Creating Equal Opportunities for Children and Youth with Disabilities to Participate in Physical Education and Extracurricular Activities
Suggestions to Increase Opportunities
States and school districts can increase opportunities for participation by reducing or eliminating common barriers to participation. In this section, we address common barriers and provide suggestions for increasing access.
ACCESSIBILITY
Accessibility includes the considerations of the area or environment in which physical activity takes place, the safety and security within the space, and specifications suggested for particular disabilities. Access is facilitated through adapted PE practices3 and universal design principles4 (U. S. Access Board, n.d.). For example, concrete play areas are being replaced by soft surfaces to reduce child injury. Because wood chips and sand interfere with mobility of children and youth in wheelchairs, solid soft surfaces are recommended to allow safe use of play areas by more children and youth (U. S. Access Board, n.d.).
The Title II regulations, which apply to public schools and their facilities, provide requirements for accessibility to persons with disabilities.5 For example, Title II applies to public schools' play areas and provides requirements for their accessibility by persons with disabilities. Accessibility also refers to the opportunity to use facilities and equipment. Communities that provide accessible transportation to accessible facilities increase the opportunity for physical activity by children and youth with disabilities and their families.
4 “The term, "universal design," means a concept or philosophy for designing and delivering products and services that are usable by people with the widest possible range of functional capabilities, which include products and services that are directly accessible (without requiring assistive technologies) and products and services that are interoperable with assistive technologies.” (See Assistive Technology Act of 1998, as amended, 29 U. S. C. § 3002. IDEA uses the same definition. See 20 U.S.C. § 1401(35).)
5 Among other things, the Title II regulations provide that new construction of a facility be done so that the facility is readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities. New construction and alterations commencing on or after March 15, 2012, are subject to new design standards under the Title II regulations, and these standards include specific requirements for play areas. See 28 C.F.R. §35.151. The Title II regulations also impose a requirement that each service, program or activity of a public entity, when viewed in its entirety, is readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities, and they establish program accessibility requirements that include requirements applicable to play areas. See 28 C.F.R. §35.150.
EQUIPMENT
Appropriate equipment can help children and youth with disabilities participate in appropriate physical activity. Athletic equipment might need to be modified for safe use by some children and youth with disabilities. For other students with disabilities, specialized equipment may be needed. Activities involving the use of modified or specialized equipment can replace other less safe activities. Treadmills, for example, are effective in providing predictable walking and running conditions, which can be necessary and appropriate for some individuals with disabilities (Stanish, 2010). As another example, gaming systems that support movement detection technologies (e.g., Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3) can be used by some children and youth with disabilities to participate in sport simulations (Foley, 2010). Physical growth and development and changes in ability require continuous reevaluation and, as needed, modification of the fit and functionality of equipment for children and youth with disabilities.
PERSONNEL PREPARATION
Knowledgeable adults create the possibility of participation among children and youth both with and without disabilities. Physical activities may be guided by a wide range of support personnel with various levels of training including other students, general and special education teachers, paraprofessionals, adaptive physical education specialists, and related service providers (e.g., occupational therapist or speech language pathologist). Appropriate personnel preparation and professional development to adapt games and activities to various ability and fitness levels are needed in order to increase opportunities for children and youth with disabilities.
TEACHING STYLE
Inclusive teaching styles create a climate and culture of participation for children and youth with and without disabilities. The educational philosophy and beliefs of the individual teacher and the school system influence opportunity. Patterns of teaching must be informed by the need to safeguard the civil rights of all students, including those with disabilities, both by providing equal athletic opportunity and protecting students from reasonably foreseeable risks to their health and safety. In PE and athletic programs, the focus has traditionally been on competition rather than instruction, but has recently shifted to “new PE,” which focuses on improvements by the individual student. Children and youth with disabilities and those without athletic prowess require adaptive opportunities and precise instruction for concerns such as poor motor coordination (Stanish, 2010).
MANAGEMENT OF BEHAVIOR
Athletics in the school setting involve complex interactions in settings less controlled than the typical academic classroom. Team play and sportsmanship cannot be taught except through participation. Effective PE and athletics require a teacher or coach with strong behavior management skills. Certain disabilities are associated with characteristics that may interfere with the student's ability to act consistently like a good team player or otherwise conform to the social expectations of particular athletic activities. A few of these characteristics include poor impulse control, limited social awareness, and emotional lability.6 School personnel should have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to address the interactional components of disabilities within the context of competition. Children and youth with and without disabilities can participate in PE and athletics more fully when social, emotional, and behavioral interactions are directly instructed, monitored, and remediated.
PROGRAM OPTIONS
PE and athletics can be offered in various degrees of inclusion in programs and activities with children and youth without disabilities. IDEA requires that each child with a disability participates with nondisabled children in these programs and activities to the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of that child.7 Physical education services, specially designed if necessary, must be made available to every child with a disability receiving a free appropriate public education, unless the public agency enrolls children without disabilities and does not provide physical education to children without disabilities in the same grades.8 Each public agency must take steps to provide nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities, including athletics, in the manner necessary to afford children with disabilities an equal opportunity for participation in those services and activities.9 For students served under IDEA, the student's IEP must include, among other things, a statement of the special education and related services, and supplementary aids, services, and other supports that are needed to meet each child's unique needs in order for the child to: (1) advance appropriately towards attaining the annual goals; (2) be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum and to participate in extracurricular and other nonacademic activities; and (3) be educated and participate in such activities with other children with disabilities and nondisabled children.10 The IEP team, which includes both general and special education teachers, might benefit from participation by a general or adaptive physical education teacher in order to develop the IEP for certain students. Section 504 and Title II also reflect the principle of inclusion in their mandate of equal access and require that students with disabilities are served in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs.
8 The IDEA Part B regulations in 34 CFR §300.108(b) require that each child with a disability must be afforded the opportunity to participate in the regular physical education program available to nondisabled children unless the child is enrolled full time in a separate facility; or the child needs specially designed physical education, as prescribed in the child‟s IEP. The regulations in 34 CFR §300.108(d) require the public agency responsible for the education of a child with a disability who is enrolled in a separate facility to ensure that the child receives appropriate physical education services.
9 The IDEA Part B regulations in 34 CFR §300.107 address nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities.
10 The IDEA Part B regulations in 34 CFR §300.320 (a) address the content required in a child‟s IEP and §300.320(a)(4) requires a statement of the special education and related services and supplementary aids and services and other supports to be provided to the child.
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.
ASSESSMENT, PROGRESS, ACHIEVEMENT, AND GRADING
Assessment in PE and athletics should be planned and implemented so that progress and achievement can be rated accurately and fairly. Assessment instruments that compare the individual against herself or himself are able to measure both attainment and growth. These comparisons show the trajectory toward health and fitness, while avoiding the inappropriate application of some standardized benchmarks of health and fitness to children and youth with disabilities. For example, Body Mass Index has been shown to be inappropriate for people with certain disabilities who tend to have a different proportion of lean mass (Rimmer, et al., 2010). Some equipment and technologies may allow for more accurate assessments of the incremental improvements made by children and youth with disabilities. For instance, wheelchair scales increase the accurate measurement of a student's weight and a spreadsheet can track the changes. Better assessment can lead to better instruction, feedback, grading practices, and ultimately better outcomes for children and youth with disabilities.
When competitive performance is the sole or primary criterion for grades in PE classes, some children and youth with and without disabilities might earn failing grades. The methods used to grade progress and achievement can be used to encourage participation among children and youth with disabilities. For an individual child whose IEP includes annual goals for PE and athletics, the IEP must include a description of how a child's progress towards meeting the annual goals will be measured.
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