Division on Visual Impairments

VIDBE-Q 63.4 Fall 2018

A quarterly newsletter from the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Visual Impairments containing practitioner tips for Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialists, and other professionals.

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53 VIDBE-Q Volume 63 Issue 4 Emily Caudill, B.S., TVI Master's Student University of Pittsburgh eac76@pitt.edu Where are you? Completing an internship is part of the training required to become a Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist. There were several places I could have applied to fulfill this requirement. However, there is only one facility in the country that offers both an Orientation and Mobility program and a Dog Guide program within the same building. Approximately 2% of the population is blind and only 2% of that group choose to use a guide dog. It's a niche group. But what it lacks in numbers it makes up for in wags and licks. This May, I chose to leave Pittsburgh, PA to spend my summer days at Leader Dogs for the Blind in Michigan. It was a daunting task to leave my home knowing I would spend 3 months in an unfamiliar environment. Add on the pressure of being observed, followed, and critiqued, I was a nervous wreck. I wasn't sure I even wanted the summer to come. Ready or not, May came and I drove the 6 hours from my home to the Leader Dog campus to do my training, carrying the weight of the unknown in my suitcase. The first day of my internship was upon me and I did not know what to expect. Dog Days of Summer: An O&M Intern's Perspective

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