Preschool Orientation and Mobility Project for Visually Impaired Children. Final Report.

The Preschool Orientation and Mobility Project had four major goals as part of its model development activities: (1) develop an Orientation and Mobility (O&M) curriculum for visually impaired and visually impaired/multiply handicapped infants and children, aged 0-5; (2) develop two O&M screening instruments; (3) develop an O&M information pamphlet for families; and (4) explore the use of microcomputers and the "Sonicguide" as interventions. Project administration activities involved: identification and referral of Project children; identification of an appropriate assessment battery for use in screening, assessment, and programming; identification of critical elements in structuring classroom and home environments; operation of a service delivery system involving home, classroom, and resource center components; and staff development. Evaluation activities focused on developmental gains of the children, appropriateness of the assessment battery and family pamphlet, facilitation of novel route travel by the microcomputer application and facilitation of systematic search patterns by the "Sonicguide" staff knowledge and satisfaction; parent satisfaction; and effective resource usage. Other activities included parent involvement, replication procedures, and project information dissemination. The report's appendices contain training modules on classroom environmental arrangements and use of practicum students, a field test procedures manual, examples of questionnaires and data sheets, etc. (Author/JDD)