Creating Equal Opportunities for Children and Youth with Disabilities to Participate in Physical Education and Extracurricular Activities

CURRICULUM

Curriculum encompasses more than the age or grade lists of content standards, benchmarks, objectives, strategies, and assessments. Curriculum includes day-to-day implementation, which requires flexibility with the content in context. An accessible PE curriculum provides for that flexibility. Applying the universal design for learning (UDL)¹¹ framework to the PE curriculum increases opportunities for participation by providing multiple means for student engagement. The variety of options allows children with disabilities to choose activities of interest which increases their participation (Porretta, 2010). UDL also provides multiple means of presentation. Information technology shows promise in providing a new means of presentation. For example, “bug-in-the-ear” communicators allow sideline coaches and instructors to personalize the “real-time” explanation of game rules and procedures based on the needs of individual players with disabilities (Rimmer & Rowland, 2008).

PE curricula based on physical growth and the development of fitness and socialization can support the inclusion of children and youth with disabilities. The curricular focus on lifelong fitness and health can facilitate forming habits that will follow through to adulthood (Foley, 2010). Teachers and coaches increase successful inclusion by focusing on the camaraderie and fun of activity rather than on competition and winning.

An individual student's IEP must include goals and accommodations for PE and athletics, as needed (IDEA, 20 U. S. C. §1414(d)). The development of IEPs requires collaboration among professionals as well as parent participation. Parents might be reluctant to have their children participate in physical activity due to uncertainty about its effects and the possibility of teasing and ridicule from peers. The IEP team can better support the students' successful access to, and participation in, PE and athletics when these concerns are effectively addressed in the IEP.