all ages. These represent ideals, but we can be flexible around these ideals as necessary.

The student should:

A. Want to participate whole heartedly.

B. Be totally blind or with minimal light perception for at least 1 year for kids, 3 years for adults.

C. Be at least 8 years old.

D. Have no known involvements in addition to blindness.

E. Be outgoing and not self-conscious.

F. Evidence good physical and psychological stamina.

G. Be fairly easy-going and good-natured.

Modifications to these criteria may be considered on a case by case basis. As this workshop will be conducted in a spontaneous fashion across multiple environments, my selection is made with the goal of minimizing possible hiccups and maximizing effectiveness given many unknown variables. I will select students who strike me as temperamentally compatible and similar in ability. They will likely need to be within a year of each other in age for children.