Physical Activities for Young People With Severe Disabilities will help you provide high-quality physical education for students with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, and other orthopedic impairments that inhibit their ability to function physically.This compact book includes
- 50 illustrated activities that use common objects as equipment,
- evidence-based research that outlines the benefits of physical activity for people with disabilities and that you can use to support your adapted program, and
- safety tips and teaching strategies for working with students with disabilities.
The activities are easy to set up and conduct in a variety of environments, from the gym to the classroom to the outdoors. Each activity features high and low variations to guide you in adapting it for students with a wide range of abilities. And you can use the informal assessment questions included with each activity to gain immediate feedback about its effectiveness for the students.
Activities are organized by the primary area of skill or fitness they address: balance and flexibility, muscular strength and cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, and moving in space. This makes it easy for you to find suitable activities based on your students' needs, abilities, and individualized education programs (IEPs). In addition, each activity notes secondary skills that it addresses.
Regardless of their impairments, students benefit from physical activity. Physical Activities for Young People With SevereDisabilities provides the ready-to-use information you need to help them receive those benefits.
About the Author: Lindsay K. Canales, MA, has taught adapted physical education for 10 years and has 6 years of experience as an adapted physical education specialist, teaching students ranging from ages 3 to 22. She designed and implemented a PE box program, containing standards-based units and lesson plans, for eight special day classes from grades K through 8. She has also presented sessions at four annual conferences for the California Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (CAHPERD) and is a member of CAHPERD and the Northern California Adapted Physical Education Consortium. In her spare time, she enjoys watching sports and being physically active.
Rebecca K. Lytle, PhD, is a professor and chair of the department of kinesiology at California State University (CSU) at Chico. She has presented at numerous state, national, and international conferences and has received many awards, including the 2008 Professional Achievement Honor for excellence in teaching and significant contributions to the discipline from CSU Chico. She also chaired the council that received the 2007 Outstanding Council Award from the Adapted Physical Activity Council of the American Association for Physical Activity and Recreation. In 2005 she received the Recognition Award for Autism Sensory and Motor Clinic from the Autism Society of Northern California. She has numerous publications in refereed journals to her credit, and she has authored eight books or parts of books before this publication.
Lytle has served as chair of more than a dozen adapted physical education committees and councils. She is a member of many councils and organizations, including the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance; the Council for Exceptional Children; the International Federation of Adapted Physical Activity; and the National Consortium for Physical Education and Recreation for Individuals with Disabilities. In her leisure time, she likes to hike, swim, and go on ziplines.
