How to stimulate the orientation of people with blindness? 5 keys

Tips to help people with blindness adapt to their environment and find their way around.

Orientation and mobility are fundamental skills for the development of autonomy, which are especially relevant in the case of people who are blind or have low vision. Among other things, these skills facilitate the use of the cane and other important technologies for movement, as well as strengthen awareness and recognition of oneself in relation to the environment.

In this article we explain how we can stimulate orientation and mobility in people with blindness, and what is the relevance and what is the relevance of these functions in psychomotor development.

Orientation and Mobility

Orientation and mobility are two psychomotor processes of fundamental importance for our development and autonomy. Being psychomotor processes, they include elements of two different but interrelated orders: elements of the psychological order, and elements of the motor order..

The first are those related to the processes necessary to execute actions, to perceive and interpret the phenomena of the world, to plan actions, to make decisions, etcetera. The second are those that have to do with the motor system, that is, with our voluntary and involuntary movements, our balance, our posture, our limbs, among others.

Both orders are linked through the participation of our senses: touch, smell, touch, smell, smellThe two orders are linked through the participation of our senses: touch, smell, taste, hate and vision. Thus, according to the functioning of the latter, our psychomotor skills can also function in one way or another. Psychomotor skills, orientation and mobility are processes that are related to our bodily awareness. Specifically, orientation is the process by which we use our senses to establish a position and a relationship with objects in the world. And mobility is the ability to move between those objects.

Sensory scheme, orientation and mobility

As we have seen, the participation of the senses is fundamental for the development of orientation and mobility, and in the case of total or partial absence of vision, their stimulation (that of the senses) becomes even more important. Likewise, and being fundamental skills for the development of autonomy, the development of orientation and mobility become especially relevant in the case of people with blindness or visual impairment. In fact, these are two of the skills that form an important part of the training for the use of the cane and other assistive technologies.

Beyond being the fundamental acts for moving from one place to another, orientation and mobility and mobility give us the ability to organize and familiarize ourselves with the world through physical contact through physical contact, to know where we are and where we are going.

How to stimulate orientation and mobility in people with blindness?

The stimulation of orientation and mobility in people with blindness depends on many factors that may be different according to the needs and circumstances of each person. For example, the process may be different between an adult who has acquired blindness and a child who was born blind.

In the latter, orientation and mobility can be pre-stimulated through gross and fine motor skills, as well as through the acquisition of different concepts. This is because up to the age of 2 - 3 years the child will be ready to begin the process of movement. In the case of adults, the process may not require a motor pre-stimulation, but it does require a restructuring of the perception of space in relation to one's own body..

Likewise, blindness in many cases is not total, but partial, or with reduced vision, and in these cases, the strategies for stimulation may also be different.

In any case, it is not only a matter of skills and processes, but orientation and mobility are two needs that the person develops by him/herself, through physical contact with the elements of the outside world.. In this sense, professionals or family members who intend to facilitate the process of autonomy must be aware and respectful of the rhythms of each person, as well as be flexible to the individual's need to explore and locate themselves bodily.

5 strategies

Broadly speaking, some dimensions that we can stimulate to promote orientation and mobility of people with blindness are the body schema, concepts related to space and time, concepts related to the environment or the city, fine and gross motor skills, and sensory perception.

All of them are part of psychomotricity, they are interrelated and have the common characteristic that they allow us to relate our body with the material and semiotic elements that surround it. that they allow us to relate our body with the material and semiotic elements that surround it and place it in a certain position. and place it in a certain position.

1. Body schema

The body schema is the representation that we construct and acquire about our own body. It refers both to the parts of the body and to its functions and movements. It includes the personal exploration of the body and its relationship with external elements.

It also involves a social element, since the acquisition of the body schema occurs in correspondence with the social norms that tell us how it is and which are the parts of our own body, and that allow us to establish different relationships with ourselves. And also with external objects, because they allow us to establish spatial relationships, identify stimuli that we recognize are not part of ourselves..

2. Spatial and temporal concepts

Spatial concepts are those that allow us to establish schemes of relationship and position. They refer to surfaces and the terms with which we can refer to them. They are also related to notions such as magnitude, distance, size, quantity, weight or volume; and with concepts such as left-right and right-right.and with concepts such as left-right, up-down, recognize one side or the other.

We know that there is a development of spatial concepts such as position categories, shapes and measurements when the person has established an idea of reference point and systematic search patterns through the hands. This usually occurs as early as 2 or 3 years of age, and can be stimulated later.

In the same sense, notions such as yesterday, today, tomorrow, day, night favor among other things spatial-temporal appropriation of the environment and the location of one's own body in it..

3. Environmental/urban concepts

Spatial concepts are basically the names of the objects around us. Above all, it is important to to reinforce the recognition of the most frequently used objects.. They also include concepts related to what exists in the immediate environment. For example, the elements of the environment, such as the floor, the room, the hallway, the traffic light, the cars, etcetera.

The aim is to identify salient elements of the environment, learn what places exist and where they are located, and then establish routes or sequences that connect all these elements together. This also allows for the identification of obstacles and the this allows the identification of obstacles and the generation of avoidance tools (protection techniques). (protection techniques).

From there the walker can identify a trace that directs him along a specific path or route, then update his positions with respect to signs along the way and finally use general concepts about space.

4. Gross and fine motor skills

It is about favoring elements such as posture, gait and balance, on the one hand, and on the other hand, skills related to the manipulation of small objects, which helps in the estimation of distances and coordination. Gross motor and fine motor skills are fundamental to reinforce cognitive processes and to cognitive processes as well as the perception of one's own body and understanding its relationship with external objects. and understanding its relationship to external objects on a large scale.

Depending on the age of the person, many different activities can be done to support these skills, ranging from riding a tricycle and stringing small beads to complex physical activity.

5. Sensory perception

Sensory stimulation is of fundamental importance because it allows us to establish points of reference and discriminate between different stimuli in the environment as well as relationships with it. Specifically in the case of hearing it is important to take into account concepts such as identification, discrimination, tracking, and detection of "sound shadow" areas.

In the case of touch, it is important to the direct experience of the skin in contact with the objectsIn the case of touch, the direct experience of skin contact with objects is important, although there may also be intermediate contact (e.g., recognition of a fruit with a fork). The olfactory and gustatory senses can receive stimulation from the discrimination and identification of different stimuli, even the most everyday ones.

Bibliographical references:

• Martínez, C. (2010). Orientation and Mobility Training: It must be done. Retrieved June 21, 2018. Available at http://www.tsbvi.edu/seehear/fall98/waytogo-span.htm.