Having opportunities to pursue a physically active lifestyle is an important part of a young person’s day-to-day life. Youth with disabilities and their parents should be encouraged and empowered to actively participate in accessible – and inclusive – physical activity and recreation programs in their communities. Thus, resources should be made available to parents to assist them in identifying and locating accessible programs for their child.
This video-enabled factsheet stresses the importance and value of physical activity for young people with disabilities. Strategies are provided for parents to identify physical activity, recreation, and leisure opportunities for their children. The purpose of this guide is to encourage parents to take on an active role in the lives of their children and encourage and support their involvement in physical activity and recreation.
Youth with disabilities can greatly benefit from physical activity and recreation. In an environment where everyone is encouraging the participation and inclusion of a young person with a disability, a young person can learn a variety of skills, and grow physically and emotionally. A young person with a disability can participate with other youth with and/or without disabilities and learn to work in groups, learn the value of teamwork, and develop skills such as stretching, throwing, balance, etc. An opportunity to participate in physical activity and recreation allows for a young person to realize improved skills, and thus, gain self-esteem.
The opportunity to take part in physical activity and recreation for a youth with a disability impacts all areas of his or her daily life. The ability to excel while taking part in a game of basketball, for example, can lead a young person to then feel more compelled to do well academically or socially. Furthermore, even the process of losing or failing at first and then, over time, being able to succeed at a recreational activity helps a young person recognize that obstacles and struggles can be overcome. For a young person with a disability, these accomplishments can help them to recognize that it is possible to do things well and to succeed with a disability.
Participation in physical activity and recreation in school and in the community is also vital for the development of healthy children. It has been documented that the development of healthy behaviors are established during childhood (Raitakari et al., 1994). It is of vital importance that youth with and without disabilities develop health behaviors and participate in sufficient amounts of physical activity.
outh with disabilities may not have as many options as youth without disabilities when it comes to physical activity and recreation opportunities. The lack of ample physical activity opportunities may be due to a deficiency of societal acceptance and support, which affects access to community and physical education activity options (Llewellyn & Hogan, 2000). Adapted physical activity classes are available in school, but often these classes are very brief, and rarely are there opportunities for the children to foster and develop new skills. These classes tend to be one on one with a teacher, and not a group experience with other youth with disabilities or with youth without disabilities. Classroom special education teachers may be providing the physical education for their students with disabilities instead of physical education professionals. Sometimes, youth with disabilities are included in physical education classes with youth without disabilities, yet, usually, the children with disabilities are led to the sidelines, and not actively engaged to be central to the activities.
If your child has a disability and they are receiving school services as outlined in an Individualized Education Program Plan (IEP) that is mandated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA), your child may be eligible to receive leisure and recreation program services. The IEP must include: “special education, related services, supplementary aids and services, program modifications and supports for school personnel to allow the child to advance toward attaining annual goals, be involved and progress in the general curriculum, and participate in extracurricular and other nonacademic activities and participate with other children.” (http://www.dakotalink.tie.net/content/default.htm).
IDEA identifies recreation as one of the related services. Recreation as a related service is intended to help children and youth with disabilities learn how to use their free time constructively, appropriately, and in a personally meaningful way. Related services as defined under IDEA, “any developmental, corrective, and other supportive service as may be required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education.” According to the IDEA final regulation, Recreation as a related service includes:
- Assessment of Recreation and Leisure Functioning: This involves an assessment of current functional strengths and needs of students with disabilities in terms of skills, abilities, and attitudes relative to recreation and leisure.
- Leisure Education: This provides students with recreational and educational instruction to promote positive attitudes toward leisure, recognition of benefits of recreation involvement, the development of skills necessary for recreation participation (such as social, decision making, and planning skills), knowledge of recreation resources, and attitudes and skills that facilitate independent, satisfying leisure experiences.
- Therapeutic Recreation: This is a process, which uses recreation activities to habilitate or rehabilitate functional abilities, which contribute to behavioral change. It is also a process involving assessment, development of goals and objectives, and the implementation, documentation, and evaluation of intervention strategies.
- Recreation in Schools and Community Agencies: This involves the provision of recreation services that facilitate the full participation of children with disabilities in school and community programs. Activities are used to promote health, growth, development, and independence through self-rewarding leisure pursuits.
In addition to IDEA, there are several federal laws, which support leisure education services and recreational opportunities for your child within the community. The Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA is foremost among them. The ADA is a broadly encompassing civil rights law, which mandates that public and private providers of recreation and leisure services open their doors and programs to include people with disabilities. The ADA mandates that people with disabilities, both young and old, be provided with equal opportunities to receive the benefits of programs and services, including recreation and physical activity programs.
Beyond the school day opportunities, there are a limited number of programs across the country available through rehabilitation centers or disability-specific sport-related programs.Unfortunately, the programs themselves are often under-funded and unable to do the type of publicity necessary to get the word out to the young people they are tying to serve. In light of this, it is important that parents take an active role in searching for opportunities for recreational and physical activities for their children.
While there may be relatively few recreation and physical activity programs for youth with disabilities, this presents an exciting opening for the development of new opportunities and programs. There are numerous resources in the area of physical activity and recreation that have yet to serve youth with disabilities, and now is the time for parents to take an active role in setting these resources in motion.
Parks and Recreation programs, YMCA’s, and other community organizations should work to further increase their attention on serving youth with disabilities. These institutions are in a great position to deliver physical activity and recreation programs to these individuals. Parents are also in a position to push for increased programming and opportunities for youth with disabilities. Parents can work with these groups to develop programs that adequately meet the needs of youth with disabilities.
Parents of youth with disabilities are in a critical position to be leaders in establishing and creating new and dynamic ways to provide recreation and physical activity opportunities to youth with disabilities. Although current recreation and physical activity programs for youth with disabilities may lack funding or require a concerted effort to find, proactive parent involvement can be the key to creating an infrastructure in which quality programs can be delivered by mainstream organizations, thus increasing their visibility and utilization.