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Physical Education for Individuals with Disabilities. Michael Horvat University of Georgia. Placement #1.
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Physical Education for Individuals with Disabilities Michael Horvat University of Georgia
Placement #1 • If you are a physical education teacher, keep in mind that children with disabilities are first and foremost children who happen to be disabled. Their success is dependent upon your teaching, which is contingent on applying what is known about teaching to individuals with disabilities.
Placement#3 • Placement options are available for all children and should be based on the child’s background, motor ability, cognitive ability, self-concept, behavior, and specific needs. The term least restrictive (LRE) environment is associated with the primary intent for placing children in the most appropriate environments. The purpose of placement in the LRE was to educate children with disabilities with their peers to the maximum extent possible.
Placement#4 • The appropriate placement should be based on the child’s functional capabilities and ability to meet program goals.
Placement#5 • For example, if you were teaching a weight- training class, every person in the class may perform at different levels depending on their size, experience, strength, etc. As teachers, we would not expect anyone to lift the same weight, do the same number of sets or repetitions for a particular exercise. We would determine each individual’s level of functioning with an appropriate assessment and determine their starting weight, repetitions, etc. and then continually re-evaluate their progress.
Placement#6 • Good teaching reflects the ability to teach at the learner’s level of functioning, readiness, and motivation for learning. These parameters should also be followed for children with disabilities. If a child is capable of performing all functions without modifications, the disability is not relevant. If performance is restricted, we need to determine what the child needs to be successful. This is not much different from the variability we see in development or experience that each child brings to the physical education experience.
Placement #7 • Effective teachers determine how to involve all children and facilitate learning experiences to encompass all levels of development. Therefore, placement recommendations should focus on the following (Horvat, Eichstaedt, Kalakian, & Croce, 2011): • Regular physical education with the ability to meet program goals • Regular physical education with supports to meet program goals • Specially designed or adapted physical education
Learning Activity 14.2#8 • Have students in the class compile a list of skills that they believe teachers need to successfully teach physical education to children with disabilities.
Selecting the Curriculum#9 • The teacher needs to identify the curricular goals and expectations for the academic year using appropriate available school, county, and/or state curriculum guides, as well as the NASPE guidelines discussed earlier for K-12th grade to provide a developmentally appropriate hierarchy of physical education skills.
Selecting the Curriculum#10 • This curriculum should be considered as a foundation for developing an adapted curriculum and consistent with age appropriate expectations. Regardless of the curriculum selected, the goal is to provide the child with the most appropriate learning opportunities in the LRE.
Selecting the Curriculum#11 • After the curriculum is selected or developed, it is essential to determine the prerequisite skills required for successful participation. For example, if the first unit is locomotion skills, the basic components of walking, running, hopping, skipping, galloping, leaping, jumping, and sliding should be taught.
Selecting the Curriculum#12 • It is also important to use appropriate assessment information based on the critical elements of a mature motor patter (see Horvat, Block, & Kelly, 2007). In this manner, the teacher can identify which components of the skill require improvement as well as when the child has mastered the task. The assessment instrument should provide information for the teacher about skill levels of the children in different positions and ability levels.
Selecting the Curriculum#13 • Teachers can readily use this information to determine current levels of function for all children, and specific needs or problem areas that need to be developed. This allows the teacher to modify the curriculum to meet a child’s specific needs including: (a) allowing more repetitions, (b) small group instruction, (c) teaching stations, (d) peer tutoring, or (e) home-based activities for practice.
Selecting the Curriculum#14 • After the teacher has completed the assessment, lesson plans can be developed to introduce and monitor performance toward curricular goals.
Behavior Intervention Strategies#15 • When developing physical education programs, teachers should be cognizant of all aspects of the environment, teacher-child communication, and specific behavior management techniques. Teachers need to use a variety of strategies that are developmentally appropriate.
Physical Fitness Teaching Strategies#17 • For children with or without disabilities, it is important to develop fitness skills related to overall function, independent movement, and ability to perform activities of daily living.
Motor Skills Teaching Strategies#18 • Children will develop from clumsiness to mastery in a variety of stability, locomotors, and object control skills that ultimately should translate to play skills, movement patterns and sport skills.
Motor Skills Teaching Strategies#19 • All children will require instruction, repetition, and practice to develop motor skills and skill acquisition.
Teaching Physical Fitness#20 • 1. Emphasize the child’s abilities, not his/her disabilities. • 2. Select skills based on the child’s developmental level. • 3. Develop movement concepts such as “up” and “down” as a basis for pattern and skill development.
Teaching Physical Fitness#20 • 4. Develop and emphasize concepts and patterns before requiring skill or precision from the child. • 5. Select skills that are functional for the child, such as developing balance, by walking up and down steps or curbs as opposed to balking only a balance beam. • Emphasize functional skill development that allows children to participate in playground, neighborhood, and/or recreational activities.
Teaching Physical Fitness#20 • 7. Once the pattern is learned, provide children with opportunities to practice in order to retain their level of proficiency. • 8. Development of physical fitness should occur concurrently to assist in the development of movement patterns. • Children should develop closed tasks before open tasks and/or environmental or temporal influences are introduced.
Teaching Physical Fitness#20 • 10. Encourage distributed practice and provide additional opportunities outside the school to promote learning and retention. Distributed practice contains rest components between attempts. This is in contrast to massed practice, which involves little or no rest between attempts and may be influenced by the child’s level of fatigue. If a child tires easily, performance is restricted; physiological fatigue tends to hamper speed, while cognitive or central processing fatigue tends to hamper accuracy.
Teaching Physical Fitness#20 • 11. Prompting and reinforcement should accompany initial efforts at learning a task. Behavior intervention and goal setting should also be incorporated to develop movement skills.
Modifications and Adaptations#22 • Scott Rigsby is a world-class athlete. He is also a double amputee who has completed triathlons, marathons and a variety of other races, including the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii.
Modifications for Children with Limited Strength /Endurance #23 • Decrease or increase the size of the goal or lower the goal or target as in basketball. • Change or reduce the highest distance of the playing area such as shortening distances in soccer or lowering the net in volleyball. • Reduce the weight or size of the striking implement such as using a lighter bat or using a Nerf or Wiffle ball to throw/catch.
Modifications for Children with Limited Strength /Endurance #23 • Change the tempo by allowing substitutions or using other modes of locomotion. • Substitute skills for children who can strike an object but need a runner.
Modifications for Children with Coordination &Balance Difficulties #24 • Use larger balls or Nerf balls that are easier to grasp and throw • Strike an object from a batting tee or stationary ball before using a moving object. • Vary the size and distance of the target and speed at which the ball is thrown.
Modifications for Children with Coordination &Balance Difficulties #24 • Lower the center of gravity and widen the base of the support. • Use the arms for balance or use assistance such as a wall to aid stability. • Work on the floor or surface before moving to a beam or board.
