Book Review: A Teacher’s Guide to Adapted Physical Education: Including Students with Disabilities in Sports and Recreation, 4th Edition

Students with disabilities around the world are leaving special schools and special classes and are receiving their education in general education schools. In addition to attending general education classes, these students with disabilities are attending general physical education classes. Unfortunately, research has clearly demonstrated that physical educators do not feel prepared to include students with disabilities into their general physical education classes. Such findings are not surprising given that the typical physical education teacher education program in the United States only requires one course in adapted physical education, and in many countries around the world not even one adapted physical education course is required. However, many physical education teacher education programs do not have the space to add more adapted physical education classes, and other universities do not have professors with specialized knowledge to teach adapted physical education. What can be done to better prepare future and current physical educators? Online education is a relatively new method for delivering information about disability in general and more specifically how to include students with disabilities into general physical activities. The purpose of this paper is to introduce online education and present preliminary research that supports the use of online training with physical educators.

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School Administrators’ Intentions to Promote Adapted Physical Education

NASSP Bulletin ◽

10.1177/01926365211045459 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 019263652110454

Author(s):

Scott W T. McNamara ◽

Terry Rizzo ◽

Matt Townsley

Keyword(s):

Public School ◽

Physical Education ◽

Theory Of Planned Behavior ◽

Students With Disabilities ◽

Planned Behavior ◽

School Administrators ◽

Subjective Norms ◽

Adapted Physical Education ◽

High Quality ◽

Survey Results

A survey, developed with the Theory of Planned Behavior, was used to assess school administrators’ intention to promote adapted physical education (APE). Survey results indicated that when school administrators’ attitudes and subjective norms were favorable, the intention to promote APE was subsequently higher. The results indicate that if we expect public school administrators to promote APE in schools, they must know the importance of high-quality physical education to students with disabilities.

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Professional Preparedness and Psychosocial Beliefs as Predictors of Quality Physical Education and Recreation Services to Students with Disabilities

Therapeutic Recreation Journal ◽

10.18666/trj-2021-v55-i4-11040 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 55 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Thea Kavanaugh ◽

Joe Tomaka ◽

Ernesto Moralez

Keyword(s):

Physical Education ◽

Students With Disabilities ◽

Online Survey ◽

School Personnel ◽

Adapted Physical Education ◽

Quality Service ◽

Positive Attitudes ◽

Recreation Services ◽

Professional Disciplines ◽

And Training

The purpose of this study was to examine how professional preparedness and psychosocial beliefs affected behavioral intentions and quality service behaviors in providing physical education (PE) and recreation services to students with disabilities (SWD). Participants of an online survey included New Mexico adapted physical education (APE) teachers (N=42) and recreational therapists (RT; N=13) and a sample of PE teachers (N=63). Analyses revealed significant differences between PE teachers and personnel in specialty professional disciplines. APE and RT personnel reported greater positive attitudes, higher self-efficacy, greater behavioral intention, and more engagement in quality service behaviors than PE teachers. The results have implications for the selection and training of school personnel hired to provide PE and recreation services to SWD.

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An Alternative to Least Restrictive Environments: A Continuum of Support to Regular Physical Education

Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly ◽

10.1123/apaq.9.2.97 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 97-113 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Martin E. Block ◽

Patricia L. Krebs

Keyword(s):

Special Education ◽

Physical Education ◽

Students With Disabilities ◽

Regular Education ◽

Adapted Physical Education ◽

Full Time ◽

Education Professionals ◽

Regular School ◽

Special Education Professionals ◽

Levels Of Support

The concept of least restrictive environments (LRE), originally conceived by Deno (1970) and Reynolds (1962) to advocate for a range of special education placements for children with disabilities, has become synonymous with a continuum of physical education placement options for students with disabilities. Many models have been presented over the years. Options range from full-time regular physical education in a regular school to full-time adapted physical education in a special school or facility, with various placement options in between. The emphasis of these models is on varying the placement to meet the needs of the student with disabilities. Taylor (1988) has identified several flaws to the concept of LRE placement options. In addition, many special education professionals advocate placing all students with disabilities in regular education with varying levels of support (e.g., Stainback & Stainback, 1990). This paper discusses an alternative to the traditional continuum of LRE placement options. This new model presents a continuum of support which emphasizes how much and what type of assistance is provided to a particular student with disabilities that will enable him/her to succeed in regular physical education.

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A Teacher’s Guide to Including Students with Disabilities in General Physical Education (2nd ed) (2000) M. Block,

Australasian Journal of Special Education ◽

10.1017/s1030011200024799 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 24 (2-3) ◽

pp. 108

Author(s):

David Evans

Keyword(s):

Physical Education ◽

Students With Disabilities ◽

Teacher's Guide ◽

General Physical ◽

General Physical Education

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Physical Education Least Restrictive Environment Continua Used in the United States

Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly ◽

10.1123/apaq.12.2.124 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 124-138 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jim Decker ◽

Paul Jansma

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Physical Education ◽

Students With Disabilities ◽

Least Restrictive Environment ◽

The United States ◽

Geographic Region ◽

Adapted Physical Education ◽

School Year ◽

Regular Class ◽

Restrictive Environment

For over 15 years it has been public policy to educate students with disabilities, to the maximum extent possible, in the least restrictive environment (LRE) alongside their peers without disabilities. However, scarce empirical data exist documenting nationwide efforts to comply with the LRE mandate. The purpose of this study was to determine what types of LRE continua are in use in physical education throughout the United States. Subjects were physical education personnel in 452 schools throughout the United States. Data were collected regarding the usage of physical education LRE placement continua across enrollment level, grade range, metro status, and geographic region. Results indicate that while numerous (N = 26) physical education LRE continua were used during the 1988-89 school year, in most cases students with disabilities received physical education in a regular class setting with little or no access to adapted physical education. These results indicate that the utility of traditional physical education LRE placement continua may be suspect.

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