;
Lorem Ipsum Dolor Spring 2016
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common reason selected for teaching guide techniques, non-cane
techniques, and protective techniques.
"Referral" was the second most common reason for covering the
remaining skills. Evaluation was the least often chosen reason for teaching
any of the O&M curriculum. This suggests that personnel preparation
programs continue to define the role of TVIs with respect to O&M services as
responsible for teaching non-cane skills. The TVIs were being taught to refer
for O&M services for mobility tools and more complex travel.
From the 1960s to 2016, there has been a paradigm shift in access to
O&M services in federal law and a multi-fold increase in the number of O&M
specialists. However, a majority of states charge TVIs with the provision of
O&M services and the content of TVI O&M courses seems to be attempting
to cover, in one course, the entire O&M curriculum. No one single course can
be considered sufficient to enable TVIs to adequately fulfill a state
requirement of O&M service provision. Further, despite the professional
literature that indicated the TVI was equally prepared to address EI O&M
services as the O&M specialist, this survey suggested that TVI pre-service
preparation in O&M makes this claim unlikely.
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