1. Strategic Plan
AER O&M Division

2. Need for a Strategic Plan
The Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Division had been working with an outdated strategic plan. The lack of clear strategic goals and communication with membership has contributed to the issues raised by many of the division members.
This plan was developed for the following reasons:
Provide guidance for the activities and focus of the division and executive committee.
Address the concerns and needs of the division membership
Advance the profession of O&M through advocacy, awareness, and recruitment
Reconnect with the division membership and increase awareness of division activities

3. How the plan was developed
2014 – 2015
AER O&M Division Ad Hoc Committee for Strategic Planning,
Goals and Initiatives
13 presentations at conferences across the country to large groups of O&M Specialists
One online Water Cooler session
Survey data was obtained from the groups
Individual feedback on written surveys
Conservative estimate of between 1600 to 2000 O&M specialists participated in these sessions.
Specifically, the Ad Hoc Committee solicited information from O&Ms and GDMIs in an effort to obtain feedback on the following questions

4. How the plan was developed
1600 – 2000 O&M Specialists responded to these questions:
How could AER and the AER O&M Division improve its services to you?
What makes you continue to stay engaged and involved in the O&M and GDMI professional community?
What most concerns you about the future of O&M or GDMI profession, or our community as a whole?
What would you do or change to help strengthen the O&M and GDMI profession?
Looks good.  Lukas saw this error in what I originally wrote.  I fixed it and a few other errors on the document.
Slide 4- Questions 4 and 5 are the same.  I'm not sure why this is, but I think that one of them is supposed to be "How" or that there were only supposed to be 4 questions.  I'm not sure where I copied that from in the first place.  Maybe that summary that Brenda had written before Jacksonville?  Does anyone have that? I just looked and didn't see where I had it saved.  

5. areas of concern Advocacy and Awareness Challenges ahead
Challenges ahead
Orientation and mobility is a small profession
limited financial resources and individuals available to advocate for policies on behalf of the profession of O&M specialists.
General lack of awareness of O&M as a profession
affects ability to recruit individuals into the profession

6. Areas of concern Research Significant need for research: O&M practices
Significant need for research:
O&M practices
Instructional methods
Personnel preparation
Benefits of Research
demonstrate the effectiveness of current practices
enhance the profile of the O&M profession
Challenges to Completing Research
Limited number of professionals and university programs
Limited funding sources

7. Areas of Concern Scope of Practice
Orientation and mobility is a young profession and is still evolving.
Inconsistency in the definition and understanding of the Scope of Practice of O&M specialists.
Scope of practice must be clearly defined
Provide guidance
to practicing O&M professionals
administrators hiring and supervising these professionals
consumers being served by these professionals
others collaborating with these professionals

8. Strengths & weaknesses
Orientation and Mobility specialists are passionate about their profession
The O&M community tends to be very connected
Weaknesses
Not always a consistent vision for the future and advancement of the profession.
Political and legislative changes that affect education and adult rehabilitation can be a slow and difficult process

9. Goals, planned accomplishments & strategies
Goals were developed by the Strategic Planning Committee members subgroups
Goals were developed based on data collected during the two year “Listening Tour” and the 2016 Round Table discussions at AERI.
Sorry hadn't responded sooner Susan! 
In the Goals, Planned Accomplishments, and Strategies slides, it might help to specify what the "Goal" is and where the sub-points came from. If the presentation slides wind up being viewed without your interpretation it may be helpful to have this clarified. In other words, stating the the items below each goal are were specific suggestions that came from Division Members as part of the surveys and or the roundtable sessions in Jacksonville rather than being wholly generated by the Executive Committee.

10. Goals, planned accomplishments & strategies
Organize and offer/support professional development presentations
Environmental Access Committee (EAC) representative(s) to offer periodic professional development opportunities virtually or through local/regional presentations
Provide and/or coordinate a professional development webinar, watercooler or other virtual presentation at least once a year
Develop a plan and recruit members for Continuing Education Committee to maintain professional development activities
Use the website, newsletter and social media to advertise and share professional development opportunities

11. Goals, planned accomplishments & strategies
Provide information on best practices, research and useful tools for O&M professionals through publications and online shareable resources
Investigate best and most practical ways to actively share and disseminate information and promote participation and collaboration among Division members
EAC and Division members to share information and resources on different types of environments/intersections including GoogleMaps
Revise scope of practice and develop paper to be reviewed and voted on by Division membership
Seek out established professionals to contribute instructional practices and short best-practice articles for publication in the newsletter
Provide information on how best practice is to provide instruction to school-aged students on and off-campus (community)

12. Goals, planned accomplishments & strategies
Create group to organize GDMI webinar and gather information on how to best involve Guide Dog professionals and best serve their needs

13. Goals, planned accomplishments & strategies
Provide access to resources and information sharing
Archive/permanent record/Wiki (need SME’s to check information)
Rate for services to preserve minimum pay standard
Support on how to manage caseloads and work with school districts
Provide access to AER guide promoting licensure in your state
Provide support and resources on how to work with school districts and manage caseloads
Wiki’s Specific ListServs - one for announcements and one for chat specific
Listserv - searching for resources by topic with filter to make information “clean”
Investigate liability insurance options through Forest T Jones and other providers

14. Goals, planned accomplishments & strategies
Promote the O&M Division and the Profession of O&M
Educate other professions about the role of the Orientation & Mobility Specialist
Submit articles for publication in OT and PT journals
Solicit O&M Specialists who also are OTs or PTs to write from their perspective
Use social media to connect with other professions
Reference O&M best-practice and information on how to connect with O&M professionals
Get O&M listed in Occupational Indexes and national databases
Partner with the AER Professional Personnel Recruitment Committee

15. Goals, planned accomplishments & strategies
Promote the O&M Division and the Profession of O&M cont.
Identify universities with programs in blindness and low vision, nursing, occupational therapy and physical therapy
Identify what percentage of university students who get rejected from these programs enter other programs
Explore ways to contact the top 10% of rejected students and provide education about blindness and low vision careers
Contact rejected students via career fairs and
Explore ways to connect with academic advisors about careers in O&M
Establish a list of O&M Specialists who are able to speak to potential recruits
Develop a video that can be shared that explains the role of the O&M Specialist

16. Monitoring & review Monitoring Progress
Annual review by executive committee with progress reported by Division Chair at the end of the first year of the term served by the Chair and end of the second year of the term, approximately June 30th each year.
Solicited input and feedback from Division membership
Updated information posted on the progress regarding the strategic plan will be provided on the website

17. Plans for Reviewing and Refining the Plan
Monitoring & review
Plans for Reviewing and Refining the Plan
Part of the annual review is to determine continuation and/or revision of strategic plan
Plan must be revised fully every 5 years.
Allows enough time to accomplish goals and to ensure that division membership has an opportunity to provide feedback on the direction and focus of the division.
The plan must be revised and approved by the Executive Committee and voted on by the division membership at a minimum at the end of the 5 year period.
If a new plan is not approved by this time, a timeline must be established for the creation of a new plan that involves feedback from the division membership.

18. Contact Susan Langendonk to volunteer
You can help
Do you have an interest or area of expertise that could help accomplish the goals?
Contact Susan Langendonk to volunteer