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Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Services

The federal definition Section 300.34 (c) (7) of the Individuals with Disability Education Act:

(7) Orientation and mobility services—

(i) Means services provided to blind or visually impaired children by qualified personnel to enable those students to attain systematic orientation to and safe movement within their environments in school, home, and community; and

(ii) Includes teaching children the following, as appropriate:

(A) Spatial and environmental concepts and use of information received by the senses (such as sound, temperature and vibrations) to establish, maintain, or regain orientation and line of travel (e.g., using sound at a traffic light to cross the street);

(B) To use the long cane or a service animal to supplement visual travel skills or as a tool for safely negotiating the environment for children with no available travel vision;

(C) To understand and use remaining vision and distance low vision aids; and

(D) Other concepts, techniques, and tools


Professional Development 

2024 CDE Orientation & Mobility Seminar

This two-day training event features Carolina Gonzalez, an orientation and mobility specialist with the Texas School for the Blind/Visually Impaired, and Heather Withrow, a Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI) and a member of the Texas School for the Deaf (TSD) Governing Board.  These two amazing colleagues truly understand the specially design instruction required for learners with deaf-blindness. This is a time of great evolution in the intersecting fields of deaf-blindness and orientation and mobility.

Topic: Orientation and Mobility Strategies and Communication Techniques When Working with Students Who Are Deaf-Blind

Date: May 2 - 3, 2024       Time: 8:30 am to 4:30 pm (both days)

Registration is limited to Colorado O&M Specialist or O&M Specialist-in-university training who reside in Colorado.

Fifteen (15) CDE contact hours and One (1) UNC grad semester hour will be offered

Requirements to receive credit: 

  1. Must attend both days of training
  2. Write a graduate-level application paper

For more information or questions about the seminar contact Tanni Anthony at anthony_t@cde.state.co.us.

Registration is open until April 15, 2024

REGISTER for the O&M SEMINAR

Questions regarding registration, please contact Roberta Curtis.


Technical Assistance Documents

State and National Information and Resources

Colorado Licensing

National Resources

  •  The Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation and Education (ACVREP) 
    The ACVREP has a certification program for Orientation and Mobility Specialists. This site also has information about professional development opportunities offered for ACVREP clock hours. ACVREP certification is required for Colorado public School O&M Specialists. 

  • Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER) Orientation and Mobility Division 9
    The Orientation and Mobility Division (Division 9) of AER promotes professional standards and improvement of O&M evidence-based practices and services. Division 9 offers professional development opportunities, encourages quality university preparation of O&M Specialists, and works to enhance and expand O&M services for individuals with blindness/visual impairment and deaf-blindness.


Web Resources to Lean More about Orientation and Mobility


For more information, please contact:

Tanni Anthony, Ph.D.
State Consultant on Blindness/Visual Impairment and Deaf-Blindness
Email Tanni Anthony
Phone: (303) 503-4647



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