Now I know what your thinking, it's December and it's 20 degrees out, but I just presented at a state conference on this subject and wanted to make a blog on it while it was still fresh in my head.
When physical education teachers are presented with the task of creating and overseeing a field day it can be a bit overwhelming. Than once you start thinking about how you are going to accommodate/modify activities for students, it can seem staggering. Hopefully this blog can help calm your nerves and give you some ideas on how to make your field day accessible to everyone.
When you are creating a field day for students with disabilities there are a few things to take under consideration. For a successful field day you need to think about:
- How you are going to utilize your paras
- Activities
- Transitions to stations
- Themes
Themes:
For this subject I don't have to much to say. When it comes to themes just make sure that they are broad enough that you can integrate many different types of activities into it. Make sure it isn't so narrow of a theme that you can't think of more than two activities to go with it.
Here are a few ideas for themes:
Car wash
Summer time
Cars/NASCAR
Cars/NASCAR
Jungle
Olympics
Transitions and placements of stations:
When coming up with your field day, think about the placement of your stations. This is a part of organizing a field day that is sometimes overlooked but is very important to having a successful field day. You do want three activities in a row where the students are using up all their endurance. Instead build in a few stations that are fun and the students can engage in the activity without wearing themselves down.
When creating your field day layout think about creating visual supports on each station to help guide students on how to best particapte in the activity. This will be beneficial to all students, but will be extremely helpful for visual learners, like many students with Autism.
Visuals and other tools can be a great asset for your para professionals. Creating map for your pars and volunteers will not only give them written directions that they can keep glancing at but will encourage them to be more involved. Let them know that you value them and have taken the time to make a map to help them with the field day.
Here is a list of a few other considerations that you may need to prepare for depending on your student's needs:
- Make sure that all mobility issues are addressed. Make all your stations easily accessible for student whom are chair users.
- When sounding off on a megaphone or horn to let the students know to change stations, let a student who is sensitive to loud noises use the horn, this will help reduce anxiety.
- Keep a majority of your stations short and sweet. Many children (not just ones with disabilities) have short attention spans. Having short stations that are active and fun will increase the student's ability to be engaged.
Activities:
Adapting activities is about looking at your specific student's needs. So for this section I will list different adaptations that may be utilized for specific disabilities.
Physical Impairments- Use adapted equipment( bowling ramps, lighter balls, reachers, etc.), for students with MD have frequent breaks to reduce fatigue, modify rules of games so that the game is still competive for everyone(maybe Billy only has 3 pins to knock down and John has 5)
Intellectual impairment- Simple (1-3 steps) instructions, modify game so there is less external stimuli( if there was a game where students had to fill buckets with certain colors, limit the buckets), give them a peer buddy, extra visual/verbal cues, use a picture of the student on the place where you want them to be
Visual impairment/Blind- Use bright visually stimulating objects, use bells, a guiding line for running activities, beep balls, a sighted guide, have someone clap at a finish line, incorporate games where everyone is blindfolded( minefield)
Emotional impairment- Design games that limit competition, let students compete against their own scores rather than compete against other students, THINK ABOUT THEIR GROUPING( many children with emotional impairments will act out more often towards certain students), use more cooperative/team building games rather than competitive games like building a hoop house where students try to create a house with 3 hula hoops and the group must crawl through it without the hula hoops collapsing
Severely multiple impairments- Modify the games so that students are able to use eye gaze and other forms of communication to engage in the activity, use bright visually stimulating objects, use bells, create sensory stations such as one where they put their feet in a small pool and try to feel as many marbles and other tactile objects as possible
Autism- Visual maps of the field day, prepare your students for field day with a social story, visual supports for the activity, give the student a peer buddy, incorporate activities that meet your student's unique sensory needs(such as a log roll station for children with vestibular needs)
Getting others involved:
Working with para professionals in the P.E. setting can be difficult at times. Many para professionals think that because they are in P.E. they do not need to particapte. This is why the P.E. teacher should be creating a strong collaborative relationship with the paras for the entire year.
Ways to get your paras more involved:
- Try to incoporate them in lesson planning
- Give them lesson plans in advance
- Let them have a space in your office to keep there stuff, like in the special education classrooms
- Give them clear expectations by having classroom expectation posters on the walls
If you have a strong relationship with your paras throughout the year, than you should have no issues once field day comes around. But if you are experiencing any issues, try some of the suggestions I have given you from above. On field day, some paras may be in groups of children they haven't worked with before. Make sure your paras know your students needs and are give specific instructions on how to best address their needs.
When the field day experience is all said and done, send out a survey monkey to all of those who helped out. Find out how they thought it went and how they think it could go better.
Quote of the day:
"A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done."
- Fred Allen
- Fred Allen
