Introducing….

O&M for Students with Multiple Impairments

O&M for Students with Multiple Impairments is a self-paced online ACVREP accredited course designed to give you the framework to set the right goals for your students, know what skills they need to master, how to teach them the skills, and get the entire team to support you. 

Our mission is to give you the tools you need to go from feeling like you don’t know what to do next, to confidently helping your students become the most independent version of themselves.

Here’s how we will get you there:

• START where you are. Learn what has been holding you back from being seen as the expert. 
• EVALUATE your students’ needs in less time than ever before. 
• PLAN the right IEP goals and service model to get your students on the correct path to success. 
• TEACH your students, using impactful O&M teaching strategies that work for each combination of impairments from a teacher who has been there!
• COLLABORATE with the entire team so your students can become more independent, faster.

Here is exactly how we are going to get you from overwhelmed to confidently making a significant impact on the lives of your students with multiple impairments.

MODULE 1: YOUR STARTING POINT.

First, we’ve got to start where you are. The missing to piece to putting any strategies in to place is YOU. In this module, we will look at what the “experts” know about teaching O&M to students with multiple impairments, and how you can become the expert in a matter of minutes.

In this module, we will:

• Identify the real issues that are holding you back, so you can move forward with clarity.
• Understand why the “experts” are looked up to and what they don’t share in their presentations.
• Identify your missing ingredient, so you know where to focus during the course and beyond.

MODULE 2: EVALUATE.

The goal for your EVALUATE phase is to accurately assess your students’ current skills and determine which skills they will need over the next year. A lot of O&M Specialists are using outdated evaluation strategies that take too long and give only a portion of the information that we need long term. Which makes it really hard to course correct when things don’t go as planned (and they never do).

In this module, we will personalize a standardized O&M assessment to capture the information that will tell you what your students should be expected to do over the next three years, and with what support.

Using a simplified assessment strategy, you will learn how to create the right IEP goals to chart the path for your students’ success.

In this module, you will:

• Learn the most efficient strategies to perform a full or informal assessment in under 2 hours.
• Create a simplified way to track your students’ individualized progress, using any of the assessment tools you are already familiar with.
• Learn how to create IEP goals that everyone on the educational team can support.

MODULE 3: PLAN.

You won’t make it very far with students who have multiple disabilities if you don’t have the right IEP goal or service model in place.

Gone are the days of writing “Student will cross the street with 70% accuracy” and then wondering why nobody supports you.

The right IEP goal clearly communicates what the student is expected to do over the year, and how they are going to do it. 

In this module, we set the path for your students by defining the right IEP goals and service model for them. These goals will help set expectations for the entire team and allow you, the O&M Specialist, to clearly guide your students’ curriculum.

In this module, you will:

• Learn the 4 key components that every successful O&M goal MUST have, and in what order.
• Create the right IEP goal for your students so they can achieve their maximum level of independence.
• Learn how to create IEP goals that everyone can understand.

MODULE 4:TEACH.

It is time to understand how YOUR students learn. This module is broken down into multiple sections. You chose the path that best matches your students’ impairments. 

In each section of this module, we will go through both the science behind how the different combinations of impairments interact and go over the teaching strategies that I developed from working with over 70+ students with multiple impairments over the past 12 years.

This is where the course becomes like a find your own adventure book. You will choose one section to focus on at a time.

• 4A: Orthopedic + Visual Impairments (including Cerebral Palsy)
  • Guest Experts Lisa Calaci and Emilie Jackson join us to share how you can use wheelchairs, gait trainers, and other mobility devices with your students who have multiple impairments. 
• 4B: Hearing + Visual Impairments (i.e. Deafblindness)
• 4C: Intellectual + Visual Impairments (including Learning Disabilities and Traumatic/Augmented Brain Injuries)

• 4D: Neurological + Visual Impairments (including Cerebral Visual Impairments, Optic Nerve Hypoplasia, and even Retinopathy of Prematurity)
  • Guest Expert Anna Peskin will help you understand how neurological impairments like Autism and Cerebral Visual Impairments impact her students and the strategies she uses to improve their O&M skills.

• 4E: Sensory + Visual Impairments (including Autism)
• 4F: Other Multiple Impairments (including CHARGE Syndrome)

In each section, you will:

• Understand the science behind how your students’ impairments interact with one another.
• Learn current teaching strategies that will help your students maximize their O&M service time. 

MODULE 5: COLLABORATE.

Out of the waking 6720 hours in a week, you are with your students approximately 1 of them.

Imagine what your students would be able to do if they had the same level of expectation and support during the other 6719 hours as they do with you!

They would be able to accomplish tasks at a MUCH faster rate AND with less help.

Now that you have charted the course and are starting to see which teaching strategies work for your students, you can start to role-release these skills to other team members. THIS is the area that is going to make the most impact.

In this module, you will:

• Understand why nobody cares about what you want and how that’s a GOOD thing.
• Learn how to get your team to see the vision for your students’ mobility that you see. 
• Learn simple role-releasing strategies that to support your team members as they started to implement your students’ O&M goals.

(THIS WILL CHANGE THE ENTIRE GAME FOR YOU.)

O&M for Students with Visual and Multiple Impairments is the easiest, fastest way for you to go from overwhelmed to impactful O&M Specialist.It is also the most supportive. 

That’s why we also include 6 weeks of live support in our Professional Development Portal

AND THREE  1/2 hour live group coaching calls!

You don’t have to do this alone.

Have a question? Not sure how the strategy presented works for your students?

Want to make sure you are moving in the right direction?

We’ve got you covered.

HERE’S A QUICK RUNDOWN OF OUR LIVE GROUP COACHING SESSIONS:

SESSION 1: What is ACTUALLY stopping your students from seeing the success they deserve.

During this session, we will look at your goals for your students and what is actually preventing their success. We will talk about the challenges you face when teaching your students. 

SESSION 2: Curating IMPACTFUL O&M Strategies.

During this session, we will talk about where most O&M Specialists go wrong with their assessments, IEP goals, and teaching strategies. We will look at the Individualized O&M Plan you’ve come up with for your students to help you create a bigger impact on their lives. 

SESSION 3: Supporting the other 6000 hours when your students are not with you.

During this session, we will look at the challenges you are facing trying to get the rest of the team on board with your goals. We will break down successful strategies to support the role-release of basic O&M skills so your students can start practicing their skills during the other 6000 waking hours per week that they aren’t with you. 

O&M for Students with Visual and Multiple Impairments takes the guesswork out of your caseload for you. Yes, we will show you WHAT to teach and HOW to teach it. Most importantly, you will leave knowing how to make a significant impact on the O&M Skills of any student with multiple impairments on your current or future caseloads.

WHAT OUR COMMUNITY

IS SAYING

 HERE’S THE

SECRET….

The main difference between where you are and where you want to be is having a step by step framework to help your students’ reach their highest level of independence. 

The mistake a lot of O&M Specialists make is that they can’t recognize when they aren’t serving their students to the best of their ability. 

If you have been searching Google for answers to questions on their individual students’ needs, only to come up empty-handed…. Again.

Or if you have been thinking that learning the techniques they need will be overwhelming or too time consuming….

If you have ever heard a colleague say “We’ve always done it this way.”?, as they complain about how things can’t be changed…

Then you need to have a step by step plan to help your students increase their independence!

When the truth is, NOT having a step by step plan actually COSTS you time AND it costs your agency money.

How much time do you spend trying to figure out what to teach, and then having no time plan how you are going to teach it? 

If you get paid $33 per hour and spend just 5 hours over the course of the year searching for the answers, you have just wasted $165 of your agency’s money. 

How much time do you waste trying to get new results by using the same teaching strategies you learned in college? Time and money, down the drain. 

Too often, these mistakes lead O&M specialists to sit in overwhelm. Then, they write goals that don’t align with their students’ individualized abilities. And they struggle to help their students reach their highest level of independence. 

No University course, scattered conference note from 2010, or Google Search can help you create the individualized O&M plan that your students need to succeed. 

When you master the process of correctly evaluating your students’ needs, determining the right O&M goals, and gathering support from the team, you can then make a significant impact on the life of your students. 

Not to mention, you will get your nights and weekends back!  

With an investment of only $147, you will be able to accurately set your students on a path for success that will increase their independence and make your job easier.

How much money and time will it save you to stop searching for answers that Google doesn’t have? 

Don’t stress. I will guide you through it all.

Every week for the first 6 weeks, we will go through the module together. Then, we will set up just 3 action items to complete that week.

That’s it. Just 3 action items.

You can tackle that, can’t you?

And because we just know how precious your time is, we’ve included downloadable audio versions + PDF’s so you can listen in your car between students and fill out the PDF’s once you get to your destination. (or in the car in the parking lot...let’s be real).

No more worrying about WHEN you will get coursework done.

No more feeling chained to your computer after 4PM when you’d rather be sipping margaritas.

I know it can still feel like a big leap.

I’ve got your back.

If you put this framework in to action and student doesn’t make any progress in 1 semester, just ask for a refund.

No questions asked, no worries.

That’s how much I believe that this framework can work for you.

But wait… there’s more!

(No really, we’ve got some great bonuses for you).

BONUS #1:  USING ADAPTED MOBILITY DEVICES WITH STUDENTS WHO HAVE MULTIPLE IMPAIRMENTS BONUS MODULE w/ Guest Expert Carolina Gonzalez

$67 value

In this mini-course, you will:

• Learn what tools to use to make an Adapted Mobility Device
• Understand when it is time to try an Adapted Mobility Device with your students who have multiple impairments, so you can feel confident that you are making the right choice. 
• Learn when it is time to move away from the Adapted Mobility Device so you can stop worrying if they are or are not ready yet. 

BONUS #2: CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDITS FROM ACVREP!

$200 value!

We know it’s not only about the continuing education credits, but we’ve got them for you anyway. This course is available for 10 Continuing Education Credits from ACVREP.

 How it works:

1. Register for the course. You will receive a confirmation email immediately and your log in credentials to our Professional Development Portal within 2-3 business days as the system processes you. We are currently undergoing maintenance to speed this process up.  
2. Log in to the Professional Development Portal to get started on Module 1! 
3. That’s it! You get instant access to the first module and the rest of them are made available at a pace that is easy to follow. If you don’t have time one week, come back to it when you do have time.

About Your Instructor

Hi, I’m Kassy. For the first 11 years of my career, my caseload consisted of primarily students with multiple impairments who couldn’t be educated in their home schools.

The first few years were tricky, to say the least. I struggled to figure out why my students with multiple impairments couldn’t perform the O&M skills they “should” be able to do. Skills like getting out of the bathroom, traveling a route on campus, and even cane skills seemed to elude them.

After taking many..MANY trainings trying to figure it out, I realized what you probably already know: It’s not them. It’s me. I was focusing on the skills at hand when the real issue was that I did not have a step by step framework to help me figure out the individualized needs of each of my students with multiple impairments and create a solid plan for their success.

So, I figured out everything about multiple impairments. How the impairments work together. Who it affects. And how to get those skills to emerge! What to teach, How to teach it, and how to put all of the information together for ANY students with multiple impairments. 

And now I am thrilled to teach it to you.

If you are looking for the formal bio stuff, here it is…

I wrote the book “Yoga for Children with Visual and Multiple Impairments. (2006. TSBVI)”, taking a full book to teach ONE strategy. I have been lucky enough to present on a 3 Part webinar series on yoga. I have worked with many agencies in the United States to increase the movement capabilities of their students with multiple impairments, including Region 4, Region 11, Region 13, Allied Independent Services, California O&M Association, and Austin Independent School District. I’ve been on the board of Texas AER and am currently a committee member for AER Global Divisions. 

Oh, and I am also the Chair of the International Orientation and Mobility Online Symposium. 

All of these focus on these core ingredients that I am so passionate about:

O&M Specialists’ sharing the knowledge they have to make the world a better place.  

Are you ready to take the next step and become a better O&M Specialist for your students with multiple impairments?

HAVE ANOTHER

QUESTION?

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How do I get my Continuing Education Credits?

Every module has a CEC form embedded within it. Fill out the form with the correct codes and answers to the quizzes and you will automatically be sent your CEC certificate for that module.  

When is the last day to submit my Continuing Education Credit forms? 

You can submit your CEC forms at any time for the entirety that the course is available. You will receive one certificate for al of the CEU points you earn. 

What payment methods do you accept? 

You can pay automatically with your card or PayPal. 

To complete a Purchase Order, use the coupon code: MIVI2021

After your order is confirmed you will receive a separate email from us with a form complete. Once the form is submitted you will receive your Purchase Order Invoice. If you have any additional questions, please contact us at [email protected].   Be sure to check your spam or promotions folder if you do not see the email in your inbox.

Need a W-9 or Vendor Paperwork?

Send us an email at [email protected]. We are happy to send you our W-9 or become a vendor for your district! 

How can I get a refund? 

Refunds are available up to 180 days after the purchase of this course. Please send us an email at [email protected] to receive the refund paperwork. You will be asked to prove that you completed the entire course and followed through with the work in order to receive a refund.