Hello! Another Master’s student from Salus with a question. First of all, thank you to all of the people who have been responding to my class assignment. I have enjoyed reading all of your responses. It’s good to know I am entering into a field where people are welcoming and willing to problem solve with each other.?

My question is… has anyone ever combined using music with O&M? Here is where I’m coming from… I currently work with students who have multiple differences, including vision loss and so many of the students are very motivated by music. I’m not talking about music while out in the community, that doesn’t sound safe, but with the students who are learning to navigate the hallways, like to motivate them to keep going, or trail the wall. Just curious. Thanks!!!

Before I went back to Graduate school, to study for my O&M credential, my first Graduate level credential was as a Drama Therapist. Needless to say, I see a lot of connections between O&M and the arts. I have done numerous O&M lessons to music venues, especially with clients who had strong interests. This has included clients who had developed a strong interest in Karaoke. When I was working with working age populations in Wichita, I had a professional harmonica player client who was losing his vision because of retinitis pigmentosa. I am certainly no professional musician, but at the end of our O&M lesson, I used to pull out a harmonica, and we would do a duet or two. One of the things he wanted to do was improve his comfort level at being on stage with various bands in the area who would invite him to play, We worked on some stage strategies which he seemed to find helpful. I went to one of his performances at a local bar after our lessons were about completed, and he invited me up to do a duet with him, a real pleasure. Another client in Wichita who had been a professional musician worked with me on general O&M. He had experienced a severe stroke which impacted not only his vision, but also some coordination and processing. He had been a guitarist, and thought that he would never be able to return to the musician world. My amateur harmonica playing came in handy with him too. He had not picked up a guitar at all after his stroke and resultant vision loss, but I would pull out a harmonica at the end of our lesson, and this would encourage him to get out his guitar and try some things. He frankly was not very capable when starting out, as compared to his pre-stroke capabilities, but he was improving. Unfortunately, he had another medical problem that caused him to die before we made a lot of progress, but it was good that he became motivated to try some things again at the end of his life. I also worked with a client who had been a cruise ship singer before losing most of his vision. He was still a great crooner, but he explained that, when working on cruise ships, he would wander through the cruse ship venues with a cordless mic, and schmooze with the passengers. We thus worked on his being able to use his cane to move gracefully through venues as he had before his vision loss. I did not track him after he left the rehabilitation facility where I worked with him, but there was no reason why he could not have returned to entertainment in venues such as the ones he had served as a sighted entertainer. These are just a few examples that happen to come to mind.

Michael Byington

Contact Information: Michael Byington, Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist

President of Kansas Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Membership Coordinator for Friends In Art of the American Council of the Blind

712 S Kansas Avenue, Suite 414

Topeka, Kansas 66603

(785) 221-7111

ByingtonCOMS@...

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