Article Reviews

Inclusion Articles

Including Children with Autism in General Physical Education

Zhang, J & Griffin, A (2007): Including Children with Autism in General

            Physical Education, Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 78:3, 33-

            50.

In the article Including Students with Autism in General Physical Education: Eight Possible Solutions, by Griffin and Zhang, they discussed many possible solutions to make a physical education class more inclusive.  Within the first couple pages of the article, it stressed the importance of meeting the individual needs in a supportive environment.  The point of inclusion is to make the content and curriculum of the general education class accessible to the student with a disability.  The first way to create an inclusive environment is to break down your own personal barriers you may have against students with disabilities.  The author states, “the physical educator needs to have a positive attitude toward children with autism” (Griffin 33).  If the general physical education teacher is willing to learn and modify, they have already accomplished the first step to creating an inclusive class.  Another step is to have the P.E. teacher conduct an informal assessment.  The P.E. must find the students present levels of performance to see what the child can already do.  This can be in regards to motor skills and behavioral/social levels.  The authors also suggest setting up the class for various ability levels.  If you are doing an activity that is more complex, you can have stations that appeal to students with lower ability levels.  These stations may not be as competitive, and the students will have a choice in which activities they can participate.  Griffin and Zhang also suggest appropriate communication styles for interacting with students with autism (Griffin 37).  For example, directions need to be kept to a minimum, and literate language should be used.  If a teacher tends to ramble on while talking, the student with autism will begin to mentally and/or physical check out of that class.  In order to create the most inclusive class possible, teachers need to utilize these strategies that are stated in the article by Griffin and Zhang.   

Inclusion in General Physical Education: Changing the Culture

April Tripp, Terri Rizzo & Linda Webbert (2007): Inclusion in General Physical

Education: Changing the Culture, Journal of Physical Education, Recreation &

Dance 78:2, 32-36. 

The article Inclusion in General Physical Education: Changing the Culture, discusses the importance of the true meaning of inclusion.  As a physical education teacher, it is easy to say that you have an inclusive environment during your physical education class. The authors of this article state that two types of exclusion still occur in our public schools (Tripp 32).  Complete exclusion exists when a child with a disability is completely segregated from the remainder of the school population.  Functional exclusion exists when a child with a disability is place into a general education class, but is not given the same role as the peers their age.  For example, during functional exclusion, a student may be given the task of keeping score, handling equipment or do activities like walking the track or playing catch with the paraprofessional.  It is important to keep in mind, that just because the child is on your roll sheet, and present in your class does not mean you are using the inclusion model.  This authors of this article interviewed students about their attitudes towards inclusion and exclusion.  Students who were excluded developed feelings of anger, worthlessness and isolation.  When students were included into the class, they felt proud, happy, confident and responsible (Tripp 33).  It is evident that most students enjoy being included in the general education class, rather than feeling left out or excluded from the rest of the school community.  A few other things that this article suggested was changing at an administrative level.  For example, it may be up to the physical education teacher to adjust the curriculum to meet a child’s need.  This may require authentic assessments based off of different skill levels and much peer tutoring and collaborative learning.  For teachers who are used to the old school approach to physical education, these types of assessments and activities may be difficult for them to implement.  The inclusive physical education model can benefit all students, not just the child with the disability.  It takes much planning and effort, but in the end it may change a child’s attitudes and beliefs towards living an active lifestyle. 

Attitudes of Greek Physical Education Teachers Towards Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in Physical Education

Doulkeridou, A. (2011): ATTITUDES OF GREEK PHYSICAL EDUCATION

            TEACHERS TOWARDS INCLUSION OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

            IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION CLASSES. International Journal of Special

            Education. 26:1, 1-11. 

I really enjoyed reading the article from the International Journal of Special Education by the scholars of Aristotle University and Palacky University.  It was very interesting to see the viewpoints of professionals from another country.  When I think of Greece, I think of beautiful beaches, good food, Greek Gods and ancient Olympic history.  I have never once thought about their educational system, let alone their attitudes towards inclusion.  In the beginning of the article, they give the definition of inclusion, which states, “the education of all children with disabilities (mild to severe) in regular education even if special resources are needed to make it effective.” (Doulkeridou 1).  Like we discussed in class, inclusion is often a misconception.  It seems as if the Greek’s know what the true definition of inclusion is and according to the article, they implement it pretty well.  Inclusion is not just desegregating the Special Education Population with the remainder of the school.  Inclusion requires the support to make the learning environment equally accessible to all students. This should be done with all students no matter what their ability level is.  The results of this study found that most Physical Education Teachers have a very positive attitude in regards to the inclusion of students with disabilities in general physical education.  At the same time, the teachers found it difficult while implanting inclusive plans.  They believed that support was necessary for them.  They suggested that support can come from teacher preparation programs, seminars, and an inclusive curriculum mandated by the Ministry of Education.  I thought the last suggestion was very interesting, it seems as if all inclusive sports, games, and skills were a part of our state standards, it may be easier for a PE teacher to make their classroom more inviting towards students with disabilities. 

Consultation Articles

Consult and Support Students with Special Needs in Inclusive Classrooms

Fetner, Wendy. Consult and Support Students with Special Needs in Inclusive

Classrooms (2005). Intervention in School and Clinic, 41:1, 32-35.

In this article by Wendy Fetner Dover, it gave very structured tips on how consult with another colleague to create the best possible outcome for the student.  Below I list a couple tips that I found useful.  This article will be very handy to refer back to at the beginning of each school year to make sure you are doing everything you can to have a successful consultation process.

1. Develop a Written Schedule: Set times that are convenient for all parts of the collaboration team at the beginning of the school year. 

2. Review Student Work Together: As teachers we should be working hard to educate the child as a whole, therefore if we review the work together we can easily talk about strategies to incorporate into that child’s education. 

3. Conduct in class observations

4. Analyze the classroom environment: If you do an in class observation and notice something is getting in the way of that child’s learning let the teacher know. 

Efficient and Effective Formats for Collaborative Consultation

Reinhiller, Noell.  Efficient and Effective Formats for Collaborative Consultation (2000). 

Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 10:2, 173-184.

The article Efficient and Effective Formats for Collaborative Consultation, by Noell Reinhiller, talks about the many types of consultation that can take place in an educational setting.  In the introduction of the article, I like how it referred to different ways to consult with your colleagues.  The type that I feel that I will use the most as an Adapted Physical Education Teacher is the “indirect service delivery with a triadic model” (Reinhiller 174).  Through this service the consultant will analyze the situation, discuss it with the consultee, in which the consultee will provide direct services to the client.  An example of this would be providing the general education physical education teacher with some tools to make the curriculum more accessible for their student (client).  This article also goes into detail about the importance of communication skills.  The consultant and consultee must both make an effort to be positive, constructive communicators or else their goal may not get accomplished. 

Enabling Outcomes for Students with Developmental Disabilities through Collaborative Consultation

Villeneuve, M., Hutchinson, N.  Enabling Outcomes for Students with Developmental

Disabilities through Collaborative Consultation (2012).  The Qualitative Report,

17:97, 1-29.

This article discussed the educational wide approach to collaborative consultation in Canada.  The focus was on school-based occupational therapy and why they are a large part of the consultation process.  I enjoyed reading about this because I feel that during a consultative process, an occupational therapist and an adapted physical education specialist should work very closely.  I love the idea of creating a motor lab where the APE specialist can work on locomotor skills, the occupational therapist can work with the child on fine motor skills and the physical therapist can work with the child on gross motor skills.  There were three themes this study focused on that were necessary for a consultation process; educational programming, communication practices and leadership practices for educators.  Each participant had differing views on what these look like.  I think it is important to receive proper support from an administrative level to make sure everyone has the same expectations of what consultation is.  Once the educators, service providers, administrators, parents and students are all on the same page, then the consultation process can successfully begin. 

Collaboration Articles

Voices from the Field: Skill Sets Needed for Effective Collaboration and Co-Teaching

Brinkmann, J., Twiford, T. Voices from the Field: Skill Sets Needed for Effective

Collaboration and Co-Teaching (2012). National Council of Professionals of

Educational Administration, 1:8, 1-13. 

This article by Brinkmann and Twiford studied the skills needed to be successful in a collaborative setting (Brinkmann 1).  Collaboration emerged from the legislation of the No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, in hopes to benefit all children and give them a right to a proper education.  It is important to be informed of the history of education, especially focused the history of students with disabilities.  There has been much legislation earned by the disability community that should be honored at school.  Providing a LRE for a child to learn is the law, and if a school district is not honoring that, then they are at risk for a lawsuit.  A proactive approach the educational world is taking as a whole is to have intensive teacher preparation programs that provide teachers with the tools to make classrooms more inclusive (Brinkmann 4).  After teachers are credentialed their training should not come to a stop.  They should be eager to learn the latest methods of collaboration to create a better environment for their students. 

Collaboration Between Team Members in Inclusive Educational Settings

Nochajski, Susan. Collaboration Between Team Members in Inclusive Educational

Settings (2001).  The Hayword Press, 101-112.

A study on collaboration and inclusion was done across five school districts in New York.  Each of the districts included students with various disabilities including learning disabilities, CP, developmental delays, down syndrome and emotional/behavioral disorders.  Each participant was asked to give a definition on what they thought collaboration was.  Popular terms that came up by the interviewees were communication and coordination. A small percentage of the participants brought up problem solving and consultation.  I thought these results were very interesting because after taking an entire course on collaboration I am able to see the much broader definition to it.  I was in the same shoes as the majority of the participants in this study prior to this class.  I thought of it as “meeting time” spent in communication with your colleagues, not necessarily as analyzing situations and problem solving. The conclusion of this study stated that collaboration is “mutually advantageous for both students and team members” but a true collaborative approach is not always being implemented correctly and efficiently (Nochajski 11).   As teachers, we need to work hard to help our colleagues to implement collaboration in a beneficial way. 

Let the children have their say: children with special educational needs

and their experiences of Physical Education

Coates, Janine. Let the children have their say: children with special educational needs

and their experiences of Physical Education (2008). NASEN, 23:4, 1-9.

This article studied the concern over physical activity and health issues among Britain’s youth.  They are very concerned about whether the population is valuing physical activity enough, because they have seen a rise in obesity and other preventable diseases.  This article wanted to get to the root of the problem by finding out what young children, specifically in Special Education, thought of physical education.  The majority of students with disabilities who were fully included into a GPE class had positive experiences.  If activities were modified to meet their needs and they felt at an equal playing field with their peers, they enjoyed going to class.  The students also expressed their negative feelings towards GPE.  Bad days occurred when they felt socially isolated, restricted participation and when they had their competence questioned (Coates 170).  From my personal experience, I have noticed this with children who use a wheel chair.  Often times the teachers will keep the expectations low and make the activity too easy for the student.  In order to avoid this situation, a good collaboration process needs to take place.  The article suggests that appropriate training needs to be given to the teachers to make them feel more comfortable in that situation.  Second, support assistants (British term for paraprofessional), should be utilized properly in order to help the student and the physical education teacher.  Lastly, students should have a say in the collaboration process.  This is a proactive approach to setting too low of expectations and they will leave the class feeling much more confidant and empowered.