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VIDBE-Q Volume 63 Issue 4
Robert Wall Emerson at Western Michigan University (WMU). Together, Holly and
Kathryn pursued and won federal support for the O&M program from the Office of
Special Education Programs (OSEP) through Project COMET: Certified Orientation
and Mobility Educators in Training. Holly and Kathryn worked collaboratively to refine
coursework based on the 54-year-old Visually Impaired Learner (VIL) model of
preparation and to select the first cohort of O&M students (all of them teachers of the
visually impaired who wished to add the O&M endorsement). When Kathryn
transitioned to private practice, I was lucky enough to be selected to be the caretaker
and Coordinator of PSU's O&M program and began my tenure at PSU in Fall 2017.
"It takes a village to raise a child", "many hands make light work", and other
such adages ring true when one is challenged to grow a new program that is
responsive to the community's needs and based on international O&M standards of
practice. Fortunately, COMET has not only been serving as an infusion of financial
support for students, but it also has given the program a good place to focus its first
efforts to meet regional needs. The goals of Project COMET include:
1) Train 38 orientation and mobility (O&M) instructors in the Pacific Northwest,
Alaska, and Hawaii;
2) Through a regionalized, innovative hybrid training program:
a) offer research-based course content related to O&M for individuals with
visual impairment (VI) and additional disabilities, particularly those with
deafblindness;
b) provide evidence-based instruction critical to developing culturally
and family responsive O&M services; and
c) prepare O&Ms to acquire competencies in distance mentorship and
consultation (DMC) as a service delivery model during practicum and
student teaching experiences.
