• Overview of the room
• Section 1 – Curriculum framework.
• Section 2 – Body and spatial awareness.
• Section 3 – Social and emotional development.
• Section 4 – Travel skills.
• Section 5 – Independent living skills (ILS).
• Section 6 – Other considerations.
• Section 7 – Useful links / resources.
• Section 8 – Room recap – key things learnt.

Overview of the room

Room summary

The concern of this room is defining mobility and independence (M&I) education.  Central to this definition is a curriculum framework which seeks to address the ‘special needs’ of children with visual impairment.  A useful way of capturing these needs is by making a distinction between ‘early and foundation M&I’, including body and spatial awareness, and social and emotional development, and ‘advanced M&I', including travel skills, and independent living skills.  Of course a given pupil will be developing these skills all the time – learning informally through everyday activities.  Nevertheless, there are likely to be times when he or she will require more formal intervention involving the expert input from a professional.

Suggested room learning aims

To develop your knowledge and understanding in the following areas:

• Broad areas of child development and the special needs of children with visual impairment.
• The M&I curriculum framework - Body and spatial awareness, social and emotional development, travel skills, independent living skills (ILS).
• The relationship between a curriculum, pupil’s depth of understanding, and accreditation.

Suggested room learning outcomes

Having worked through this material, it would be expected that you would be able to answer the following questions:

• Why is there a need for professionals to consider an M&I curriculum?
• What are the key areas of the M&I curriculum and how do they link with each other and other parts of the National Curriculum?
• Can a single professional be responsible for teaching the M&I curriculum, or does it require a team?
• Which bits of the curriculum am I best equipped to teach?

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