Adapted Physical Activity in Afterschool Programs

“In 2013–14, the number of children and youth ages 3–21 receiving special education services was 6.5 million, or about 13 percent of all public school students. Among students receiving special education services, 35 percent had specific learning disabilities.”3 There are a variety of children that are registered in their afterschool program from pre-k to the eighth grade. When you have that many kids you are bound to have some that require a physical adaptation to a game or activity. The staff in afterschool programs are usually aware of any disability, mental or physical, a child has. Disabilities are not limited to the physical aspects of afterschool programs but the cognitive side as well.

The ADA defines a person with a disability as “a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity.”1 During the afterschool program, time is allotted for students to work on homework with counselors. The counselors are aware of each student’s learning disabilities and how to work with each; extra time, different ways of reading/writing,learning numbers, etc.

Afterschool programs helps students “develop self-confidence as they explore new talents in areas that may not be addressed by the regular school curriculum.”2 This mantra stands true for any child. A few games that could be modified include:

Basketball4

-Use various size balls (size, weight, texture, color)

-Allow travelling

-Allow two hand dribble

-Disregard three second lane violation

-Use larger/lower goal

-Slow the pace, especially when first learning

-If student uses wheelchair, allow him to hold ball on his lap while pushing wheelchair

-Use beeper ball, radio under basket for individual with visual impairment

Soccer-4

-Use walking instead of running

-Have well defined boundaries

-Reduce playing area

-Play six-a-side soccer

-If student uses a wheelchair, allow him to hold ball on his lap while pushing the wheelchair

-Use a deflated ball, nerf ball, beeper ball, brightly colored ball

-Use a target that makes noise when hit

Softball-4

-Use velcro balls and mitts

-Use larger or smaller bats

-Use a batting tee

-Reduce the base distances

-Use Incrediballs

-Shorten the pitching distance

-If individual is in wheelchair, allow them to push ball off ramp, off lap, or from tee

-Use beeper balls

-Provide a peer to assist

-Players without disabilities play regular depth defense

-Students without disabilities count to ten before tagging out person with disability

These three activities are only a handful of countless games and activities that can be easily modified to help keep each child with a disability involved. Afterschool programs are designed for every child. Every child needs a safe place to go to continue growing and socializing after the school bell rings.

RESOURCES

1 ADA National Network. What is the definition of disability under the ADA? https://adata.org/faq/what-definition-disability-under-ada

2Concept to Classroom. Key Principles of Developing Afterschool Curriculum. http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/afterschool/implementation.html

3National Center for Education Statistics (May 2016). Children and Youth with Disabilities. http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cgg.asp

4 PE Central (2015). Adaptations for Specific Activities.

http://www.pecentral.org/adapted/adaptedactivities.html

Picture credit: http://users.rowan.edu/~marinc71/ExpertPage.html