[blindkid] PE in middle school

Sat Mar 16 02:15:09 UTC 2013

I love the idea of learning how sports and such are played. No she may never
play them, but as an adult now I'm learning how sports work so I can attend
children's games, college games, and follow conversation with friends. While
I feel like I had a pretty good PE experience I was at a school for the
blind. I think having your child be taught a exercise routine that can be
followed through life is a valuable use of time. It is challenging for blind
persons to fit in at gyms, to play sports etc so having a way to stay
physically active as the years go by is a valuable life skill. While going
to college to become a teacher one of the classes I had to take was a class
called PE in the classroom. In this class we all had to learn to serve a
volleyball, to do the various kicks for soccer, to jump rope in different
styles, to skip, Gallup, hop,  to  do a few popular group dances, to stretch
in several ways, to understand basic sports and their moves. So I can
dribble a ball quite well now, and am glad I have the skill for hanging out
with the kids I take care of as I can now teach them. We hula hooped and
some other fun things too. I must admit in the beginning I hated this class,
and I mean hated it, but o the things I learned and now understand. I think
it is important that if you have adaptive PE that the teacher teach the
skills. So maybe she doesn't play baseball with the class, but she should
learn to hold a bat, learn how to swing it, and how the bases are laid out.
When the group does running and track and field skills so should she. The
trick is for her to learn the skills and not focus on the competive part,
but the skills and concepts. I now look back at this class as one of the
most valuable classes I took in college, and honestly don't know why many of
these physical skills weren't taught to me earlier. With that said I can't
tell you how many of my classmates couldn't do things I could do, and were
able to do other things. I can jump rope very well, but over half the class
couldn't, I could cartwheel, but many couldn't. So while I couldn't serve a
volley ball only the kids who played could. So it is ok if your daughter
leaves the school system not knowing everything about sports and physical
activities as no kid learns it all, but she should have well rounded
experiences that will travel with her in adult life.

I agree that the OT should really be working on dressing out. If she needs
someone to help her this is going to cause major social troubles for her.
Middle school is hard for any 6th grader, but every extra way a blind kid is
singled out is just one more way they won't fit in. I know it is a little
OT, but I'd also be looking to your daughter's interests, and the middle
schools offerings for these interests. Does she like to write have her join
the writers club. If she likes to sing have an elective be choir, etc. Some
middle schools have lunch groups and clubs that make it easier to make
friends because they are a guided lunch that you have to be invited to join.
Some schools also have lunch and afterschool game clubs.

There are several accessible combination locks available so hopefully if you
can try some out ahead of time you can find one she can do. Starting now
would be good because she is likely to have a regular locker for her coat
and such too, so having a pad lock she can open is pretty important. 

Good luck, and keep asking us as we have either been through it ourselves or
have children who have, and we are happy to help.

Bran

-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kim Gulf
Images
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2013 6:44 AM
To: Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)
Subject: Re: [blindkid] PE in middle school

Julie,
You might want to ask the APE instructor to work on concepts of basketball,
baseball, football, and soccer during the year. She may not want to play
these sports, however this knowledge will support her becoming more social
with her peers. Kids are always talking about sports teams. The instructor
could help her explore the fields, explain rules, and use tactile graphics
to show positions, etc. Our experience with PE class wasn't good either. My
daughter sat most of the time and no one bothered to help with concepts of
the activities. She had a great APE teacher for two years. The best thing he
did was give her self-confidence in her abilities. He found what she was
good at and what her strengths were. Of course all good things come to an
end, and she ended up with an APE who asked her to walk the track for the
period - boring!
When my daughter was young, we always used PE time for her O&M lesson (one
day a week). I have heard of others doing the same. I also think it would be
a great goal for her to completely dress out by the end of the year. The APE
teacher and PT or OT could work together on this goal. 
I remember these years as being extremely hard for me to figure out. Hang in
their! We are here to help. 
Kim Cunningham 

Sent from my iPad

On Mar 12, 2013, at 11:34 AM, Julie Yanez <jyanez112 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
> My daughter will be going into middle school next year and physical 
> education will be one of the courses. I have a few concerns that I 
> know will be brought up in our next IEP in a few weeks.
> 1. Will she be required to dress into PE clothes?
> Right now she has lots of difficulty dressing herself. Pants, socks 
> and shoes are easy. Its the upper half she can't accomplish yet. She 
> doesn't have the muscle structure to do certain things and still had 
> difficulty with muscle isolation. Her Dr thinks it's just part of 
> being extremely premee and her being underweight.
> I am also NOT ok with someone assisting her to dress out. She will be 
> in APE. Is not dressing out a reasonable request for her APE in her IEP?
> 
> If she is required to change in some way such as just shoes, what type 
> of lock might be easiest to start off with?  I don't know how to 
> modify a combination lock for her, and like I said, she hasn't been 
> able to isolate fingers well. So getting a key in a lock is very very 
> difficult for her. We have tried for so long already.
> 
> What are some things I need to know before we start PE in middle 
> school so I can bring up to her IEP team?
> 
> Thank you all in advance. I need to get this all figured out before 
> the meeting and before the year starts and we find things out the hard
way.
> ~Julie.
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