Guides of the Galaxy Inc. By: Jessica Kaplan, Diana Herrera, and Rebecca Parras

MISSION Based on the Code of Ethics, we pride ourselves in our policy of students first. We vow to uphold the federal regulations that we will provide services to those students who qualify under IDEA. Our O&M specialists will work with the multidisciplinary team to help create annual goals for students and help our students every step of the way to ensure that they are confident, efficient and positive travelers in school and beyond.

Personnel Orientation and Mobility Specialist Orientation and Mobility Specialist Lead

Qualifications Orientation and Mobility Specialist Lead • Master’s Degree in special education, certification in O&M, and a valid California Clinical Rehabilitative Services credential authorizing service for Orientation • Experience teaching orientation and mobility skills • Minimum of one (1) year of successful experience teaching Orientation and Mobility skills • Master’s Degree in special education, certification in O&M, and a valid California Clinical Rehabilitative Services credential authorizing service for O&M Minimum of 3 years experience supervising orientation and mobility programs and specialist and 10 years of successful experience teaching Orientation and Mobility skills

Evaluation and Feedback Formal evaluations: New staff –Quarterly/ Other staff - Every 6 months O&M Lead will conduct weekly observations of the lessons The agency will hold weekly meetings in order to create a “community” type of working environment and to provide praise and feedback to the employees

Opportunities for Continuing Education The Guides of the Galaxy Inc. will pay for the CAOMS membership and expect all O&M to attend the yearly conference. The Guides of the Galaxy Inc. will also pay for registration for continuing education units at universities and workshops. The agency will hold weekly meetings in order to create a “community” type of working environment and to provide quality training on the newest trends, advances, and instructional methodologies in the visual field. The agency will also forward articles or publications that are related to the O&M field and possibly discuss at weekly meetings.

Program Components

Critical Components of an O&M Program 1. Evaluating students comprehensively to find out their skills and performance, their needs and what their individual goals are. 2. Developing the individualized program for the student based on the findings of the assessment report and with the input of students and other team members.

What We Believe We believe a good program is organized, goal directed and outcome oriented. Our program believes in keeping students motivated and goal orientated in the least-restrictive learning environment. Training to work with a multidisciplinary team Time management-core curriculum classes vs expanded core curriculum classes. When to pull students? Student services

Adequate Resources Funding Home Visits Transportation One-to-One Policy Community Awareness “Community Collaboration Fair” Giving Back Third Party Reimbursement

Student Centered Office for the Blind Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) One size fits all for students is not our policy.

Why do we have assessments? According to Foundations of Orientation and Mobility, Vol. 1: Determining the Need for O&M Services Determining Current Levels of Performance Monitoring Student Achievement Monitoring the Effectiveness of Instructional Practices

Assessment Categories We split the assessment up into these categories in order to have a comprehensive assessment. Background information Proficiency of Mobility Skills Assessing Orientation Skills Functional Vision Assessment Assessment of Auditory Functioning Other assessments

Planning an Assessment Review records Interview with the student and family members Select an appropriate assessment tool Select an assessment route(s) Assess from simple to complex Selecting Assessment routes Demonstrations, Games and activities. Observations in Natural environment

Individualized Program Plan How we prepare: Lead O&M Specialists Accountability One to One Method What we provide our staff with: laptop, class materials, and transportation. Average of 3 lessons a week or 3 hours a week Generic service approach and why we are against it

Sample Template IEP Template:

Interdisciplinary How do we accomplish this?: Training process Etiquette class enrollment Team building exercises

Administration O&M services are an integral part of the mission The Guides of the Galaxy Inc. mission is centered around the main idea that we are a program which is dedicated to providing support to not only our students who have visual impairments, but also to the people who are important parts of their lives. It is important to remember that our students with visual impairments need the positive support of those around them other than their Orientation and Mobility instructors. Their intervention and participation in our student’s lessons is an important factor of our program goal. Our mission is to provide support and education in regards to all of the aspects that we teach for all of these different people until it becomes a very natural presence in their life that our student has many different people to directly communicate with about what we teach. We believe that it is completely necessary to provide every student with this opportunity to extend our lessons onto the important people in their lives.

Policies and Procedures At Guides of the Galaxy Inc. we take both our policies and procedures very seriously. Our policies fall under the main point that all of our students are provided with exceptional staff. We enforce a strict code of ethics which we expect all of the people in our staff to follow at all times. The procedures that this program carries out are directly taken from the orientation and mobility techniques and methods which are universally taught within the United States of America. All procedures are carried out after each student has gone through the detailed process of determining what their direct needs are.

Fiscal Support All of the services that our program provides are directly funded by programs that support our educational system through the state of California, from federal grants we receive, from state taxes, and from third-party administrations who donate to our program annually. The funding we receive from the federal government is the primary mechanism for funding the operating costs of California school districts. As noted herein, there are other sources of funding; however, this is the foundation for financing California's educational programs. A key feature of our school district is that it bases financial support for education upon the individual student participating in a particular educational program rather than upon the number of teachers or classrooms.

Scheduling Scheduling of lessons is something that must be well thought out far in advance from the beginning of lessons. It is exceptionally important to remember that prepared scheduling will reduce the possibility of teaching a lesson-plan that is not thorough or efficiently executed.

Paperwork Demands Paperwork demands are an important factor of our program, as each OMS will have the responsibility of documenting all lessons given as well as a corresponding report for each lesson. They must include every objective and goal of the lesson, each technique and skill observed in the lesson, the location of and times of the day that each lesson took place, and an evaluation of the student's performance on each lesson day.

Liability Issues Liability issues are extremely important to take heed to, as the safety of our students is the number one most important aspect of our program. Each OMS that works in our program must follow strict guidelines that will provide the safest possible learning environment for our students. If any student shall sustain injuries during the time of their lesson, a thorough incident report will be immediately documented before resuming further lessons.

Transportation Transportation is a key aspect of our program. Every OMS that works with our students will be provided with a vehicle in order to ensure that they are able to be punctual and present at every lesson that is scheduled and also to provide our students with transportation within their lessons scheduled.

Assessing Our Own Program Internal Assessments External Assessments Questionnaires All the information gathered in the internal assessment, external assessment and questionnaires will be gathered, analyzed, and written report of all findings will be available in our consumer guide folder in the front office.

STUDENT FIRST. FAMILY FIRST. (STUDENTS AND FAMILIES WORKING TOGETHER) Conclusion STUDENT FIRST. FAMILY FIRST. (STUDENTS AND FAMILIES WORKING TOGETHER) Guides of the Galaxy Inc. has 99% successful, independent, safe, confident clients after high school graduation.