Adapted Physical Education for Special Students

Adapted Physical Education for Special Students

It is a common fact that all work without any play makes an individual a dull person. With only his or her intellectual capabilities stimulated, every individual including student with special needs in special ed schools, must always be encouraged to engage in physical activities. However, like in regular classroom curriculum, special ed school physical education should also be adaptable to the abilities of their students since these individuals have different capacities in terms of their motor skills. In this case, special ed schools and their teachers must consider what the best physical activity is for their students as guided by available guidelines prescribed by law or those of IDEA and IEP.

It is already known to everyone that agencies such as the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) and the American Association of Physical Activity and Recreation (AAPAR) "recommend that students be considered eligible for adapted physical education services if their comprehensive score is 1.5 standard deviations below the mean on a norm-reference test, or at least two years below age level on criterion-reference tests or other tests of physical and motor fitness" (NASPE and AAPAR, 2010). In this case, adapted physical education is referred to physical activities that are designed to consider the capabilities of students in as far as their abilities are concerned. As such, even students with special needs can enjoy and benefits of engaging with physical activities that are outside the confinement of the classroom for a more holistic development of both mind and body.

However, there are certain issues or loopholes in as far as the provision and consideration of physical education for students with special needs are concerned. For one, there is a need for standardization since "assessments for adapted physical education differs from one state to another" (NASPE and AAPAR, 2010). With this in mind, significant agencies in both the government and the academe but coordinate in order to avoid instances where the physical capacity of one student with special need is discriminate in one state despite of recognition of his or her ability is acceptable in another state.

More so, given that "Congress passed the Education and All Handicapped Children Act in 1975 with subsequent reauthorization evolving into IDEA where such reauthorization currently requires that the education of children with disabilities be provided in the least-restrictive environment... more precisely, each public agency must ensure, to the maximum extent appropriate, that any child with disability is educated alongside his or her typically developing peers" (NASPE and AAPAR, 2010). Such issue is inclined with the long-time argument of segregation and inclusion where students with special needs are categorized according to their capacities. Given the acceptability of this issue, it should be on the hand of the teachers who should choose physical activities for students based on standard basis and not because of how they are classified by law.

As a whole, physical education must always be encouraged among students beside their daily routine of learning lessons within the confinement of the classroom. Adapted physical education has been made available because it further encourages the application of physical activities for students with special needs so that they can also benefit the physical opportunities provided to students in mainstream school. Regardless of the occurrence of politics in as far as the physical education of students are involved, it should be recognized that it is not the abilities of students with special needs that hampers their opportunities for physical education but on how these activities can benefit them in order to reduce stress within the classroom to further discover potentials through physical activities.

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