Maximizing Resources: O&M Training Offered by Guide Dog Schools

Jennifer Ottowitz: Welcome to OIB TAC's monthly webinars, where our presenters share valuable information and helpful resources to support professionals working with older adults who are blind or vision impaired. Let's check out this month's webinar.

Kendra Farrow: Welcome everyone, and welcome to today's webinar. My name is Kendra Farrow, and I am the project director for the Older Individuals Who Are Blind Technical Assistance Center, which we call OIB TAC.

Today, our webinar is Maximizing Resources: Orientation and Mobility Services Offered by Dog Guide Schools. Our presenters are Leslie Hoskins and Marc Gillard. Leslie and Mark, are you ready?

Leslie Hoskins: Yes, looking forward to it.

Marc Gillard: Yes, I'm ready to go.

Kendra: Okay, let's start. Introduce yourself. Your name, your organization, and location, and job title. And we'll start with Leslie.

Leslie: All right. Hi, everyone. My name is Leslie Hoskins. I am a Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist, as well as the Outreach Services and Community Engagement Manager at Leader Dogs for the Blind. We are located in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

Marc: And hello, everybody. This is Marc. I'm currently the Director of Orientation and Mobility Services at Guide Dogs for the Blind. I'm located at our California campus. Uh, just north of San Francisco and the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge, about 11 miles, and I'm also a Certified O&M Specialist, and I'm also a Guide Dog Mobility Instructor.

Kendra: Describe the free orientation and mobility services available from your organization. And this is the onsite services that are available. We'll start with those. Um, so Leslie.

Leslie: Perfect. So at Leader Dogs for the Blind, we do have a one-week orientation and mobility program that does typically take place on our campus in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

We do offer some in home orientation and mobility as well to individuals who can't come to campus. Uh, staying on campus for us is very much so like staying in a hotel like setting. All clients have their own bedroom, their own bathroom. We provide all of the meals and transportation. We also have a workout facility, a dining room, an outdoor practice course, and pavilion, so very comfortable to stay and be at during that week.

During that week, clients are working one-on-one with a certified orientation and mobility specialist on their unique and individualized goals. So during that week, it ends up being between 25 and 35 hours of direct instruction. We have clients who are coming who have maybe never used a cane before, and we're giving them their very first cane ever, uh, talking about folding and unfolding the cane, basic cane technique, going through doors, starting at the very, very basics.

And other times we're working with clients who have maybe had some training in the past, but are looking for a brush-up, or maybe their vision has changed. Their physical ability has changed. We know the environment continues to change. Um, and so it's very individualized based on what that client needs.

We have an opportunity to train in residential, uh, business, semi-business, rural environments. We also take clients to malls, grocery stores, movie theaters, whatever their specific goals are and what they're hoping to accomplish. So it's a very flexible, very individualized week. And again, it's completely free to individual.

Marc: Hi, Marc here. Uh, so our program is very similar to what Leslie just described at Leader Dog. We've been going since 2016, and our program has kind of changed to meet the needs of the community. So, we started off, uh, where people needed to have a pretty firm guide dog mobility goal, and they, they had foundational O&M skills already in place, and we kind of thought, well, let's build a bridge between those and what's needed to be a successful guide dog user.

But, as I'm sure we're going to talk about, with the problems accessing O&M services throughout the country, and I'll extend that to Canada as well, our friends up there, um, we started to do more of what Leslie was describing. for having me. Providing foundational O&M skills. Uh, people that had a bare minimum of O&M, maybe just a few hours, even folks that were forced to use YouTube videos to teach themselves in the absence of professional services.

So, now we are providing, um, some foundational O&M training, just like Leslie said, what's a cane, how to use it. Different tips, um, teaching basic cane techniques, and then we'll go through the principles and practice of orientation. So in particular, we're using sensory information from the environment. A lot of work we do with auditory skills and processing.

Time, distance, and estimation abilities are particularly important for guide dog travel. We're emphasizing non-tactile skills as well, knowing that our program is still, uh, geared for people that do want a guide dog, but not exclusively as I just explained. So we do cover both the building blocks of cane travel and foundational O& M right through to those non tactile skills, which are really important for guide dog usage.

So, um, our program, uh, is five days in duration, uh, as well, and we have a one-to-one ratio, instructor to student, working with, uh, certified O&M specialists. Uh, some of our instructors are dually certified, so guided mobility and O& M as well. Um, We have started in the last two years to actually have a two-week class model.

Um, we've been trialing that, um, because we believe that, uh, certain clients have needs that, um, are greater than just basic O& M needs. So, Part of our program, I guess, a little bit different is where we're using an interdisciplinary mobility team. So we can actually provide on-site at our California campus, auditory, um, free hearing screening.

So audiology, free hearing screenings. Um, we're also, um, working with a sports medicine professional, um, through a industrial sports medicine company to provide some basic physical support. So in the areas, for example, uh, cane grip and flexibility, movement, uh, coordination, maybe helping people with their general fitness and, uh, flexibility, uh, that sort of thing.

Um, and we also have psychosocial support available. So we have, uh, one of our, our staff, he is a graduate of Guide Dogs, Dr. Jason Dourish, and he provides the all-important psychosocial support before, during, and after someone's training. So, you know, we're using that model, um, and I mentioned the two weeks because to fit everything in there is a little bit challenging within five days.

Um, so one of the things that we, we also do is we work with two agencies in the Bay Area that provide the bulk of our O&M specialists. So we're a little bit different than LIDA where, um, they have a number of O&Ms that are on staff, which is just fantastic. Um, we're still building our resources. So we've teamed up with the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind.

And, uh, they have two sites, um, one in the city and one up in Santa Rosa. So we actually use them to come to campus with the San Francisco team. And we also go up to the Earle Baum Center, use their instructors up there in Santa Rosa from time to time. And with the Earle Baum Center, we can utilize their services, in particular, independent living skills training and assistive technology training, and fit that into a two-week program.

Or sometimes when a client does a five-day program in Santa Rosa, we can fit those services in as well. So, uh, we're trying to meet someone's needs. We're not trying to pretend to be an overall blind rehabilitation program. We don't have people staying for weeks or months on end, but we certainly are trying to respond to community need and some of these extra things that people are missing.

Kendra: Thank you. What makes someone a good candidate for the on campus free O&M service? And we'll go back to Leslie.

Leslie: Thank you. Uh, somebody, first of all, who's motivated and wants to be an independent traveler. That is one thing we found. You can't teach motivation. So somebody who's excited to get out there and learn and travel independently.

Um, somebody who's a vision loss is impacting their travel and their ability to travel. Typically, we do say legally blind. However, we are able to accommodate many times people who are kind of on the cusp of legal blindness or do have that prognosis of legal blindness. One of the things that we are excited about is that we actually don't receive any state or federal funding or money from insurance companies, which makes us pretty flexible on who we're able to serve and how we're able to serve.

So many times people have to have a vocational goal or maybe they don't qualify because they are too old for a program in which we don't have those guidelines or rules in which we have to abide by. So that's pretty exciting for us. We're able to serve so many more people. We definitely, somebody who is going to be coming on campus and staying needs to have the cognitive and physical ability to stay in a hotel like setting independently for that week's time.

So having those daily living skills, being able to self-medicate during that time is really important. We also want individuals who can walk for a minimum of 30 minutes. Uh, consecutively and multiple times a day. So, you know, as Marc and I are both talking about our schedules, it is quite compact and we're trying to fit a lot of things into that time frame.

And so we want to make sure that individuals have the stamina to maintain this week of training while we do have flexibility because it is working one on one. You know, if somebody can't go out for multiple routes in the morning, that's okay. We can certainly accommodate that, but we do want to make sure that they have the stamina to complete the week of training and work one-on-one with that O&M specialist.

Additionally, we ask that individuals be seizure or fainting spell-free for at least six months prior to training. And of course, thinking about coming to campus, we bring individuals to our campus from all different backgrounds and cultures, and experiences.

So we want to make sure that people are going to be very respectful and courteous, and kind while on campus. So that's very important to us. But overall, I would say you don't have to be interested in a guide dog to come to our program. very much. However, if you do have interest in that goal, we certainly want to help all individuals get to their goals. Um, but we're looking for just motivated and excited people who want to get out there and travel independently.

Marc: And, uh, as far as GDB is concerned, a lot of similarities, you know, to what Leslie just said, um, in particular, we are collecting a physician's report, um, to determine that someone is physically able to participate in the program, and, uh, it's not contraindicated. We certainly don't want people coming in.

That have a hard time physically. And, you know, that's important for us to ascertain before we, we accept. So we're looking for someone who can participate in walking, you know, maybe two hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon. So you're talking about four hours a day. We can lessen that and, um, have breaks in between, of course.

Doesn't have to be continuous movement, but certainly if you think about someone giving up their time and coming out to California for five days, or it's probably more like six days if you put in travel, we want them to have a good time and be able to fully participate in lessons. We're also looking at someone who has emotional stability.

And, uh, what I mean by that is that the journey out, if you're flying out from your home state, you know, for people that have not done that before, many of our clients have never flown. Many of our clients, uh, are still dealing with adjustment to visual loss and they're coming out to guide us because they may not have O&M skills to, uh, help them through an airport, but they need to have the emotional ability to deal with that.

There's certainly assistance along the way that we organize with the air. But you know, coming along on your own on a plane, it's, it's a big, courageous step for many people. And not only that, they're in our residence, uh, at the, uh, at the campus. And I should say also, we have our sister campus up in Oregon that I didn't mention, just outside Portland.

So we do provide some training up there as well. Uh, but they need to be independent with their independent living skills. Um, you know, we, we can't have people bringing in a companion or something like that. So, you know, they need to be able to live by themselves, but also importantly, be in a group setting.

So, uh, it's frequently the case, usually the case, that we have a guide dog class in session at the same time. And I know Leslie, it's the same there most of the time. So, you know, being around other people who are blind or visually impaired, and if someone, uh, is not ready for that, Um, then that could, they can have a really hard time being in that sort of a group environment.

Um, so we also need the motivation, uh, and just to make sure I'm clear, I said at the beginning of my introduction that someone used to need to have a firm guide dog goal. That's no longer the case; just like Leader Dog, we're trying to respond to people needing these services uh, but they need to have pretty clear O&M goals as well.

So, you know, if it is that someone is applying, we want to hear from them that. Look, I want to learn to use the cane properly or I'm, I'm anxious about intersections. I'd like to learn more about intersection analysis or crossing streets, or walking a straight line on veering. So there's got to be kind of some specific goals that someone wants to achieve.

Uh, because once again, we're, we're not a blind rehab program and, and I think I should also say, we're a little bit different to lead a dog, you know, we're only eight, nine years old. So we're not at the point of taking someone if we can avoid it, that's right at the beginning. What we try and emphasize is that if people can get local services, and that might be a little bit of an oxymoron in terms of, you know, a lot of people cannot.

But, if you can, we advise to do that. And, um, so we just don't have the capacity to be taking everyone who applies. So if there is something that someone can get locally to get some foundational skills, that's great. But if they cannot, or there's problems with eligibility, for example, which really affects older people, over 55, you know, DOR, Department of Rehab, and they don't have a vocational goal, as Leslie was saying, they can be really caught in that kind of zone of not having services.

Um, so there can be that there can be people that could get services, but only have a few hours that are available to them. And maybe those hours are spread over a long-time horizon, not really conducive to developing skills, you know, from, uh, It's sort of delayed lessons. If you like, it's not really the way to go.

So, you know, having said all that a good candidate, but with someone who kind of ticks those boxes is highly motivated to participate in that style of training. Pretty intense. That's why we call it an own emotion. Um, and, you know, not everyone suited to that. So, uh, but yeah. If they're motivated, they've done their due diligence in terms of trying to find services, and there's no alternatives for them, provided they meet the basic eligibility criteria, which is, uh, pretty, pretty much the same as what Leslie has said in regards to seizures.

We also look at diabetes management in terms of A1C levels being stable, um, and mental health in terms of stability, as I said, then we're going to do everything we can to assist them.

Kendra: Is there a waiting list? How long do people usually wait from the time they first contact you until they come for the program?

Leslie: This is Leslie. Yeah, that can be, it can drastically vary from person to person, depending on their application process and how quickly they can get those. Materials into us. So, uh, this is such a fun conversation because Marc and I have had these conversations for so many years now. It seems like talking about all the similarities and differences between us.

But I know our applications are similar in the sense that we ask for the vision evaluation. We ask for a physical evaluation, both provided by physicians or their provider. We also ask for a mental health evaluation. If somebody is seeking mental health, um, we also ask for a video. And sometimes that can be a little complex for somebody, but we're asking for a video to see, you know, their physical ability, their stamina, any balance concerns, the environment in which they're traveling in.

Um, we're asking for personal references, because again, like we've talked about, people are coming to our campus around many other people. We want to make sure that this is going to be an appropriate setting for them, and they'll be successful in that type of setting. Um, so the application process in itself, once they first contact us, can vary.

Typically, that first application piece goes pretty quickly. That's that basic information of date of birth and address and emergency contacts, that kind of stuff, any preferences on training or history. Um, and then we also have our release forms and our waivers, those types of things. But depending on how quickly they can access their physician to get their physical evaluation filled out and their eye care professional to get those things filled out, that's a lot of times what holds up the application process.

Our client services team works very hard to stay in contact with applicants once they get that first information and let them know where they are within the application process. Once we have our waivers and release forms signed, our client services department can also assist with contacting physicians and doctor's offices.

Sometimes they have a little bit more success to get those documents filled out. I would say that once we get a full completed orientation mobility application, it takes only about a week or two to actually hear from somebody from our team to start scheduling those classes. So once we get a full application, our own team will look at it and make sure that there's not any concerns.

It's very rare that we have to deny somebody for orientation and mobility. Um, so usually we'll give them a call and say, “Hey, you know, yet your O&M application has been approved?” And we'll start talking about class dates. On average, I would say to get into class once an application has been complete, it's usually about three to four months.

Um, so not that long of a wait time. Additionally, with that, it can always go a little bit faster. So if somebody has really open availability, if we do get a cancellation last minute, we can sometimes, you know, kind of fit people in rather quickly. So I would say three to four months once we get a completed application. But as far as anybody's application journey, that can vary quite drastically throughout, uh, from client to client.

Marc: Yes, so mirroring what Leslie said about our conversations over the years, uh, very similar in terms of the process that she described. So I won't belabor that, but, um, in terms of, you know, uh, wait time. Once, once someone's gone through that and they are then placed formally on our wait list, at the moment we're looking at around five months.

Uh, to wait to come into a class. So that's not, as Leslie said, that doesn't include waiting for a doctor or ophthalmologist to get everything back. That's when someone has the full application, it's approved, and they go on the wait list typically about five months.

Kendra: All right, so my next question is about more application here.  How does someone apply for these services? And I'm going to add a little piece to this. Who are the most common refers? Like, are people self-referred? Are they, um, being referred by, by a state organization, by a nonprofit, you know, how, how are they finding out about you and coming to you?

Leslie: Yeah, this is Leslie from Leader Dogs. The best way to get ahold of us and start an application would be through our website leaderdog.org. And I'm happy to put that in the chat. I can also give our phone number, which is 888-777-5332.

Um, we can send an application via email, all the downloadables that you can just print out and fill out, or we can of course send the links to apply, or we can help get an application started over the phone, send a paper application.

We really want to work with whatever the client's preferred format is. Um, as far as referrals, where they come from, it's kind of all over the place. A lot of people are, you know, self-referred. They find us on a website, and they apply that way. We work really hard to educate other professionals in the blindness and low vision field.

So other orientation mobility specialists to let them know that we're a resource. We do go to all the National Council of State Agencies for the Blind conferences to let all of the state agencies know that we are available and we do want to collaborate and partner because all too often we are hearing from our clients that, you know, they tried to get services through the state and they were denied for various reasons, or they were accepted and like Marc mentioned, they only saw somebody for an hour once a month.

And so they haven't been able to really build on their skill levels. So we do spend a lot of time promoting our services to other professionals within the field in hopes of collaboration and working together. And just like Marc and I work together, our goal ultimately is to serve all individuals. So while uh, we are working with different organizations, we have the same goal and very often partner.

We also work with optometrists and ophthalmologists who are diagnosing visual conditions and trying to educate them on just blind rehab in general, that it exists. and resources that are available to their clients as they're providing those very tough conversations and diagnoses. Um, sometimes we'll get a physician who will refer a client, and mostly, I would say the Lion's Club and a client for referrals. So a one client to the next client and word of mouth is a huge way that we get, um, our clients.

Marc: Marc here again, I just wanted to note, there are some questions that have come up in the chat. I'm not obviously facilitating that, but I'll just deferring to our, our hosts here. Um, but I'll start off just by, um, saying in terms of how people get to ask the GDB, it's primarily self-referral.

Um, certainly, um, people could be encouraged by an O&M Specialist with a Department of Rehabilitation, for example. Or, uh, or a private agency like the Lighthouse in San Francisco. Um, our website's fully accessible, and most people go on there, it's very well set up, and it is easy to find the program O&M Immersion and then apply online. Um, people certainly can call us as well and speak directly to our admissions department.

Uh, the number there is toll-free, 800-295-4050. Um, so I think part of the, um, the application process as well is by people going online, sometimes they might think about, a guide dog first, and then they realize, oh, there's this O&M thing. And, um, they can kind of change, change track, you know, and maybe think I'll go for O&M first.

Um, so that brings up another source of referral is if they do go through to our admissions department for a guide dog application, that can often change. Where they talk to one of our admissions staff, and they say, “hey, listen, it seems to me that perhaps O&M is needed first here. We have this program.” So they can talk about that and change the application on the phone, you know, if needs be.

So people come in that way. We haven't spoken, um, neither of us have spoken about this, but another big population we serve is current guide dog users. So we actually have, um, between 1,700 and 2,000 guide dog users at the moment between guide dogs at guide dog. I'm not sure the exact amount right now, but somewhere in that number, and they may have a visit with one of our field representatives, um, and it's determined due to changing levels of vision, as Leslie alluded to, maybe they need some O&M refresher or some assistance there, Particularly learning non-visual travel strategies if they started out as what we call a visual traveler, um, so they can come into the immersion that way.

And then first-time applicants, they might have their assessment in the field for a guide dog called a home interview, and then it's determined by the instructor visiting them that, “hey, you need more O&M.” So if it is they don't have those options, as I spoke about before, then they might find themselves being encouraged to apply either by the instructor visiting them, or if their application gets through to our admissions review committee, who decide on guide dog candidacy for training, then they could be recommended at that point to pursue O&M first. So there's a few ways people come to us.

Kendra: Great and yes, there are some questions coming in. Thank you for reminding me Marc. But I wanted to also say that we have prepared a handout that has the contact information and I believe website links for each. One of your programs, and that is on our webinar page on the website.

So feel free to go there and download that so that you have all the contact information. Um, this is my last question, and then we will open it up for participants to ask questions and, um, this is just to, um, ask if you have anything else that you would like to share that you haven't, um, shared yet that you think would be useful.

Leslie: Thank you, absolutely. Uh, one thing I haven't mentioned yet is that our O&M program is available to individuals who are DeafBlind and also Spanish speaking. Uh, so the Spanish speaking side is new for us. We're pretty excited to be able to share that and announce that for individuals living in the U.S. and Canada who speak Spanish.

Um, our own program is available to that. I know that teens are probably not on this, but I will mention we do have some great teen opportunities for a teen O&M and also teen summer camp. Those are great programs to learn a little bit more about orientation and mobility and or guide dog travel, accessible GPS, all of those types of things.

Um, and of course, we do have our guide dog program, but I would recommend if anybody's interested in learning more about Leader Dog and what we have going on, obviously leaderdog.org. We do have a resources tab and in which there you can find a lot of additional information. We have a virtual learning resources page where there is kind of like a video resource library.

You can find information on kind of what is orientation and mobility, kind of how do we do it at Leader Dog. How do I know when it's a good time to start using a cane? There's client testimonials, campus tours. Um, so lots of really great information. If somebody's thinking about coming to Leader Dog. There's also a tab there that is for other rehab professionals seeking continuing education credits.

So we do have some videos on there specifically, uh, for individuals who are seeking CEUs through ACVRP. It's completely free, and anybody is welcome to access those. Um, we also have a podcast it's called “Taking the Lead” by Leader Dogs for the Blind, and you can find it wherever you stream podcasts. It's another great way to just learn about our organization and the people who work there, our clients, our volunteers, our donors.

Um, it's short episodes, only a half hour every other week. And so I highly encourage that. It's a lot of fun. And, uh, lastly, we do collaboration events, which are a resource sharing webinar. They're every other month, and those are welcome to anybody. We've, uh, it's about the audience is probably about 50 percent professionals, 50 percent clients, and we just share other resources that hopefully everybody can benefit from. So if at all interested in any of those, you can find that all at leaderdog.org.

Marc: Thanks, Leslie. I'm just thinking it's important, I guess, to emphasize that this has come up a few times from clients and O&M specialists; the eligibility criteria to participate in our O&M Immersion program is not, they are not the same as applying for or getting a guide dog. And that's really important. A lot of people are worried that, you know, will I be judged that if I want a guide dog, you know, I can't walk as far as what they need me to for a guide dog.

Or, you know, I'm not, I'm not oriented. I don't have a sufficient travel route in my home area. Am I going to be somehow, you know, judged there? And I just want to make the point, absolutely not. The guide dog program and the O&M program at GDB are completely separate. I mean, yes, we share information.

Absolutely. It could come in handy down the track if someone does indeed apply for a guide dog, but people shouldn't be worried about where they are, where they're at in relative to the guide dog eligibility criteria. And, you know, saying that we do really pride ourselves on meeting people where they're at.

Um, someone does not need to be embarrassed that they're one of their classmates, you know, has, has done comprehensive mobility, you know, 15, 20 years ago, and is already crossing streets and just needs a refresher where they may be just starting out and it's no fault of theirs. They just can't get that training.

So we have people all over the spectrum. So to speak. So that's one thing. And then the other thing that O&Ms often ask, and I need to emphasize this. In no way, shape or form, are we expecting someone to come out with a mastery of O&M skills after five days or after two weeks. Um, yes, they might receive 25, 30 hours of instruction as Leslie was saying, but the emphasis is number one, if they can go home, transfer those skills to the home environment with the assistance of a local O&M specialist, that's the ultimate, that would be great. But of course, oftentimes, they have no local O&M specialist. So therefore, that's part of the issue. So then we're trying to equip them with concepts and skills that they can take home and practice. independently to build their confidence, build their orientation in the home area.

Sometimes they might have a family friend, uh, or, or a spouse or, or a sibling or something like that who can assist them to get started just by being someone there to make sure they're safe. So, um, just want to emphasize that in no way does this prepare someone to be a completely independent traveler after five days.

That's just not possible, but we really believe comparing that to the folks who have received five hours over two years or a YouTube video, it's, there's certainly going to be a lot better off than, um, what they would have been had they not received access to these O&M services. Um, so I just want to make those two points and like Leslie said, we have a lot of information available on our website as well.

Um, other programs that people might be interested in. We don't train minors in the O&M program. That's one thing to emphasize. We don't have that capacity, as yet. Um, and I also should say there's no upper age limit. So, um, we really assess everybody on their merits, apply everything equally, and, um, as I said, try and open it up to as many people as we possibly can.

Kendra: Wonderful. This is such great information. Thank you, Leslie and Marc.

Jennifer: We appreciate your time coming today and talking to us. This has been OIB-TAC's monthly webinar. Thanks for tuning in. Find recordings of our past webinars on our YouTube channel and discover all of our many resources at o i b hyphen t a c dot o r g. That's o i b hyphen t a c dot org.

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