ADAPTED PHYSICAL EDUCATION

INTRODUCTION
Physical Education is "education through the physical". It aims to
develop students’ physical competence and knowledge of movement and
safety, and their ability to use these to perform in a wide range of activities
associated with the development of an active and healthy lifestyle. It also
develops students’ confidence and generic skills, especially those of
collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking and aesthetic
appreciation. These, together with the nurturing of positive values and
attitudes in PE, provide a good foundation for students’ lifelong and life-wide
learning.
Adapted Physical Education the IDEA Mandates, Trends and
Issues, Training Adapted physical education (APE) is specially designed
instruction in physical education intended to address the unique needs of
individuals. While the roots of adapted physical education can be traced back
to Swedish medical gymnastics in the 1700s, adapted physical education, as
practiced today, has been significantly shaped by the mandates of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This act, enacted in 1997,
amended the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which was enacted
in 1975 and stipulated that all children with disabilities had a right to special
education.
Current Trends in Physical Education Instructor: Sharon Linde Show
bio Cite this lesson Physical education that for years had been scaled back in
schools facing budget concerns increasingly is being seen as an important
educational tool. Explore current trends in physical education including a
growing recognition of the value of exercise and its connection to improved
academic performance.
Least restrictive environment (LRE) means kids who get special
education should be in the same classrooms as other kids as much as
possible. LRE isn’t a place — it’s a principle that guides a child’s education
program. The LRE for each child may look different because kids are unique.
Adapted physical education became a significant tool that plays a greater role
in the development process of persons with disabilities, specifically under the
13 exceptionalities. Adapted physical education is physical education that has
been adapted specifically for an individual. This also means that adapted
physical education is not intended solely for students with disabilities, in
general perspective. To teach adapted physical education is to differentiate
your instruction. In other content area classes, teachers are expected to
differentiate their teaching. All students are expected to learn the same
content, but how they are expected to learn that content is up to the teacher.
When teaching a general physical education class, you will have students
who excel, students who struggle, and students, often the majority, who fall
somewhere in the middle. This is the same for all content areas, that is why
there is a need for differentiation; differentiation helps all students learn while
being challenged. You are meeting your students where they are at, rather
than teaching the same information to everyone and hoping they learn.
Adapted physical education (APE) is a form of physical activity
modified to meet the needs of children with special needs. The adapted PE
games are designed for students who have physical or mental disabilities that
limit their ability to participate in regular physical activity. It can include kids
with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, muscular
dystrophy, and more.
In addition to providing a safe environment for all students to enjoy
physical activity regardless of disability, APE also provides unique
opportunities for socialization and inclusion.
Adaptive PE games can be modified by changing space requirements or
using adaptive equipment such as specialized balls rather than standard
ones. Making modifications will make them accessible not only for those with
disabilities but also for those without.

GOALS OF ADAPTED PHYSICAL EDUCATION

 Builds a foundation for lifelong healthy living
 Develop physically literate individuals who have the knowledge, skills and
confidence to enjoy a lifetime of healthy physical activity.

ACCOMMODATIONS
 It is an alteration of environment curriculum format or equipment that
allows an individual with disability to gain access to cotent and/or
complete assigned tasks.
 Provide students with opportunities to achieve the same outcomes and to
obtain the same benefits as students without disabilities.
 To remove barriers and ensure equality.

TRANSITION PLAN
 The section of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) that outlines
transition goals and services to the students.
 Identify the students needs, strenghts, skills and interests.
IEP team
 Students
 Parents
 General education teacher
 Special Education teacher/ provider
 Local education Agency (LEA) representative
 Individual who can interpret the insturctional implications of assessment
results.
ADAPTATIONS
Changes made to the learning environment, available equipment, or
how assignments or assessments are completed by a student.
MODIFICATIONS
A change that helps a student overcome or work around the disability.
IEP- Individualize Education Program
IDEA- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (1975)

CURRENT TRENDS AND ISSUES IN ADAPTED PHYSICAL EDUCATION

The IDEA Mandates, Trends and Issues, Training

Adapted physical education (APE) is specially designed instruction in
physical education intended to address the unique needs of individuals. While
the roots of adapted physical education can be traced back to Swedish
medical gymnastics in the 1700s, adapted physical education, as practiced
today, has been significantly shaped by the mandates of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This act, enacted in 1997, amended the
Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which was enacted in 1975 and
stipulated that all children with disabilities had a right to special education.

The IDEA Mandates

Specifically, IDEA defined special education as "specially designed
instruction, at no cost to parents or guardians, to meet the unique needs of a
child with a disability, including–(A) instruction conducted in the classroom, in
the home, in hospitals, and institutions, and in other settings; and (B)
instruction in physical education." The inclusion of physical education in the
definition of special education is significant for two reasons. First, it identified
physical education as a direct service that must be provided to all students
who qualify for special education services as opposed to related services,
such as physical or occupational therapy, that are required only when they are
needed for a child to benefit from a special education service. Second, it
highlighted the importance of physical education for students with disabilities.

IDEA also defined physical education, mandated that all special education
services be delivered in the least restrictive environment (LRE), and
prescribed a management document called an Individualized Education
Program (IEP). Physical education was defined as "the development of: (A)
physical and motor fitness; (B) fundamental motor skills and patterns; and (C)
skills in aquatics, dance, and individual and group games and sports
(including intramural and lifetime sports." IDEA further delineated that
"physical education services, specially designed if necessary, must be made
available to every handicapped child receiving a free appropriate public
education" and that "if specially designed physical education is prescribed in a
child's individualized education program, the public agency responsible for the
education of that child shall provide the service directly, or make
arrangements for it to be provided through other public or private programs."

With respect to LRE, IDEA stated the following: "To the maximum extent
appropriate, children with disabilities, including those in public or private
institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who do not have
disabilities; and … special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of
children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only
when the nature and severity of the disability is such that education in regular
classes cannot be achieved satisfactorily."

To ensure that IDEA was implemented as intended, the act required that IEPs
must be developed and monitored for all students who qualify for special
education. The IEP is developed by a team and includes the student's present
level of performance; annual goals and short-term instructional objectives;
specific educational services that will be provided and the extent to which the
student will participate in regular education programs; any needed transition
services; the projected dates for the initiation and duration of services; and
objective criteria and procedures for evaluating, at least annually, progress on
the stated goals and instructional objectives.

Finally, IDEA mandated that qualified personnel deliver special education

instruction. In this context, "qualified" meant that a person has "met State
educational agency approved or recognized certification, licensing,
registration, or other comparable requirements which apply to the area in
which he or she is providing special education or related services."

In summary, the legal basis for adapted physical education results from the
mandates that require that all students who qualify for special education must
receive physical education. If specially designed physical education is
required, then these services must be stated in the IEP, delivered in the LRE,
and provided by a qualified teacher.

It is important to note that while IDEA requires that all students who qualify for
special education have a right to adapted physical education if needed to
address their unique needs, adapted physical education is, can, and should
be provided to all students who have unique physical and motor needs that
cannot be adequately addressed in the regular physical education program. It
is not uncommon, for example, for many students to have temporary
orthopedic disabilities such as sprained ankles, broken limbs, or muscle
strains during their school years. Short-term APE programs would be
appropriate for these students both to assist in the rehabilitation of their
injuries and to minimize any fitness and/or skill deficits that may occur during
their recovery. Other students may have mild physical or health impairments,
such as asthma or diabetes, that do not interfere with their educational
performance enough to qualify them for special education but that are severe
enough to warrant special accommodations and considerations in physical
education.

In the United States physical education and most major sport/recreation

programs for youth are school centered, hence the emphasis on education in
the terms physical education and adapted physical education. In other
countries, physical education, recreation, and sport are commonly conducted
independent or outside of the schools and sponsored by other organizations
and agencies. In these settings, the term adapted physical activity may be
used instead of adapted physical education.

Trends and Issues

Although IDEA has provided a sound legal basis for adapted physical
education, there are still a number of issues that need to be resolved by the
profession to ensure that the physical and motor needs of all students with
disabilities are appropriately addressed. Two major issues relate to who is
qualified to provide APE services and how decisions are made regarding the
appropriate physical education placement for students with disabilities.

Who is qualified? While IDEA specified that physical education services,

specially designed if necessary, must be made available to every child with a
disability receiving a free appropriate education, it stopped short of defining
who was qualified to provide these services. IDEA stated that it was the
responsibility of the states to establish teacher certification requirements.
Unlike other special education areas (e.g., teachers of individuals with mental
retardation or learning disabilities), most states did not have in place defined
certification requirements for teachers of adapted physical education. Given
the fiscal constraints placed on schools by the mandates of IDEA, most states
were reluctant to place additional demands on their schools by forcing them to
hire APE specialists. As a result, by 1991 only fourteen states had actually
defined an endorsement or certification in adapted physical education.

The existence of a mandate that required that services be provided but that
did not define who was qualified to provide these services created a dilemma
for both teachers and students. In many cases, regular physical educators
with little or no training related to individuals with disabilities and/or therapists
with no training in physical education were assigned the responsibility of
addressing the physical education needs of students with disabilities. Since
these teachers do not have the prerequisite skills to address the needs of
these students, these needs are largely going unaddressed. To respond to
this situation, the National Consortium for Physical Education and Recreation
for Individuals with Disabilities (NCPERID) created national standards and a
voluntary national certification exam for adapted physical education. The
adapted physical education national standards (APENS) delineate the content
that adapted physical educators should know across fifteen standards. The
national exam has been administered annually since 1997 at more than eighty
test sites in the United States.
While the creation of the APE national standards and the national certification
exam have been significant steps toward addressing the issue of who is
qualified to teach APE, much more work still needs to be done. The NCPERID
is working with a small number of states on developing a process through
which states can adopt the NCPERID APE standards and APE national
certification exam as their state credential. It is hoped that a uniform
certification similar to the APENS exam will be adopted by all states by 2010,
and this issue will be resolved.

How are placement decisions made? The intent of defining physical

education as a direct service, specially designed if necessary, in IDEA was to
ensure that the physical and motor development needs of these students
were not ignored or sacrificed at the expense of addressing other educational
needs. This emphasis was warranted given the extensive research
documenting marked physical and motor development delays and increased
health risks (e.g., coronary heart disease and obesity) in many children with
disabilities. There is also a wealth of research that has shown that well-
designed and implemented physical education programs can reduce both
physical and motor delays and many health risks in students with disabilities.
While the intent of the law was clear, how it has been implemented has been
less then optimal.

What has happened in many schools is that the majority, if not all, of the
students with disabilities are being dumped into regular physical education
classes. The justification for this practice can be linked to a number of
subissues. First, like many other problems in the schools, most schools were
not provided with sufficient resources to implement the mandates of IDEA.
Given the need to comply with legal mandates and limited resources, many
schools were forced to look for ways to meet the letter of the law using their
existing resources. Two particular mandates shaped this behavior. First, part
of the LRE mandate stated that students with disabilities be educated in the
regular education environments to the maximum extent appropriate. Second,
the IEP mandates required only that specially designed services be defined
and monitored in the IEP. Many schools therefore deduced that if they put all
the students with disabilities in regular physical education, then they would be
addressing part of the LRE mandate and at the same time avoiding the
additional time, effort, and costs related to actually creating specially designed
physical education programs. Fiscally this solution was very attractive given
that most schools lacked qualified personnel who were trained to assess the
physical and motor needs of students with disabilities and who could make
appropriate decisions regarding what would be the most appropriate (LRE)
physical education environment in which to address their needs.

Ideally, this practice would have been identified and stopped during the early
years of implementing the law via the required state and federal monitoring
procedures. Unfortunately, it was not for a number of reasons. One of the
reasons was that the IEP document was used as the primary monitoring
document. Because physical education was not identified as a needed
specially designed service, it was not monitored. In the rare cases in which
parents understood their rights and demanded specially designed physical
education to meet the unique needs of their child, schools tended to handle
these requests on an individual basis and subcontract to have these services
delivered.

Training
Through competitive grant provisions associated with the Education for All
Handicapped Children Act and subsequently IDEA, a number of colleges and
universities have developed pre-service adapted physical education teacher-
training programs. Because adapted physical education training builds upon
the traditional teacher training in physical education, most adapted physical
education training occurs at the master's level. Most undergraduate physical
education teacher preparation programs now include at least one APE course
as part of their required curriculum. In recent years, many regular physical
education teacher-training programs have also started to offer three-to twelve-
credit emphases or minor areas of study in adapted physical education as
part of their undergraduate programs. These emphasis areas typically are
composed of one to three theory courses and one to two practical
experiences where the students can apply their APE course work.