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Including visually impaired students in physical education lessons: a case study of teacher and pupil experiences
Sal Ortiz TEP 547

Having a disability one is automatically tagged as being at a disadvantage in life let alone in a physical education setting. From the article it states that physical education teachers usually find themselves unprepared to handle a student with any type of disability. If any teacher does not go through proper training to deal with disabilities then we are doing our students a disservice in their education. Although many teachers have said that having some type of learning support for special need students would be helpful. After reading the article it helped me realize that taking professional development courses throughout my teaching career will benefit me as well as my students. Making sure I am aware of what my students' needs are and how I need to go about helping them succeed. In the article it talked about the importance of inclusion with our students. That most teachers believe that just because they get a student involved in a lesson then that passes as inclusion when it actually is just integration, which are not the same things. Inclusion is transforming the lesson to meet an individual's needs not to just get a student involved in the lesson.

One of the key strategies that this article talked about was having a supportive learning assistant for a visually impaired student. It talked about how the physical education teacher would explain a certain task the students needed to complete but the visually impaired student would need far more detailed instructions on how to complete the task. We often forget that our instructions in our lessons need to be detailed enough for anyone to be able to instruct the students using them.

Another strategy used was equipment that made noise. For instance, playing softball using a softer ball that had a siren to it would help the visually impaired student track the ball and be able to participate in the lesson. The bases would also have some type of noise maker on them so the student would be able to run bases. So often the visually impaired student is walking around campus with a guide or stick to make sure they do not run into anything. During their physical education class they actually have the freedom to run full speed in a safe environment while being included into the lesson and not have to feel isolated because they cannot participate.

In conclusion, the article talked about how the biggest asset for a visually impaired student is having the supportive learning assistant to give them one-on-one help not only physically but emotionally as well.

Source: Herold, F., & Dandolo, J. (2009). Including visually impaired students in physical

education lessons: A case study of teacher and pupil experiences. British Journal of Visual

Impairment, 27(1), 75-84. doi:10.1177/0264619608097744

Link to the Article: http://0-jvi.sagepub.com.patris.apu.edu/content/27/1/75.full.pdf+html