Writing Task

Stacey Hilder

3919572

Teaching strategies for children with impairment

Autism Spectrum Disorder
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a very complex disability that acts as an
umbrella term. The Term ASD encompasses Autistic disorder, Rhett syndrome,
Aspergers syndrome, Childhood disintegrative disorder, Pervasive
developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), and the fifth edition
of DSM-5 (Grenier 2014). In physical education classes, children with ASD are often difficult
to teach when the teacher does not take into account their disorder. Teachers can find that
running a class smoothly gets disturbed by the students with ASD. A study taken amongst regular
physical education teachers in USA found the following themes present in students with ASD:
Inattention and Hyperactive Behaviours, Social Impairment and Social Isolation, Difficulties
Understanding Instructions and Performing Tasks, Emotional Regulation Difficulties, Narrow
Interest and Inflexible Adherence to Routines and Structure (Obrusnikova & Dillon 2011). The
interruptive themes in a physical education class can be avoided or controlled, by the physical
educator adapting the way they run their class, or by introducing adapted physical education
programs into more schools and local communities.
Most students with ASD have barriers that prevent them from living a normal day to day life; it is
these barriers which are also especially prominent in a physical education classroom. ASD will
show impairments of communication, social interaction and behavioural rigidity, with most having
secondary symptoms of AHD and motor delay (Fournier et al. 2010). A students ability to
communicate with their teacher and also their fellow peers, is highly needed in physical
education. A student with ASD however, has an absence or a delay in communication. They
either cant talk or they struggle to use their language as an effective way of communicating and
often need picture cards or personal devices in order to have sufficient communication (Atwood
2012). Students with ASD also struggle to understand the way in which other people
communicate, which can lead to the student being unresponsive or acting as though they are in
their own world. They may even treat other people as objects rather than humans due to them
not understanding how to connect with people (Atwood 2012). Students with ASD also have
increased sensations of noise, touch, lighting etc. However, One of the biggest things that a
student with ASD needs is structure and routine. Students in one study said that they found
themselves in a state of anxiety when there was a lack of routine or when there is excessive
noise in their class. In a physical education class noise is usually going to be present due to the
excitement and fun the students are having, but when noise and lack of routine are put together
in one class, the students with ASD can get worked up (Healy, Msetfi & Gallagher 2013).
Displaying repetitive actions like rocking or flapping are also not uncommon amongst children
with autism and those who are severely impaired (Atwood 2012).These barriers can be
extremely frustrating for fellow students and the teacher in a physical education class, which is
why teachers should be trained at delivering a class that allows all to participate.
With all of these barriers to a physical education class, there are large number of techniques
and strategies that teachers can put in place to ensure that everyone is able to achieve their
goals. The first is to ensure that you set a separate set of goals for the student with ASD. The
goal could be: getting the student to participate for a total of 20minutes, showing that they can

work with other students for 5 minutes, display fundamental motor skills at the maturity of their
developmental level. By having these separate goals, you are able to reward the student for
meeting their goals, which creates a positive association with physical education. The teacher
should always be looking for the positive things that a student with ASD displays (Atwood 2012).
Have structure to your physical education classes by keeping things consistent, having visual
boundaries by marking them out with cones every lesson, start and end your lessons the same
way every time, allow for lots of repetition of the one activity during the class. By keeping things
in a routine and being repetitive, the student is able to learn the structure of the class and not be
so overwhelmed each lesson by all of the changes (Menear & Smith 2008). If the students have
difficulty understanding or communicating, use picture cards when talking about the activity. They
are easy to carry around, will help the student with ASD understand the activity, but will also
make it clearer for other children in the class who may also be visual learners (symptoms and
defining). To go with the picture cards also include a demonstration of the activity, keeping verbal
instructions short and concise (Menear & Smith 2008). Groups are a really effective way of
encouraging social interactions for the student with ASD, however groups work should be kept to
small group situations rather than large ones. This allows the child to not get overwhelmed by the
number of people, but also allows for an increase in participation. It is important to note that the
teacher must also be aware of when the student needs to work individually rather than in groups.
There will be times when the student is unable to continue working with other people, so the
activity should be changed or adapted so that they can work by alone (Menear & Smith 2008).
Teachers should also be aware of how loud the area is that they are using. Are the children
screaming? Is there a loud hum? Can you hear the traffic outside? These noises can cause the
child to be on edge, and an eye is needed to be kept on the child to make sure they are
comfortable and not getting worked up (Atwood 2012). Teachers can also change the way they
use or set out their equipment for the class, they can give students their own colour of choice for
spots/tags/bands, allow them to each have their own things to use, have lots of stations or
activities set up/planned to ensure they keep motivated and their attention stays with you, they
should also remove any obstacles that might be distracting, have designated activity areas and
use waiting chairs or spots to avoid wandering around (Kalyava 2011). By using these strategies
and techniques in their classes, regular physical education teachers are able to still have
productive classes that allow all to participate.
Some schools are lucky enough to have an adapted physical education program; these can be
at either regular schools or special schools. Adapted simply refers to modifying the way that the
program is taught, this can be done via changing the rules, playing area or even the way the
skills are done. It is changing the nature of the context of the sport, without having to change the
sport itself (Wright & Sugden 1999). Healy, Msetfi & Gallagher 2013 interviewed and spoke to
children who had ASD yet still participated in a mainstream PE program. There findings showed
that an adapted PE program would be much more beneficial for these students. They came to
this conclusion because it still has the same objectives as a regular PE program; however
adjustments to meet the needs and abilities of the students are made. Physical education
classes have the ability to be an extremely positive time of the day, for student with ASD as well
as being a way to reduce stress (Kalyava 2011). In order for this to happen, strategies that meet
the physical, cognitive, emotional and sensory need of the students must be used. These
strategies are all found in Adapted physical education classes (Menear & Smith 2011), with the
added benefit of the classes being as much about the sport/activities as it is the social aspect
(Kalyava 2011). These programs largely focus on developing the students FMS and having fun
while doing so, keep competition limited. They develop the students ability of manual control,
how the students control an object like a bat/racket or a ball, and teach different types of
locomotion, running, skipping, galloping, jumping etc in a fun way (Wright & Sugden 1999). Most
good adapted programs will use picture cards to help explain activities to students and will also
have lots of demonstrations. Students are able to relate the pictures to the activities much easier
than they can relate words (Kalyava 2011). There is much supporting evidence to show that
adapted programs are fantastic for students with ASD, there are also lots of information sheets
available to help teachers run their own adapted programs. An example of this is the TREE
documents which are easily accessible. TREE is a proven way that helps to modify an activity to
suit the abilities of the student. TREE stands for: Teaching, Rules/Regulations, Equipment, and

Environment. It is these things that make all adapted programs so beneficial and effective for
students with ASD.
As mentioned before, physical education and activity can be a happy time in a students life, and
it is also a great way for them to deal with stress. Apart from in schools, there are also many
outer school programs specifically designed for people with disabilities, including those with ASD.
When looking at the Cardinia Shire and what they offer, there is nothing listen in particular for
those with a disability. They do however have a list of all of the local sporting facilities such as
gyms and recreation venues that have disabled car parking and therefore may offer programs.
Each venue would have to be looked at and enquired about individually. (Cardinia Council 2014).
Looking at another council nearby, The City of Casey has an outstanding list of sports for the
disabled. On their governmental website they have a downloadable PDF of all of the available
sport and recreation activities available for students with disabilities. The 16 page document,
gives a diverse range of activities that are available, from aquatics to walking groups (Casey
Council 2014). On the other side of the city, Wyndham city has a wide list of available sports to
the community; under this there is a section for disabled sports where they list 2
programs/places. (Wyndham Council 2014 ). There are many great activities and sports that
people with ASD can greatly benefit from in the wider community. On top of this they are also
able to work on other aspects of their lives, such as social reactions and communications.
ASD is a disability that affects many aspects of a persons life. They are affected by having
Inattention and Hyperactive Behaviours, Social Impairment and Social Isolation, Difficulties
Understanding Instructions and Performing Tasks, Emotional Regulation Difficulties, Narrow
Interest and Inflexible Adherence to Routines and Structure. These aspects of their personalities
make it difficult for them to participate in regular physical education/activity both in schools and
outside of schools. Teachers in schools can find it extremely difficult to teach a student with ASD
if they dont learn to adapt their teaching strategies. By adapting their strategies or by promoting
an adapted physical education program, students with ASD can find this the most joyful and
rewarding part of their day.
Atwood, M 2012, Living with Autism, Abdo Group, Menopolis.
Cardinia Council, 2014, Cardinia Shire Council, viewed August 10,
<http://www.cardinia.vic.gov.au/>
Casey Council, 2014, The City of Caseyl, viewed August 10,
<http://www.casey.vic.gov.au/Home>
Fournier, K, Hass, C, Naik, S, Lodha, N & Cauraugh, J 2010, Motor coordination in autism
spectrum disorders: asynthesis and meta-analysis, Journal of Autism Dev Disorder, no.40,
pp.12271240.

Grenier, M 2014, Physical Education for Students With Autism Spectrum

Disorders, Human Kinetics, USA.
Healy, S, Msetfi, R & Gallagher, S 2013,Happy and a bit nervous: the experiences with children
and autism in physical education, British Journal of Learning Disabilities,no.41, pp. 222-228.
Kalyava, E 2011, Autism: Educational and Therapeutic Approaches, Papazisi Publications, UK.
Menear, KS & Smith, S 2008, Physical Education for Students with Autism: Teaching Tips and
Strategies, Teaching Exceptional Children, vol.40, no.5, pp.32-37.
Menear, KS & Smith, S 2011, Teaching Physical Education to Students with Autism

Spectrum Disorders, Strategies: A Journal for Physical and Sport Educators, Vol. 24, No.3, pp.
21-24.
Obrusnikova, I & Dillon, S 2011, Challenging Situations when Teaching Children With Autism
Spectrum Disorder, Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, no.28, pp. 113-131.
Wright, H & Sugden, D 1999, Physical Education for All: Developing Physical Education in the
Curriculum, David Fulton Publishers Ltd, Great Brittain.
Wyndham Council, 2014, Wyndham City Council, viewed August 10,
<http://www.wyndham.vic.gov.au/aboutwyndham/pubmedia/community_directory/sport__recreati
on>