CHAPTER
7
Instructional
Strategies for Adapted
Physical Education
Douglas H. Collier
Chapter 7 Instructional Strategies for Adapted Physical Education
Philosophical Approaches to Adapted
Physical Education and Sport
Humanistic philosophy
Important figures
• Abraham Maslow (1908–1970)
• Carl Rogers (1902–1987)
Applied behavior analysis
Important figure
• B.F Skinner (1904–1990)
Maslow’s Theory of Self-Actualization
Interaction of Performer,
Environment, and Task
Motor Skill Tenets
1. Growth and maturation influence the ability to learn
a movement skill.
2. Mechanical and physiological principles of
movement strongly influence the best way to
perform a given skill.
3. Reinforcement and repetition are important when
learning a new skill.
(continued)
Motor Skill Tenets (continued)
4. Emotion affects the process of learning motor
skills.
5. Success at a given task leads to improved learning.
6. Learning takes place more quickly when practice
sessions are separated by adequate rest periods.
7. Motor skills that are overlearned are retained
longer.
Accountable and Accessible
Instruction
• In order to establish that students are learning
meaningful content, carefully designed
assessments must be administered regularly
(Friend, 2008).
• Given the range of learners with unique needs
taking part in physical education, practitioners
must develop the skills to a) identify appropriate
assessments and b) make the necessary
modifications to the assessments in order to obtain
meaningful information.
Universal Design for Learning
• Universal design for learning (or universal design
for instruction) suggests that instruction should be
designed with all learners in mind from the very
beginning.
• The principles of universal design apply to all
facets of education, including architectural
considerations, materials and implements,
instructional approaches, and assessment.
• All learners are equally valued and must be
considered from the beginning.
Differentiated Instruction
• Learners often have unique attributes that
must be taken into account when teaching.
• For optimal learning to take place, we must
differentiate our approach based on what
skills and shortcomings an individual
learner presents.
• Modifications are used only as needed.
Evidence-Based Practices
Evidence-based practice refers to:
• using data that have been carefully
gathered by the practitioner in order to
decide on what to teach and how that
teaching should take place.
• using programs and strategies that have
demonstrated effectiveness.
Curricular Modifications Leading
to Meaningful Integration
• Same curriculum
• Multilevel curriculum
• Modified curriculum
• Different curriculum
Curricular Approaches
Top-down
An emphasis on the teaching of specific,
functional, age-appropriate leisure skills
(continued)
Curricular Approaches (continued)
Bottom-up
A developmentally focused curriculum with
an emphasis on making sure that the
fundamental movement “building blocks”
are in place allowing for participation in
chronologically and developmentally
appropriate movement activities
Categories of Activity Modifications
• Equipment
• Rules
• Environment
• Instruction
Effective Teachers
Adapt Their Instruction
• To the nature of the content being taught
• To their personal skills and preferences
• To the characteristics of the learners
• To the teaching context
Teaching Styles
Reproductive styles
• Command
• Practice/task
• Reciprocal
• Self-check
• Inclusion/invitation
(continued)
Teaching Styles (continued)
Productive styles
• Guided discovery
• Convergent discovery
• Divergent discovery
(after Mosston and Ashworth, 2002)
Teaching Formats
• One-to-one instruction
• Small-group instruction
• Large-group instruction
• Mixed-group instruction
• Peer teaching or tutoring
(continued)
Teaching Formats (continued)
• Self-paced independent work
• Cooperative learning
• Reverse mainstreaming
• Teaching stations
Components of a Discrete Trial
• Instruction
• Optional prompt
• Learner’s response
• Consequences
• Intertrial interval
Response Prompting Continuum
Physical prompts
Complete physical manipulation
Manipulative prompting
Minimal guidance
Visual prompts
Complete skill demonstration
Partial skill demonstration
Gestural prompting
(continued)
Response Prompting Continuum
(continued)
Verbal prompts
Skill cue
Action command
Action cue
No prompts
Initiation with environmental goal
Imitative initiation
Initiation in free play
(after Watkinson and Wall, 1982)
Guidelines for Effective Prompting
• Use prompts that are meaningful to the student.
• Consider the learner’s characteristics.
• Be careful not to underprompt.
• Be careful not to overprompt.
• Focus the learner’s attention on the task.
(continued)
Guidelines for Effective Prompting
(continued)
• Make sure that the prompt is effective.
• Pretest and assess carefully; students might need
less assistance than you assume.
• Fade physical proximity.
• Consider coupling the appropriate verbal prompt
with other prompts used.
• Fade verbal prompts.
Traditional Task Analysis
• Traditional task analysis breaks a skill down
into its tasks or related subtasks.
• These tasks are arranged into a sequence
from easy to difficult with short-term
outcomes being determined for each task
and subtask.
(continued)
Traditional Task Analysis (continued)
• An effective approach to traditional task
analysis involves separating the main task
into several related subtasks.
• Each subtask has components arranged
from the easiest to the most difficult.
• Once all the components of a given subtask
have been mastered, the learner then moves
to the first component of the next subtask.
(continued)
Traditional Task Analysis (continued)
•
Although frequently utilized, traditional
task analysis has been criticized for the
following reasons.
1) Though generally describing the
components of the task accurately,
traditional task analysis does not often
take into account the capabilities of the
learner.
2) The traditional approach to task analysis is
primarily teacher directed, whereby the
teacher specifies how a given skill is to be
performed.
Developmental Task Analysis
• Developmental task analysis outlines all of
the task and environmental factors that
influence the performance of students in the
general movement categories (e.g., throw,
strike, jump).
• Under each of these factors, modifications
are given from the simplest to the most
difficult.
Ecological Task Analysis
• Ecological task analysis (ETA) takes the
consideration of multiple, interacting
factors (as in developmental task analysis)
one step further by carefully examining the
learner.
• “Motor skills, the movement form, and
performance outcomes are results of the
dynamic interaction (constraints) between
the task goal and conditions, the
environmental situation, and the capabilities
and intent of the performer.” (Balan & Davis,
1993, p. 26)
A General Task Analysis (Throwing)
Prescriptive Planning
and Instructional Models
Project ACTIVE
• Incorporates a test-assess-prescribeevaluate planning process
• Includes normative- as well as criterionreferenced tests in the areas of motor ability,
nutrition, physical fitness, and posture.
(continued)
Prescriptive Planning and
Instructional Models (continued)
Data-Based Gymnasium
• A prescriptive instructional model that provides
information on effectively managing the learning
environment of individuals with severe disabilities
• Unique in its specific delineation of applied behavior
analysis techniques as a means of accomplishing
meaningful learning objectives
(continued)
Prescriptive Planning and
Instructional Models (continued)
MOVE
• A top-down activity-based curriculum developed to
help students with profound disabilities to learn the
basic motor skills needed for everyday activities in
the home and community
• Includes a sequence of age-appropriate motor
activities valuable to the individual’s quest for
independent movement in the home and community
(continued)
Prescriptive Planning and
Instructional Models (continued)
Moving to Inclusion
• Consists of nine books, available in English and
French, that address a variety of disability groups.
• Each book provides ideas for individualizing and
modifying activities.
• These resources are particularly valuable when
planning to include students with disabilities in
regular physical education classes.
(continued)
Prescriptive Planning and
Instructional Models (continued)
Special Olympics
A series of sport-specific instructional
manuals, each including long-term goals,
short-term objectives, skill assessment,
task analysis, teaching suggestions,
progression charts, and related information
(continued)
Prescriptive Planning and
Instructional Models (continued)
I CAN
• A comprehensive physical education and leisure
skills program appropriate for children with unique
needs
• Developmental in nature; continuum of skills from
preprimary motor and play skills to sport, leisure,
and recreation skills
• Acronym refers to Individualize instruction, Create
social leisure competence, Associate all learning,
Narrow the gap between theory and practice
(continued)
Prescriptive Planning and
Instructional Models (continued)
I CAN Primary Skills K-3
A performance-based instructional model with
feedback methods to improve and modify
instruction based on student performance
(continued)
Prescriptive Planning and
Instructional Models (continued)
Smart Start
Provides teachers and caregivers with a
developmentally appropriate movement curriculum
for preschool-aged children of all abilities