I have always been guilty of zoning out on car trips. Since I am blind and can’t drive myself, I tend to luxuriate in my role as the passenger. As a kid I spent my time singing to the radio or reading a book. Nowadays I sing my kids ridiculous songs to keep them entertained, or pass them snacks, or play referee in the classic backseat sibling game of “That’s mine! Stop touching me!” In short, I’m rarely paying strict attention to where we’re going. Nowadays it’s usually out of necessity, but when I was a teenager, it never even crossed my mind. I would never be the one driving, so why were driving directions even relevant to me?
As I grew and as I began to ride with people other than my parents, I began to regret not having paid more attention. Driving directions are so much more relevant than I ever imagined. Today when an Uber driver brings me home, I want to be able to tell her which house is mine even when it’s dark and she can’t see the house numbers. I need to be able to help my driver when she can’t figure out if she’s missed the turn onto my street or if she just hasn’t gone far enough yet, or to reroute us if the road is blocked off from construction.
The purpose of this activity is to help students learn how to direct someone to their house, building on orientation and mobility skills, as well as skills for work readiness and independent living. Students may not think these skills are necessary, but they will be incredibly valuable when they reach adulthood.
Create a tactile map of the route from school to home that the student can feel and learn from. Using bump dots, puff paint, Braille labels, and/or other tactile materials, demonstrate the route to the student using any number of the following details:
Working with this map will help students build sensory efficiency and compensatory skills as well as a sense of direction. Students can even take this map with them when they travel in the car from one destination to the other, following along on their own map as the driver takes each turn. Another passenger can provide guided assistance if needed.
For students with advanced skills and access to high-tech assistive technology devices, ask students to use a GPS to provide turn-by-turn directions on a familiar route, such as the route from school to home. The Maps app on a Smartphone is a good example of a tool to use for this activity. Students can learn to enter start and end points, and can listen as the GPS provides directions throughout the drive.
For students with complex needs, teachers and parents can focus on teaching the student about her neighborhood. A Velcro board with pictures or tactile images may be a helpful way for students to begin learning about the components of their neighborhoods, such as:
By Courtney Tabor-Abbott