What is Habilitation?
Habilitation training is provided to children and young people with vision impairments (CYPVI) aged between 0 and 25. Habilitation is an integral component of the Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (CFVI) .
Starting from their existing skill level, Habilitation training aims to develop a child or young person’s personal mobility, navigation and independent living skills. At whatever age the training is started, the overriding goal is to maximise the child or young person’s independence, keep them safe, opening the way in the future, to further study, employment and an independent life wherever possible. Habilitation training provides one-to-one mobility and orientation training for children and young people with a vision impairment, together with one to one, and occasionally small group work for independent living skills.
Sighted children learn many things by watching what others do, copying it and practicing and modifying it until it makes sense to them. This is called incidental learning, because it is not actually taught to them. Children with more severe vision impairments miss out on incidental learning and need to be taught many tasks that others absorb by watching. This is where the Habilitation Specialist comes in.
The Hab Specialist can identify the areas that will need to be taught and can develop specific programmes and offer advice and guidance for parents, carers, and others who may support the cypvi, to ensure the gaps in learning are addressed. This support will be individualised to meet the specific needs of the child and their family circumstances.
Habilitation Specialist’s work with individual cypvi, their parents and carers, and the range of educational and other professionals supporting them in a variety of settings. Qualified Habilitation Specialists (QHS) supported where possible by Habilitation Assistants (QHA), train children and young people with a vision impairment in the use of alternative independence strategies. They support and advise carers on alternative specialist skill learning as the child grows up, using a range of strategies customised to the age, needs and development of the child.
The strategies the habilitation practitioner uses involve using the other senses: hearing, touch, taste, smell and balance in a coherent, planned and systematic way to provide the child with information about their world.
For example, they may visit the home and advise parents and carers on getting a toddler up and walking or offer advice on suitable toys and activities for a baby with severe sight impairment. As the child reaches school age, the habilitation specialist works increasingly with school staff as part of the transition process, along with other professionals, to develop the child’s independence when travelling to, being at and returning home from school. This includes developing their independence skills in many areas of personal life such as dressing skills, personal care and eating, safe travel, shopping, preparing food and leisure activities.
As the child progresses through the different educational stages, the QHS supports them and their families through the various transitions between schooling stages and ultimately their progress to college, university, apprenticeships or employment.
The Quality Standards (QS) for Habilitation Training specifies the knowledge, understanding, skills and strategies that a trained habilitation worker needs to have to be able to train and support a child or young person with vision impairments in the age range 0- 25. These have to cover the wide range of vision and vision related impairments from blindness to low vision. The QS clarifies what should be included in the roles of a QHS or QHA, what parents would expect their child to receive, and what cypvi might experience. The Quality standards are reviewed at intervals to reflect changes in the field. You can download a copy of the current Quality standards for the delivery of Habilitation training HERE.
The range of skills to be taught to children and young people includes age and maturity appropriate personal mobility, independent navigation and independent daily living skills (e.g. eating, personal care, social skills, buying and preparing food , cleaning, Money handling and banking).
Habilitation training is not a form of therapy or care support: it is a way of accessing the world, maximising learning strategies through specific learning and experiential approaches and skills (in the absence of vision) with the aim of maximising a person’s independence and ultimately, their employability.
Habilitation professionals are of two types in the Quality Standards: The Habilitation Specialist (QHS) and the Habilitation Assistant (QHA). They have different roles and responsibilities. Not all employers have access to a QHA.
The QHS can demonstrate a high level of professional competence in habilitation work and is the lead specialist in the assessment, lesson planning, delivery, and review of Habilitation training for a child or young person.
The QHA can demonstrate a level of professional competence that allows them to work effectively under the direction of a QHS, possibly in a larger authority where there is a team of qualified habilitation professionals.
Habilitation training takes place in three key contexts: at home (including where children and young people are ‘looked after’; In educational settings (from nursery all the way through to university and post graduate study); In public spaces (such as on the pavement, in public transport, in the high street or in a shopping centre). This work will be organised in conjunction with families, educational settings and the CYPVI where appropriate. The voice of the child should be collected and used to inform future planning. Further information can be found in the Quality Standards.
[1]. Hewett, R., Douglas, G., McLinden, M., James, L., Brydon, G., Chattaway, T., Cobb, R., Keil, S., Raisanen, S., Sutherland, C., Taylor, J. (2022). Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (CFVI): Defining specialist skills development and best practice support to promote equity, inclusion and personal agency. RNIB. Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (CFVI) | RNIB
[1] Hayton, Jessica; Wood, Angela; (2022) Quality standards: delivery of habilitation training (mobility and independent living skills) for children and young people with visual impairment. [Book]. (2nd ed ed.). RNIB: London UK.