Listen up: goalball for all

• Published in: Palaestra (Macomb, Ill.) Ill.), 2008-12, Vol.24 (1), p.33-40
• Main Authors: Pedersen, Scott, Greer, Leah
• Format: Magazinearticle
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cooperative learning; Crippled children; Curricula; Disability; Education; Outdoor activities; People with disabilities; Physical education; Physical education and training; Physical education teachers; Physically disabled children; Physiological aspects; Role models; Skills; Students; Study and teaching; Teaching
• ISSN: 8756-5811; 2372-1391

Escalating numbers of educators today are being confronted with the prospect of including a child with a disability within the general education curriculum. This is especially a concern for physical education teachers. As a result, they are often befuddled when required to design appropriate lesson plans for all of the students in their class. There is sound reason for this bewilderment. Most preparation programs only provide students with one introductory-level course in adapted physical education (Hodge, Davis, Woodard & Sherrill, 2002). Due to the growing rate of cutbacks in public school dollars and competition for school funding (Ennis, 2006), these minimally trained physical educators, with limited exposure to teaching students with disabilities, are being forced to include an increasing number of students with disabilities within the general physical education curriculum. Some classes may have as many as 75-100 students with varying abilities. These teachers must think on their feet, literally, and develop creative lessons that include children with disabilities in the already-established curricula. We sympathize--it is not an easy task to teach children with a spectrum of abilities in one class. The purpose of this article is to offer an alternative to the traditional view of inclusion by suggesting that teachers introduce a disability sport unit into their general physical education curriculum. This view of inclusion, or reverse inclusion (Brasile, 1990), places the child with a disability, even if there is just one such child in the class, at the forefront of the activity choice. By including a disability sport unit in the curriculum, all students can develop valuable movement skills they might not otherwise encounter, while being exposed to a diverse culture of global sport participation.