Understanding Motor Behaviour in Developmental Coordination Disorder

Anna Barnett, Elisabeth Hill, Anna Barnett, Elisabeth Hill

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781351975452
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Although Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD, sometimes referred to as 'Dyspraxia') has received less attention than other developmental disorders, its impact can be severe and long-lasting. This volume takes a unique approach, pairing companion chapters from international experts in motor behaviour with experts in DCD. Current understanding of the motor aspects of DCD are thus considered in the context of general motor behaviour research.

Understanding Motor Behaviour in Developmental Coordination Disorder offers an overview of theoretical and methodological issues relating to motor development, motor control and skill acquisition, genetics, physical education and occupational therapy. Critically, Barnett and Hill ground DCD research within what is known about motor behaviour and typical development, allowing readers to evaluate the nature and extent of work on DCD and to identify areas for future research.

This unique approach makes the book invaluable for students in developmental psychology, clinical psychology, movement science, physiotherapy, physical education, and special education, as well as researchers and professionals working in those fields.

Section III
Education and therapy

7
Adapted physical activity in physical education

Martin E. Block

Introduction

The goals of the PE class are to instruct more efficient forms of movement, to build a positive attitude to being physically active, to create enjoyment of physical play in its various forms, and to find one’s niche for lifelong involvement in physical activity – whether solo or team-based, whether on the playing field or pool-based, whether fitness or motor skill oriented, whether sports or recreational, adventure activities (Elliott, Stanec, & Block, 2016).

Inclusion is the philosophy of educating individuals with disabilities in classes with typically developing peers while providing the necessary support and services for all students to achieve their full potential (Block & Obrusnikova, 2016; Haegele & Sutherland, 2015). Inclusive education takes the responsibility away from the individual student for adapting his/her own learning style and calls for teachers to provide content in ways that encourage diverse learning, successful outcomes and promotes the abilities of all students. Inclusion principles can be successful, if the teacher of PE adopts a positive attitude and applies basic, well established pedagogy to cater for the spectrum of motor abilities in their class (Haegele & Sutherland, 2015).

Adapted physical activity in physical education

Students with disabilities often can be safely and successfully included in general physical education. However, the physical educator must be prepared to make modifications to how the class is organized, how information is presented, the equipment and organization used and how support personnel are utilized. Relatively simple instructional and curricular modifications can make a tremendous difference between success and failure for students with disabilities. For example, students with visual impairments would not understand what to do in physical education if you used only demonstrations. The simple addition of verbal cues would allow these students to be successful. Similarly, a simple accommodation in volleyball for a student with an intellectual disability who has limited strength is allowing the student to stand closer to the net and use a lighter, larger ball when it is his turn to serve.

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce a variety of instructional and curricular modifications to accommodate students with disabilities in general physical education. These modifications illustrate how subtle changes in how you organize your class and present information can better accommodate students with disabilities. The goal of these modifications is to allow all students, including students with disabilities, to participate in a general physical education setting that is safe and challenging and affords opportunities for success. Which techniques you choose to implement will depend on the particular needs of the student with disabilities, the age group you are working with, the skills you are focusing on, the make up of your class, availability of equipment and facilities, availability of support personnel, and your own preference. Although specific examples are provided, it is important that you focus on the general process of how to modify. You can apply this process to a variety of physical education activities and situations if you understand the general process of creating and implementing appropriate instructional and curricular modifications.

Universal models related to modifications

There are two general models for accommodating the needs of diverse learners – differentiated instruction and universal design for learning (UDL). These approaches are designed to account for the wide variability in skills, experiences and learning styles of students within the student body at-large and not just the student with a disability (Janney & Snell, 2013). However, making an effort to make sure all the students in a class are successful and challenged ultimately makes it easier to include students with disabilities. For example, a physical educator may feel intimidated by the prospects of accommodating a 10-year-old student with cerebral palsy who uses canes for walking into a soccer unit. However, using differentiated instruction this physical educator thinks of all the students as individuals with unique strengths and weaknesses and who all need some level of accommodation. There are different size balls for kicking, there are different distances to kick, and there are different size targets. Finally, students are encouraged to set individual goals such as trying to hit a small target 1/5 tries or a large target from 10 feet away 4/5 times. With all these accommodations designed to make sure all the students in the class are successful and challenged at their own levels, the physical educator realizes it is possible to accommodate the student with cerebral palsy.

Differentiated instruction

Differentiating instruction is a model where students are given different options in how they demonstrate understanding and knowledge and how concepts and content are presented (Huebner, 2010; Tomlinson, 2014). Differentiated instruction takes into account individual student readiness, abilities and interests when planning instruction (Gregory & Chapman, 2013; Janney & Snell, 2013). Tomlinson (2014) explained the difference between differentiated instruction and individualized instruction. Individualized instruction involves doing something different for each individual student, which can be extremely difficult in a classroom or physical education setting of 20 or more students. Differentiated instruction offers several options for students, but the model does not assume each individual student would need a separate, unique modification. For example, rather than creating a unique accommodation for a student with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a throwing/catching unit, the teacher proactively created a number of ways to experience, practice and measure success in throwing and catching for all students. Thus this student with ASD has the opportunity to be successfully included in the unit not by having unique, individual accommodations but by taking advantage of the planned differentiated options offered to all students in the class.

Differentiated instruction provides multiple choices to three specific areas related to instruction and learning: content, process and product (Janney & Snell, 2013; Tomlinson, 2014).

Content is what the student is expected to learn. Different levels of content can be offered to the students ranging from learning basic skills and a basic understanding of rules of games to advanced skills and team strategies. For example, team handball is presented in a secondary physical education class. Choices of content for passing includes (1) basic fundamental of passing and catching using larger, lighter balls (perhaps even foam balls) while standing stationary relatively close to your partner, (2) moving slowly and farther apart from your partner and (3) moving quickly and still farther away from your partner. Additional challenges, concepts and strategies would be offered to the students in the advanced group such as how to throw to avoid a defender. A student with ASD could be comfortably accommodated and included with a foam ball and standing close to his partner during the practice sessions. Additionally, more skilled peers can be rotated into the area with the lesser skilled students to provide extra instruction and feedback.

Process is how students make sense of the concepts and content presented. This includes providing differentiation in instructional strategies, materials used, conditions in which the student is expected to learn and activities presented. In physical education, instructional strategies might include verbal directions, demonstrations and visual cues such as pictures or video clips showing students how to perform the skill correctly. Some students understand what is expected with a simple verbal cue and demonstration, but others need pictures and videos to understand what is expected. The student with ASD from the example discussed (as well as other students who have limited experiences with team handball) would benefit from seeing a series of pictures showing the step-by-step process for throwing a handball, and slow motion video clips of skilled throwers would provide even more help to these lesser skilled students who are just being introduced to throwing a handball. Again, note how accommodations are planned ahead of time and not designed for any particular student, yet by differentiating all students those with disabilities are accommodated.

Product refers to how students demonstrate what they have learned. For example, with throwing a handball three types of product measurement are used: (1) demonstrating improvement in mastery of the components of a skillful throw, (2) demonstrating improved distance in throwing and (3) demonstrating improved accuracy when throwing. Since the teacher focuses on improvement, all students, regardless of their starting point, will have a chance to show improvement, from the student who shows improvement by mastering one component of the overhand throw, to another student who was close to mastery and shows improvement by mastering that last component, and finally to other students who already mastered all the components who are showing improvement through increased distance and accuracy. See Ellis, Lieberman, and LeRoux (2009) for additional examples of differentiated instruction applied to an inclusive physical education setting.

Universal design for learning (UDL)

Universal design is based on the philosophy that the physical environment and the activities engaged in within the environment, should be used by all individuals without adaptations or specially designed equipment (Null, 2014). Examples of universal design include door handles that are levers and not doorknobs (the latter would not require a person to reach, grab and turn the handle but instead simply pushing the handle down to open the door) and curb cuts which allow you to easily move into the street whether walking or using a wheelchair, pushing a baby stroller or riding a bicycle. UDL can be used in education settings (McGuire, Scott, & Shaw, 2006) and specifically in physical education settings (see Lieberman & Houston-Wilson, 2009 for more detail). Similar to differentiated instruction, UDL focuses on making the environment and program accessible to all students not just those from a single disability group (e.g., student who uses a wheelchair). For example, using UDL when teaching a unit on football, one has to consider what would be a single piece of equipment that could be used to (1) maintain the integrity of the game, (2) include all students and (3) address movement concerns? To answer this question, the teacher must be able to identify all the components of the game from: contextual (e.g., moving the ball across the pitch to score a goal or preventing the other team from scoring a goal), skills (e.g., dribbling, passing, shooting, defending), and student learning (e.g., rule and strategy modifications to make the game accommodating yet challenging for everyone). Again, UDL is not the same planning process when deciding how to “adapt” the game of football for a person who is visually impaired; UDL considers all students. The result of the analysis might be using a larger, softer, more brightly colored ball that still has the feel of a soccer ball for the more skilled students but is easier to see, easier to kick and safer for the less skilled students. In addition, universal rules include only allowing a player to score once in a game (this prevents one student from dominating the game and gives others a chance to score) and the creation of zones to teach positioning, eliminate the one dominant player and allowing a greater chance for everyone to touch the ball during the game.

Principles of universal design for learning

McGuire et al. (2006) suggested nine principles supporting UDL for instruction that can be applied to physical education and used to address the educational needs of students with disabilities. Block, Klavina, and Davis (2016) provided examples of how each of these UDL principles can be applied to a physical education setting (see Table 7.1).

Selecting appropriate modifications

Not all modifications are necessarily “good modifications.” For example, making all players sit in chairs when playing volleyball to accommodate a student who uses a wheelchair would result in the other students not enjoying the volleyball unit, not learning and practicing the skills of volleyball, and most likely lead to peers resenting having this student in their class. Befor...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of contributors
• Foreword
• Introduction: understanding motor behaviour in Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD)
• Section I Development and skill acquisition
• Section II Biological aspects of development
• Section III Education and therapy
• Index