Habilitation

What is Habilitation? 

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The Habilitation Service supports babies, children and young people who are blind or who have significant vision impairments,  which adversely affects their ability to travel and live independently.  The  aim  is to provide programmes of individual training and support to enable young people to experience the highest degree of independence.  This might mean teaching them to travel as independently as possible around school,  out and about and even on public transport,  without compromising their safety.  They will also learn to competently assess and negotiate risks, including road safety and undertake social interactions with confidence.  Each child is assessed  on an individual basis and work is undertaken in conjunction with home and school.

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Habilitation includes Mobility,  Independence and Life skills.

 

Mobility generally covers all the aspects around moving from A to B as independently as possible.  This would include familiarisation with the environment as well as specific routes.  These routes may range between 10 metres or 10 miles depending on the skills and abilities of individual pupils. The Habilitation Service offers one to one mobility and ILS training and also some additional small group short courses in ILS.

There is a crossover between Mobility and ILS, but specific topics include:-

 

• Body awareness - developing an understanding of body parts and how the body moves

• Listening skills - learning how to listen and what to listen for

• Orientation - knowing where they are at any given point and how to get to where they want to be,  including how to follow directions

• Maximising vision - how to make the most of residual vision,  including use of low vision aids

• Basic personal safety - including name address etc,  what to do if lost and seeking help.  How to avoid getting into difficulties when alone

• Road safety - from simple rules to complex crossings,  the level achieved depends very much on age and ability of each individual

• Self help - beginning with independent dressing and feeding skills and culminating in basic food preparation skills,

  • Dressing skills

  • Personal Care

  • Opening tins and packets,

  • Cutting, slicing grating etc

  • Weighing and safely using the microwave

• Social and life skills - dealing with the general public

  • Handling money

  • Using the phone, including mobiles and apps

  • Learning acceptable behaviour and dress

  • Using household electrical appliances

• Independent travel - may include learning cane skills before proceeding to specific routes. These routes could be in school,  between home and school,  to and from work experience, college transition,  or for leisure purposes

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The Habilitation Team will offer a mix of remote and face to face support and advice directly to students, as well as to parents and carers,  schools and other professionals

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Contact The Team on 0121 325 3904 and leave your name and number and the service you require and someone will get back to you.

Alternatively you can email the Habilitation Team

email: mobility@priestley.bham.sch.uk or contact your Hab Specialist directly

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