The article I chose is all about inclusion in physical education classes, called “Inclusive P.E. for Children with Special Needs.” (Found at http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art46155.asp ) The article basically lists the positive benefits of an inclusive classroom. First off, she discusses some of the immediate thoughts of a parent when they have a child who has special needs. Then she discusses some of the benefits of having a child who has special needs in sports and in an inclusive classroom. Children who have special needs can indeed have some great influences in attitude and the positive fun atmosphere in games. There are so many positive reasons for teachers as well because they can learn strategies and new ways of teaching from those that have special needs.
In my own experience and research, there are so many reasons to have children included in the mainstream physical education class. It can first of all simply help with the happiness of the child, because no one wants to be left out. Also, what a child with special needs can learn from those children in the mainstream class is enormous. That’s why peer tutors are so great, because what a child can learn from their peers as opposed to their teachers can be huge. To go along with this, I received a link to a video that I loved called The Butterfly Circus. It really shows how people can have a great influence on those that have disabilities, and the huge worth of people with disabilities. I encourage you to watch it, because it’s wonderful and very inspiring, but I will warn you it’s 20 minutes long. http://www.thedoorpost.com/hope/film/?film=4dd298f102c77b625cf37a9e7744ac68
However on the flip side, a lot of us are in an Adaptive P.E. Class here at BYU where we work with students who are not included in their school’s P.E. Class but in an Adapted P.E. Class. With all these advantages to inclusion, why do we not include these children? I know we’ve learned about Least Restrictive Environment, and for some children perhaps they can’t be in a mainstream P.E. Class, but with all these benefits of inclusion, shouldn’t we try our hardest to include them? We read an article in our Adaptive P.E. Class that talks about how simply training our P.E. teachers with certain skills, we could include children with special needs in our mainstream P.E. classes.
In my volunteering for Adaptive P.E., there are a lot of kids in the class who if they were in the regular P.E. class, they would fall quickly behind the other students and eventually, the teacher would probably have to begin teaching two different skills. They honestly would not be able to keep up with the other children, and it could cause a great difficulty in the class. Also, some of the games children play in the mainstream class, the children in the Adaptive P.E. class just can’t understand the rules or the purpose of the game, and having them in the mainstream class could cause a lot of problems and could potentially take too much of the teacher’s time away from the rest of the class.
So after all this, my question to you is this: Should we try harder to include those that are in an adaptive P.E. class into the mainstream? The benefits are obvious. Or should we try harder to have more adaptive P.E. classes, because there are many reasons that having children in the mainstream class could have its downfalls?
This has always been one of the hardest questions to answer and there will probably always be a debate about it. In my opinion, if there was some way of being able to do both inclusion and an adapted PE class, that would be optimal, but that would also be too time consuming. My goal is always towards inclusion as best as possible because of all the benefits listed in the articles. In my experience, we should always try to work as much towards the goal of inclusion as possible. When that's not possible, we have adapted PE classes so that the students with disabilities are still able to build their physical skills and those without disabilities can also develop. Another possible solution to the inclusion problem would be to include all students with disabilities into the PE classes. When they are able to be included in the activities with reasonable adaptations, they will be included with the rest of the class. When the activity cannot include them, then peer tutors or another teacher will work with them to help them build the skills they need off to the side or in another room. Again, the problem is having the qualified personal to accomplish such an idea.
ReplyDeleteI think inclusion in PE classes is wonderful for the child with a disability. Allowing them to feel part of a normal class setting builds confidence and improves their social skills. I sat in on Orem High's Adaptive PE class one day where we went bowling. One student had just "graduated" from the adaptive program and was bowling on the other side of the alley with the school's normal bowling class. I thought about this and realized what a proud and exciting day that must have been for this student. The adaptive PE teacher said that she was still trying to keep an eye on him, but from a distance, to make sure he would be okay in the new environment. Observing this makes me a big supporter of inclusion. I think along with the student, it also benefits the students without disabilities by exposing them to being around someone with disabilities. Many students in schools feel uncomfortable around those with disabilities and I think experience is the best way to break down these barriers.
ReplyDeleteInclusion is not always a realistic thing though, so I think having peer tutors in the adaptive classes is extremely important. Providing them with as many opportunities to be around their peers as possible will help them in both social interactions and self confidence.
I agree that inclusion into a mainstream P.E. class is very helpful to some students. Mainly it helps those who are able to keep up with the other kids with just a little bit of help. If the child had a peer tutor with them then there would not be much distraction for the teacher to take his attention from the rest of the class. I also believe that for many students it would not be beneficial to be in a mainstream class. They would get to be with their other peers, but I think there are some who would be lost and confused even with a peer tutor there. I think that whether they are in adaptive or mainstream P.E. should be decided by the severity of their disability. For many students, it is better to play games and learn with peers at their same ability level and for others it is very helpful to participate with those who have no disabilities that can be role models.
ReplyDeleteI firmly believe that the inclusion of children with special needs in a physical education classroom is a wonderful thing. I also feel strongly that teacher training needs to be preparing teachers for the inclusion classroom as much as possible, and that as many aids as possible should be available to give individual attention where needed. I feel that the benefits that children with and without disabilities can have by learning together in a physical education classroom out way the possible disadvantages. More than learning games and exercising, being in a classroom of students with a variety of mental and physical capabilities will teach the children to be loving and accepting of others. This charitable characteristic is something I believe to be far greater than anything else learned. It is a quality that all of the children involved will carry with them forever. This charity along with the other benefits of inclusive physical education affirm my belief that it is the way to go whenever possible.
ReplyDeleteWhen I worked at Midway Elementary school they were very excited about inclusion. I believe that it is great to include the children with their peers and saw so many positive effects from it. Inclusion can be hard for many schools, however, because for each student we had to have a TA with that student to help assist them and make sure they were behaving. Some schools may not have these resources so in that case I believe that adaptive PE is definitely the next best thing. Working in an adaptive PE class has opened my eyes to the work you can do with those children and how fun it is for them. I guess, my answer is yes to both. Every school should do what they are able to but inclusion definitely has amazing results.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that inclusion into regular physical education classes is something we should strive for with students with disabilities. Just like we learned in our adapted p.e. class, p.e. teachers need to learn different games and skills for having an inclusion class. If they have this knowledge it will be easier to bring in students with disabilities and allow them to have just as much fun as the other students. the interactions between students with or with out disabilities and will help other to understand what is going on and create friendships. Sports is a great way to keep children active and have a fun time to build friendships and become more social. I believe that there are much more benefits to inclusive physical education, and we should participate in it as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteI think that teachers and schools should work harder to include children with disabilities into their general physical education classes. The benefits of inclusion have been proven and the opportunities that it gives them to develop both socially and physically are endless. Fellow classmates will often work to include the child with disabilities giving them a sense of belonging and friendship. I think that by keeping students in adaptive physical education classes rather than including them in general physical education we would be prohibiting progress in ways that cannot be measured. In pursuit of the child's Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) we, as educators, should be constantly working to prepare the child for mainstreaming and independence. I can see how mainstreaming children who are not ready can be frustrating and bring downfalls, which is why it is also important to make sure that we prepare the students for inclusion in regular classes. It is also vital that we make sure to keep track of those we include in general PE classes so that if they are falling behind we can be sure to work with them so that they can continue to be successful where they are placed.
ReplyDeleteI feel that inclusion is always best for every student that can handle it. It is the highest goal for every student. In the class I work in even the students who are so low functioning they did not qualify for adapted PE we took to their grade level PE to help out and socialize. I also feel that teachers should be taught options so children with special needs can participate instead of being pushed aside or else ignored. Having the inclusion as a PE class instead of an academic class allows for more modeling of appropriate behavior as well as not being boring and completely above the students head, with help of course. For many students this may be their only interaction with others their age all week so it is important to make sure that this option is available to them. I understand that some classes simply cannot make this work with time and the number of available aides to help out but it should always be a goal.
ReplyDeleteThere's definitely not a clear cut answer to this question and there's pros and cons to both sides. In my opinion, I think it's okay to have kids with special needs in an adapted PE class. Like Heather said, if everyone was included then the teacher would have to start teaching two different skills. Already, in the adapted PE class I volunteer in each week there are some students with more severe disabilities that can't do everything some of the students with less severe disabilities can. So my question is if we can't even have inclusion in our adapted PE class how can we have it in regular PE?
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a difficult question to answer. There are obvious benefits to including students into regular P.E. classes but I don't think that every situation is the same. One of the underlying themes of special education that I can see is that we need to make our teaching individualized for our students. Not all of our students are going to be the exact same. In my experience I can think of many students with disabilities that would thrive in a regular P.E. class but I can also think of students that would really struggle. I think with each individual situation it is important to way the pros and the cons of weather or not to mainstream a student into regular P.E. classes. If you believe that it is going to be a positive experience for your student than you should do it. It is also important to consider the P.E. teachers themselves. it is important to decide if the teacher logistically can accommodate a student or students with disabilities as well as all of the other students.It is important to consider all of the variables that may effect the student and to always choose what will be best for the individual not for you or for anyone else. Our primary goal is to help our students and we need to make sure that we never loose track of that.
ReplyDelete[Late--sick.] I believe that there are pluses to full inclusion and to adapted PE programs. I think it depends on the students capabilities and how accommodating the student can be balanced with providing for the rest of the class. I really like the idea of having peer tutors to work with the special education students. I think that this not only benefits the special education students but also the peer tutors because they get immersed in a social situation that they otherwise may not have and can develop tolerance and understanding. However, if the individual with disabilities feels out of his or her comfort zone in this location, I think it is our responsibility to cater to him or her and find a more suitable situation, this could very well be adaptive P.E. I think that in either situation, we just have to focus on providing for ALL of our students equally and that it very much depends on the student's character.
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