Adapted Physical Education (APE) is a sub-discipline of physical education. It is an individualized program created for students with disabilities in order to ensure safe and successful physical education opportunities. Physical education involves physical fitness, motor fitness, fundamental motor skills and patterns, aquatics skills, dance skills, individual, group games, and sports (including lifetime sports). Adapted Physical Education is a direct service, not a related service.
Students Who Receive Services
Students who qualify for adapted physical education include students with disabilities as specified in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This includes children who have:
Autism
Blindness
Deafness
Emotional Disturbance
This term also includes schizophrenia.
Hearing Impairment
Mental Retardation
Multiple Disabilities
The term does not include deaf-blindness.
Orthopedic Impairment
Other Health Impairment
Specific Learning Disability
Disorders not included: learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
Speech or Language Impairment
Traumatic Brain Injury
The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.
Visual Impairment Including Blindness
This term includes both partial sight and blindness.
Infants and toddlers who need early intervention services because of developmental delays in cognitive, physical, communication, social, emotional or adaptive development can also qualify for adapted physical education. The state can choose to include infants and toddlers who are under three-years old who are “at risk” for experiencing a developmental delay if early intervention services are not provided.
Students can also qualify for adapted physical education services under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Under these guidelines, a person with a disability is anyone who has a physical or mental impairment that limits one or more major life activities, has a record of impairment, or is regarded as having an impairment.
A fourth group of students who might qualify for adapted physical education are students who are recuperating from injuries, accidents, recovering from noncommunicable diseases, are overweight, have low skills levels, or have low levels of physical fitness. This group is not covered by legislation, but a school districts can decide to develop a plan to meet these students’ physical education needs.
Laws
Some key laws that have been influential in the advancement of APE include:
No Child Left Behind
Created in 2001, this act puts significant federal support behind the improvement of reading and mathematics scores and compromises other critical curricular areas, including physical education, health, history, art, computer science, and music (Auxter, Pyfer, Zittel, Roth, 2010).
American with Disabilities Act (P.L. 101-336)
Created in 1990, this act expanded civil rights protections for individual with disabilities in the public and private sectors. The ADA outlaws discrimination against a person with a disability in employment, public services and transportation, public accommodations, and telecommunications. The ADA requires accessibility in federal and private sectors, including physical education facilities. For example, weight rooms should have accommodate wheelchair users, gym lockers should have key locks instead of combination locks for those who need it, and gyms with stairs should also have ramps.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
Created in 1990, IDEA was the reauthorization of PL 94-142 and continued the emphasis upon FAPE, IEP, LRE, and physical education as a direct, educational service. With this reauthorization, person-first terminology was instituted, education of students with disabilities within the general curriculum and parent involvement in educational programming was emphasized.
Education for All Handicapped Children Act (P.L. 94-142)
Created in 1975, this act mandated: (a) free appropriate public education (FAPE) for all children with disabilities between the ages of 3 and 21 years; (b) Individualized Education Plan; (c) education in the Least Restrictive Environment; and (d) physical education as a direct, educational service.
To ensure that every child with a disability receives an appropriate education, the Education of the Handicapped Act of 1975 mandated that an individual education program (IEP) be developed for each student with a disability that requires specialized instruction. The IEP should be the cornerstone of the student's education. It should be the living, working document that the teacher and parents use as the basis for the instructional process.
The Rehabilitation Act (P.L. 93-112, Section 504)
Created in 1973, this act mandated that individuals with disabilities cannot be excluded from any program or activity receiving federal funds solely on the basis of the disability. Students with disabilities who do not qualify for services under IDEA, yet require reasonable accommodations to benefit from their education must have a written 504 plan. The student's disability and corresponding need for reasonable accommodation are identified and documented in the plan. All school staff involved in the provision of accommodations should be contacted by the 504 coordinator and made aware of their duties and responsibilities.
Individual Education Program or IEP
An Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) can be defined as a plan for each student, ages 3 to 21, who qualifies for adapted physical education based on an evaluation. All IEPs are outcome-oriented giving assurance that the student will benefit from special education and have real opportunities, full participation, independent living, and economic self-efficiency. IEPs are revised once a year by an IEP team. IEPs are developed by the IEP team and based on comprehensive assessment as outlined by guidelines established in IDEA.
Information in an IEP Includes
Additional information on the IEP include, but are not limited to, specialized transportation, related services, testing accommodations, and transition services.
Purpose
Federal law mandates that each student with a disability (SWD) under IDEA, and requiring special education services, have an IEP developed for him/her.
An IEP is a written statement for each SWD, outlining individualized needs and is used to establish an appropriate educational placement. Some consider the IEP to be a “management” program to guide appropriate service delivery, which includes the area of physical education.
Who Must be Present at an IEP for Physical Education Meeting
Steps in the Assessment and IEP Processes
- Referral: A student can be referred by several sources including a teacher, parent, or administrator.
- Parent Permission: Prior to assessment parent permission is required.
- 15 days to get the parents permission after the referral.
- Screening: A non-required preliminary step to determine if a full evaluation is necessary.
- Assessments: Comprehensive assessment should include formal tests, observations, and conversations with individuals involved in the student's education.
- Examples of Formal Tests (norm and standardized): TGMD-2, BOT-2, APEAS-II, CTAPE.
- Conversations: general physical educator, parent, classroom teacher, OT, PT, special educator, and student.
- Observations: in the natural setting, student and teacher.
- Informal Tests (criterion): checklists, rubrics.
IEP Timeline
- 60 days from when parent permission is received, the evaluation should be completed.
- Revisit the IEP once per year.
- Re-evaluate the IEP every 3 years unless an IEP team member requests otherwise.
Who is qualified/responsible/or should provide the assessment?
Role of the Regular Physical Educator in maintaining the IEP
IEP Tips
Do all students with disabilities need an IEP for physical education?
No, federal law mandates that each individual with a disability only under IDEA (13 disabilities) have an IEP developed for him/her if necessary to benefit from their education. If an appropriate assessment is completed and the IEP team decides the student is not safe and/or successful in general physical education without supplementary aids and services, then and IEP should be developed and services provided. A student can have IEP goals related to physical educatio
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