CHAPTER
3
Adapted Sport
Michael J. Paciorek
Chapter 3 Adapted Sport
Learning Objectives
• Describe the difference between adapted
sport and regular sport and provide
examples of the five levels within the sport
integration continuum.
• Describe how the IEP can be used to foster
inclusion by including interscholastic sport
programming.
• Give examples of and describe the
difference between unisport and multisport
organizations.
(continued)
Learning Objectives (continued)
•
Describe the Olympic and Amateur Sports Act
and the role of the United States Olympic
Committee in relation to adapted sport.
•
Describe the purpose and various methods
used in sport classification for individuals
with disabilities.
•
Describe the responsibilities of schools and
community agencies in providing adapted
sport programming and the role played by the
physical educator in promoting adapted sport
programming.
Should Jeffrey Run?
Jeffrey is an 11th-grade student who requested
that his desire to run cross country for his high
school be placed in his individual education
program (IEP). Jeffrey’s school district denied
this request and refused to let him run cross
country because he had passed the age limit
(18) set by his state high school athletic
association. Jeffrey requested a due process
hearing because he felt his rights were violated
under the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA).
Jean-Michel Cousteau
Freedom in Depth
HSA International, 1984
“Having a physical disability is not the same
as being disabled. Failing to make that
distinction, we leave out the most important
ingredient in human achievement, the desire
in each of us to strive for the best we can be.
Everyone lives in an age of opportunities and
technological advances, and yet our most
marvelous and moving experiences are still
those victories of will and spirit against
seemingly insurmountable odds.”
Barriers to Participation in Sport
for Individuals With Disabilities
• Tendency toward sedentary living
• Lack of knowledge of fitness concepts
• Program and facility accessibility
• Heredity factors
• Fear of failure
• Poor nutritional habits
Benefits of Sport
for Individuals With Disabilities
• Health and fitness
– Secondary conditions can be minimized.
• Psychological value
– Often the road to fulfillment begins when
people realize that activity can be
maintained.
(continued)
Benefits of Sport
for Individuals With Disabilities
(continued)
• Societal normalization
– Public awareness of capabilities occurs
through the medium of sport and integration
of athletes with and without disabilities.
• Sport for sport’s sake
– Participation for the sake of enjoyment.
Sport Integration Continuum
(continued)
Sport Integration Continuum (continued)
• Level 1
– Regular sport setting
– Integrated participation
– No accommodation needed
• Examples
– Athlete with cognitive impairment running 800 m race for high
school team
– Athlete with amputation playing on youth baseball team
(continued)
Sport Integration Continuum (continued)
• Level 2
– Regular sport setting
– Integrated participation
– Some accommodation needed
– No undue advantage given to athlete
• Examples
– Blind bowler using a guide rail
– Professional golfer Casey Martin using cart to get around
course
(continued)
Sport Integration Continuum (continued)
• Level 3
– Regular and adapted sport setting
– Partial or full integrated participation
– Coacting with or competing against athletes without disabilities
• Examples
– Wheelchair racer competing against or with runners without
disabilities
– Wheelchair tennis player playing alongside ambulatory
teammate
(continued)
Sport Integration Continuum (continued)
– Special Olympics Unified Sports
– Part time in regular sport or part time in adapted
sport
– Blind powerlifter (regular sport), goalball (adapted
sport)
(continued)
Sport Integration Continuum (continued)
• Level 4
– Athletes with and without disabilities participating in modified
version of sport
– All using adapted equipment or rules
• Examples
– Ambulatory and wheelchair users playing wheelchair
basketball
– Athletes with and without visual impairments playing goalball
(continued)
Sport Integration Continuum (continued)
• Level 5
– Regular and adapted sport setting
– Totally segregated participation
– Competing only against athletes with disabilities
• Examples
– Special Olympics (except Unified Sports)
– Paralympics, Deaflympics
– Challenger Division of Little League Baseball
Origins of Disability Sport
Never check the actions of the blind child; follow
him and watch him to prevent any serious
accidents, but do not interfere unnecessarily; do
not even remove obstacles which he would learn to
avoid by tumbling over them a few times. Teach
him to jump rope, to swing weights, to raise his
body by his arms, and to mingle, as far as possible,
in the rough sports of the older students. . . . Do
not too much regard bumps upon the forehead,
rough scratches, or bloody noses, even these may
have their good influences. At the worst, they
affect only the bark, and do not injure the system,
like the rust of inaction. (Samuel Gridley Howe,
1841)
Origins of Adapted Sport
• 1800s to 1940
– Samuel Gridley Howe, Perkins Institute
• Influence of WWII
– Stoke Mandeville Hospital: Aylesbury, UK, Dr. Ludwig Guttman
– National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA)
– National Wheelchair Athletic Association (NWAA/WASUSA)
• Influence of Vietnam War
– National Handicapped Sports and Recreation Association (NHSRA,
NHS, DS/USA)
• 1990s and vertical integration with U.S. national governing
bodies (NGBs)
(continued)
Origins of Adapted Sport (continued)
• Influence of legislation
– PL 93-112 Rehabilitation Act of 1973
– PL 94-142 IDEA (transition services) 1975
– PL 95-606 Amateur Sports Act of 1978
– PL 101-336 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
– PL 105-27 Olympic and Amateur Sports Act (1998)
(continued)
Origins of Adapted Sport (continued)
• PL 95-606 Amateur Sports Act of 1978 and
PL 105-27 Olympic and Amateur Sports Act
(1998)
“To encourage and provide assistance to amateur
athletic programs and competition for amateur
athletes with disabilities, including where feasible,
the expansion of opportunities for meaningful
participation by such amateur athletes in programs
of athletic competition for able-bodied athletes”
(USOC Constitution, 1998)
Community-Based
U.S. Multisport Organizations
• BlazeSports National Disability Sports
Alliance (BSNDSA)
• Dwarf Athletic Association of America
(DAAA)
• Disabled Sports USA (DS/USA)
• Special Olympics, Inc. (SOI)
(continued)
Community-Based
U.S. Multisport Organizations (continued)
• United States Association of Blind Athletes
(USABA)
• USA Deaf Sports Federation (USADSF)
• Wheelchair and Ambulatory Sports, USA
(WASUSA)
International Adapted Sport
Federations
• Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation
Association (CPISRA)
• International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual
Disability (INAS-FID)
• International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA)
• International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD or CISS)
• International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation
(IWAS)
• Special Olympics, Inc. (SOI)
Multisport Organizations
and International Federations
Selected Unisport
Adapted Sport Organizations
• Achilles Track Club (ATC)
• American Amputee Soccer Association (AASA)
• Handicapped Scuba Association International
(HSA International)
• North American Riding for the Handicapped
Association (NARHA)
• United States Quad Rugby Association (USQRA)
• United States Sled Hockey Association (USSHA)
School and Community-Based
Sport Initiatives
• 1992: Metro Association for Adapted Athletics (MAAA)
becomes a member of the Minnesota State High
School League.
• 1992: The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic
Conference (CIAC) develops a partnership with Special
Olympics to offer Unified Sports programming.
Participation is open to all public and parochial schools.
• 1996: The American Association of Adapted Sports
Programs (AAASP) begins in Georgia.
(continued)
School and Community-Based
Sport Initiatives (continued)
• 2001: AAASP partners with Georgia High
School Association.
• 2003: AAASP begins Project ASPIRE to
promote adapted sport model throughout the
country.
• 2008: Maryland passes Fitness and Athletics
Equity for Students with Disabilities Act.
Sport Classification Systems
•
The purpose of classification in sport is to allow
for a fair and equitable starting point for
competition.
•
Issues in adapted sport classification include the
following:
–
Ability should be the deciding factor in competition, not
disability.
–
Each disability group has its own classification system.
–
Event-management issues arise, such as too many heats.
–
Public is confused.
(continued)
Sport Classification Systems (continued)
•
•
Medical
–
Verifies minimum disability.
–
Not concerned with the functional ability of the athlete .
–
Provides a medically related equal starting point for
competition.
Examples
–
Level of visual acuity for a blind athlete
–
Level of spinal cord injury
–
Location of an amputation
(continued)
Sport Classification Systems (continued)
•
•
Functional
–
Identifies how an athlete performs specific sport skills.
–
Combines medical information with performance information.
–
Evaluates an athlete's sport-specific skills needed in an
athletic event in addition to the medical condition.
–
Function is primary and medical is secondary.
Example: Athletes with cerebral palsy observed
by classifiers performing their sport to determine
range of motion and physical capabilities prior to
classification
Sport Classification Systems:
Amputees
•
Class A1 Double Above Knee (AK)
•
Class A2 Single Above Knee (AK)
•
Class A3 Double Below Knee (BK)
•
Class A4 Single Below Knee (BK)
•
Class A5 Double Above Elbow (AE)
•
Class A6 Single Above Elbow (AE)
•
Class A7 Double Below Elbow (BE)
•
Class A8 Single Below Elbow (BE)
•
Class A9 Combined upper and lower
Sport Classification Systems: Visual
Impairments
•
Class B1: No light perception in either eye up to light
perception and inability to recognize the shape of a hand at
any distance or in any direction
•
Class B2: From ability to recognize the shape of a hand up to
visual acuity of 20/600 or a visual field of less than 5 degrees
in the best eye with the best practical eye correction
•
Class B3: From visual acuity above 20/600 and up to visual
acuity of 20/200 or a visual field of less than 20 degrees and
more than 5 degrees in the best eye with the best practical
eye correction
•
Class B4: From visual acuity above 20/200 and up to visual
acuity of 20/70 and a visual field larger than 20 degrees in the
best eye with the best practical eye correction
Sport Classification Systems:
Cerebral Palsy
•
Eight sport classes based on functional
ability
•
Classes 1-4: Wheelchair users
•
Classes 5-8: Ambulatory
(continued)
Sport Classification Systems:
Cerebral Palsy (continued)
•
Class 1: Power wheelchair users. Athletes experience
movement difficulties that affect the entire body. Typically
the athlete cannot propel a manual wheelchair and often has
difficulty altering sitting position.
•
Class 2 (upper/lower): Propels wheelchair unassisted on
level surface (may use legs).
•
Class 3: Propels wheelchair independently. Athletes are
wheelchair users and have one affected upper limb.
Typically the athlete has a limited range of shoulder
movement and a marked difference in the function of the
arms; can propel a manual wheelchair.
(continued)
Sport Classification Systems:
Cerebral Palsy (continued)
•
Class 4: Highest wheelchair class—
athletes are wheelchair users whose arms
are not affected.
•
Classes 5A and 5B: Uses assistive device
(walker or crutch) to ambulate during
competition.
•
Class 6: Ambulates without aids (balance
problems); athletes are ambulatory with all
four limbs affected.
(continued)
Sport Classification Systems:
Cerebral Palsy (continued)
•
Class 7: Marked asymmetrical action
(hemiplegia). Achilles tendon shortened;
athletes are ambulatory with the arm and
leg on the same side affected.
•
Class 8: Highest functioning level of CP.
Athletes have minimal disability. Typically,
the athlete will have good balance and only
slight coordination problems; the disability
is more obvious during exertion.
Sport Classification Systems:
Organizations
•
Dwarf Athletic Association of America: Under the
height of 5 ft (152.4 cm) because of medical
condition referred to as dwarfism
•
USA Deaf Sports Federation: 55 dB or greater
hearing loss in the better ear
•
Special Olympics
–
Age
–
Gender
–
Performance (determined by prescreening)
Sport Classification Systems:
Wheelchair Basketball
•
Players are classified according to their level of
functional ability (i.e., what muscles they are able
to use in performing basketball skills—shooting,
passing, rebounding, pushing, and dribbling).
Classifiers observe a player's functional ability
while he or she performs the assigned skills and
then assign the player a classification or point
score based on their observations. The
classification or point score is specific to
basketball only.
(continued)
Sport Classification Systems:
Wheelchair Basketball (continued)
•
Class I—Complete motor loss at T7 or above or comparable
disability where there is total loss of muscle function originating
at or above T7.
•
Class II—Complete motor loss originating at T8 and descending
through and including L2, where there may be motor power of
hips and thighs. Also included in this class are amputees with
bilateral hip disarticulation.
•
Class III—All other physical disabilities as related to lower
extremity paralysis or paresis originating at or below L3. All
lower-extremity amputees are included in this class except those
with bilateral hip disarticulation. (See class II.)
(continued)
Sport Classification Systems:
Wheelchair Basketball (continued)
Team balance
•
Each classification will be given a numerical value or
factor as follows:
–
Class I = 1 value point.
–
Class II = 2 value points.
–
Class III = 3 value points.
(continued)
Sport Classification Systems:
Wheelchair Basketball (continued)
Team balance
•
Athletes with a low point value are more limited in their ability to
perform the required basketball skills than are athletes with a
higher point score.
•
The point score system ensures that the five players on the court
have a variety of point scores, ranging from low (more severely
disabled) to high (minimal disability). At no time in a game shall a
team have players participating with a total of value points
greater than 12, nor more than three class III players playing
together at the same time.
(continued)
Sport Classification Systems:
Wheelchair Basketball (continued)
Because of the basketball classification
system, it is possible for athletes with
different disabilities (e.g., spinal paralyzed
versus cerebral palsy) to be assigned the
same point score or classification. This is
because classifiers look at the athlete’s
ability to perform the required skills rather
than at his or her disability.
Cross-Disability
Sport Classification Systems
•
Designed to place athletes with different disabilities together
for competition (e.g., cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury,
dwarfism).
•
Criteria are developed based on each sport.
•
Advantages include the following:
•
–
Makes meet management easier.
–
Public may be less confused.
–
Allows for competition in areas where few disabled athletes reside.
Disadvantage: Might discriminate against certain disabilities
by making disability a factor as opposed to ability.
Role of the Physical Educator
in Adapted Sport
• Realize that community recreation programs
and extracurricular activities provide an
excellent means to extend physical education
programs into the community.
• Speak with students and parents concerning
their interests in sport and leisure pursuits. The
goals of adapted physical education should be
tied to the functional needs of the students.
(continued)
Role of the Physical Educator
in Adapted Sport (continued)
• Ensure that through physical education
classes, students with disabilities have
developed the appropriate functional motor
skills and knowledge they need to participate
in a variety of extracurricular activities. Focus
primarily on lifelong activities.
• Ensure activities are modified to allow
participation for students who cannot perform
a skill because of a disability.
(continued)
Role of the Physical Educator
in Adapted Sport (continued)
• See that students without disabilities are
educated about the capabilities of athletes with
disabilities through watching videos or adapted
sport.
• Develop a resource file of adapted sport
programs within and outside of the community
and to tell parents and students about these
resources.
• Contact the state or national governing bodies
related to sports to obtain information on
available programs for athletes with disabilities.
(continued)
Role of the Physical Educator
in Adapted Sport (continued)
• List appropriate resources on your Web site
and place links so that students and families
can access important information.
• Work within the school district to help develop
intramural, competitive sport, and recreation
programs for students with disabilities.
Approach area schools and combine students
if necessary to develop teams.
(continued)
Role of the Physical Educator
in Adapted Sport (continued)
• Place adapted sport goals and objectives on
the individual education program (IEP)
when appropriate and reasonable.
• Appreciate the skill levels that individuals
with disabilities can attain with training and
encouragement.
What About Jeffrey?
Jeffrey’s request was upheld by the courts. According
to the ruling, under applicable federal statutes and
regulations, the IEP team, and not the state high school
athletic association, is charged with the responsibility
to determine the need for a student with a disability to
participate in interscholastic athletics. Where state
rules conflict with, or are more restrictive than, IDEA
and thereby operate to prevent compliance with IDEA,
such conflicts shall be resolved in favor of IDEA
(Siegel, 2000; Stewart, 2001). Insofar as state high
school rules are more restrictive than IDEA and
thereby operate to prevent compliance with IDEA,
Jeffrey is not obligated follow them. Waiver procedures
need to be enacted regarding age limitations.