The Meet and Greet activity was a great way for us to begin getting our minds focused on our experiences with children with Special Needs. We thought a bit about all of the different activities that were on our BINGO cards. For example, Goal Ball. I hadn't heard of it, but one of my classmates explained it to me. I love the idea of this game! It sounds like it would be great for visually impaired students. I was wondering if it could be adapted for the Deaf. I thought of those small balls that flash. Perhaps everyone could wear a blindfold except for a deaf student. I feel like it would be less enjoyable for the deaf student if it was done this way.
We talked a bit about the progression of the educational philosophy in the area of Adaptive Physical Education. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the focus was on "Fixing" students. Students with Disabilities were either excused from activities, or outright excluded. Then Educators became more focused on the student with a Disability, but they were still thought of as lesser people who needed to be given separate programs from General society. This led to an attempt to offer better support, so people became more focused on how our supports are doing to actually help students who need adaptations. The final stage that I hope we can say we are currently using as the model is called the "Empowerment and Self- Determination Paradigm." This approach focuses on working with the students to ensure that the student is self regulating, and learning the skills that are required to become more independent.
The Webinar host was Martin Block a specialist who is a Professor who works with the Special Olympics. He was answering the question "Does Inclusion really work?" Are students benefitting from general education? He says, "Inclusion works." Peer tutors helped students with disabilities to continue to be active and more social. Teacher assistance can be trained to facilitate students with disabilities in GPE. Even severely disabled children can be helped.
Martin Block noted that some people may ask,"Will inclusion have a negative effect on students without disabilities?" He did an experiment using two groups and tested their basketball skills. Their was no negative effect on students without disabilities even while including students with disabilities. This study may have been scrutinized because there was a lot of support by adults that are involved. They did another experiment with no support and it still had no negative effect.
Block also considered, "What about the students' attitudes towards peers with disabilities? Block found no negative effect there either. General PE teachers can do a good job of including students with disabilities. Coaches of sports often have a good attitude toward students with disabilities, but they lack confidence. I feel like even Learning Center teachers could use more training on how to best support students with Disabilities. I realize that the needs are very diverse, and this is why it is important that we take team approach to teaching students with Special Needs. For example, it is important that Resource and LC Teachers work closely with the Autism Specialists, APSEA, and Behavioural Specialists, etc.
Check out the jmac video, about a student with autism who was included in a basketball game.
Mainly it is the training that has suffered. We do not train teachers enough to adapt for students with disabilities.
Often students with disabilities were often not socializing with students without disabilities. They weren't often given much to do. What level of inclusion may be beneficial? There must be more study done in this case.
We need to train teachers and even to train peers to ensure that students will be included effectively.
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