Habilitation support

Find out more about habilitation support for your child

Habilitation Specialist

What is the role of a Habilitation Specialist?

 

A Qualified Habilitation specialist (QHS, and sometimes referred to as mobility officers) works with individual children and young people (CYP) with a vision impairment aged from birth to 25. The aim of the Habilitation Specialist is to optimise the child or young person’s independence.  

 

The Habilitation Specialist will conduct an assessment and then deliver a personalised training programme to meet the child’s needs.  

 

A habilitation programme focuses on: 

  • Mobility, such as road safety training, sighted guide training or long cane training.  
  • Orientation, such as learning routes around school, college or their local area, or later on, to their place of work.  
  • Independent living skills, like making a drink, preparing food or identifying coins.  
  • Transition support: moving to a new school or home setting. Environmental audit recommendations can be provided to ensure the environment is as safe and accessible as possible.  

 

This training happens in the school, home, or a public setting. It may also involve public transport training, or transition support between settings. In most cases your local authority or local sight loss organisation will be able to connect your family with the local Habilitation Specialist. 

Young woman RSBC worker wearing olive green sweater helping young child with glasses colouring Christmas themed drawing.

A mark of confidence for families

 

Rosie Green is our Habilitation Specialist, and she can provide specialist advice to support the development and independence of a blind or partially sighted child or young person. This advice can be online, by telephone, or at RSBC’s Life Without Limits centre in London. Rosie can also support families with strategies to better support their child’s independence. She supports many of our activities, too, using her expertise and support to focus on children and young people’s independence. 

 

This support may involve:  

  • Long cane strategies.  
  • Early years play advice. 
  • Environmental adaptions within the school or home.  
  • Advice on dressing skills e.g., zips and buttons.  
  • In person (at our London centre) or online 1:1 cooking sessions.  
  • Vision impairment awareness and sighted guide training.  
  • Early Development 

 

Please feel free to email Rosie at connections@rsbc.org.uk  if you have any questions or would like some support. 

Rosie is a light-skin young woman with light brown to light blond ombre hair. She is wearing a black t-shirt. She has light blue eyes. She is looking directly at the camera and smiling.

Frequently asked questions:

There is a list of registered Habilitation Specialists on the HABVIUK website. You can also enquire at your local authority, under their physical and sensory services.

A Qualified Teacher of Vision Impairment (QTVI), Specialist Education Needs Coordinator (SENCO) or member of staff at school can help to make a referral into this support with their local authority.

A QHS and QTVI typically work closely together. A QTVI ensures that the CYP can access the curriculum. This may involve enlarging work or teaching braille. An Habilitation Specialist ensures that the CYP is provided with strategies to access their environment or develop their independent living skills. 

The QHS will assess the CYP’s needs and decided whether they need a long cane. Once the QHS is happy that the CYP is confident with using the long cane independently, it should be used when appropriate and this may involve being sent home.  

 

This will vary for each child. The QHS will assess the CYP’s needs and decided an appropriate training programme, which could mean that they’re seen weekly, biweekly, or termly. 

Resources Available