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Adapted Physical Education (APE)
Teaching Strategies
Disability Awareness Class
Printable version (pdf) The Disability Awareness Class is an excellent collaborative teaching strategy to:
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Orientate regular education students to the facts and safety issues of common disabilities they encounter in their school setting
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Opportunity for collaborative teaching with the regular Physical Educator and the Adapted P.E. Educator (also may include specialists, i.e. Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist, Speech Therapist)
| Quotes from a regular education high school class who participated in a recent (12/2005) Disability Awareness Class in the Anchorage School District. |
“I thought it was a great way to see what you and the kids do and to see what it was like to be in their condition”
“Being a soccer player myself, it's rewarding to know that even handicapped kids can enjoy the game too!”
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Class outline
Introduction
This needs to be conducted without the special needs students in the room, they can join the class after the introduction, this is if you are bringing special needs students to join the class, which is very effective.
- Introduce any staff collaborating with the lesson
- Discuss:
- Expectations and general information of students with disabilities (if they are joining the class later in the period)
- Confidentiality: sympathetic to not discussing disabilities of special needs students outside of class (awareness)
Skills
- Discussion of
- vision impairment
- hearing impairment
- asthma
- spinal cord injury
- cerebral palsy
- Discussion of
- safety issues
- disabilities
- confidentiality
- Stations - students will rotate through five stations simulating each disability
- asthma: Jump Rope
(using straws for students to breathe through)
- vision impaired: Obstacle course
*Sighted guide needs to pair with each vision impaired
(using goggles, put Vaseline on the lens to impair view and/or use scarves as blind folds)
- spinal cord injury: Basketball
(using wheelchairs and scooters students will try to engage in basic basketball skills)
- hearing impaired: aerobic steps
(using ear plugs and headsets, students will try to step up and down on aerobic steps)
- Cerebral Palsy: floor hockey
(using theraband, restrain arm or leg or both to simulate extension while maneuvering a hockey puck)
Activity
Floor Hockey / Special Olympics
Two floor hockey games with all the simulated disabilities making sure each student simulating a disability has an able partner including students with disabilities
Closure
Questions/Discussion of activities
Brief written evaluation
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Students simulating asthma - they are jump roping while breathing through straws. |
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Students with disabilities and those simulating disabilities working together in a game of floor hockey, it was a heart warming sight! |
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