/ Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired
Outreach Programs
512-454-8631 | 1100 W. 45th St.| Austin, TX 78756

2018 Texas Focus: On the Move!

I Want to Play, Too!

Friday, March 2, 2018

1:30-3:00 PM

Presented by

Dr. Elina Mullen, Physical Education Teacher

Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired

Developed for

Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired

Outreach Programs

I Want to Play, Too

Elina Mullen, Ed. D. CAPE

Slide 2: Physical Movement

•Why is movement Important?

•What do studies say about Movement?

•The developmental progression of movement.

•How do I get anyone to move?

•What considerations do I have to make as a parent/ teacher/recreation/ specialist etc.

Slide 3: Considerations

•Where is the individual on the developmental scale?

•Can the individual move?

•How does the individual move?

•Is assistance needed?

•What type of assistance?

•Medications and side effects.

•Medical limitations.

Slide 4: Adapted Physical Education – Claudine Sherrill: pg 119

Figure 1 Chart: Sherrill believes that competitive team activities should not be introduced until children enter the concrete operational stage and show cognitive / moral understanding of rules and strategies. In normal children this occurs around the third-grade (age 8). Many severely mentally retarded children who remain frozen in the sensorimotor or preoperational intelligence stages never show readiness for competitive team play. Emphasis for them should be on development of lifetime individual sports, dance, and aquatic skills.

Slide 5: Sighted Guide Cycling

Figure 2 Student with teacher doing sighted guide cycling

Slide 6: Communication

  • LITERACY LEVEL
  • SPOKEN WORDS
  • SIGHT
  • HEARING
  • TOUCH/GESTURES
  • SIGN
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • TOTAL

Figure 3 Graphic of hand signs

Slide 7: Communication Modalities (This is Key)

•Spoken language

•Sign

•Gestures

•Symbols

•Tactile symbols

•Pictures

•Print (sizes)

•Braille

•Total (combinations of all or some of the above)

•EXAMPLES:

•Calendar systems

•Time?

•Starting and Ending?

Figure 4 Photo of hands reading braille.

Slide 8: Who is the Person to Him / Herself?

•What is his /her reality?

•Are there more than one disability

Obvious ones, silent ones-unseen?

Figure 5 Student on a bolster swing.

Slide 9: Who am I

•How am I seen? Vision

•How am I heard? Hearing

•What do I feel like? Sensory

•How do I smell? – Sensory -body odor, fragrance, deodorant, shampoo, laundry soap…..

•What is the quality of my touch?

•My size?

Slide 10: Adaptations

•MYSELF

•COMMUNICATION STYLE

•TEACHING/COACHING STYLE

•ENVIRONMENT

•EQUIPMENT

•RULES

•DRESS

Figure 6 Cartoon of boy with a soccer ball giving a thumbs up.

Slide 11: Let’s Play

Figure 7 A drawing of a group of kids, some with disabilities.

Slide 12: Move and Play How?

(always consider SAFETY first)

  • Create your own game
  • Take a known game and break it down to empower your student/client/child to play.
  • Change or modify the equipment
  • May need rules or you may not
  • Recreate the play area.

Slide 13:

My goal as a teacher is to teach movment(s) that becomes a lifetime habit. – Elina Mullen

Teaching /Coaching Modificationsand Verbal Cues

Elina Mullen ED. D CAPE

Modifications

  • Physical Modelling
  • Directions
  • Levels
  • Body positioning
  • Distance
  • Targets: all modalities- voice, instrument, clapping, sounds, beepers, silence
  • Jump ropes-beaded, hoola-hoops
  • Balls w/bells, tethered, beep balls, music
  • Equipment with specialized sounds

Verbal Cues - Verbal cues and physical modelling

  • Specific directionality
  • Right, left
  • High, low
  • North, South etc.
  • Voice cueing

Adapt and be creative on the spot when the movement/game being taught was not understood.

Guide Technique in Physical Education and Life

See video for demonstrations:

  • Basic Guide Technique: a way of walking with a person that is blind or visually impaired
  • Guides can be blind, visually impaired or sighted.
  • Always introduce yourself and ask if the person wants to be guided somewhere before grabbing them. If they do, touch the back of their hand with the back of your hand softly.
  • The person being guided should walk one step behind and to the side of the guide, following the movement of the guide’s body while walking.
  • The guide’s arm should be by their side in a natural position and the person being guided should have their arm at a 90 degree angle.
  • The grip should be above the elbow and firm enough to maintain contact, but not so firm as to cause discomfort.
  • The guide can explain where they are walking and any obstacles they may be avoiding.

PE Areas - Orient to New Equipment

  • Ask if the person would like to tactually explore equipment and allow time for them to ask questions
  • Use hand-under-hand technique to guide around more precarious areas
  • Give explicit descriptions of items and/or use tactile representations, as possible

Anchoring: if you need to leave the person to

Changing Levels: When moving around with a student in a space with irregular surfaces/ textures, let them know when approaching changing levels (such as mat to floor, floor to mat) and pause briefly before changing levels. Give them a verbal cue what is coming. If the child cannot hear, establish a gesture done in their hands that you can use to indicate “up” or “down”.

Orientation & Mobility Terminology:

Trailing – Student using hand to trail along the walk for orientation. Palm should be turned inwards, fingertips forward.

Squaring Off – Putting ones back up to surface to position oneself in correct direction for next part of journey. On campus, the van stop is a common area where students square off. By trailing with the handrail, they reach the van stop bench and can square off in the correct direction for crossing the street and walking up the ramp to the sidewalk.

Landmark – an item in the environment that allows students to orient themselves to their surroundings. The handrail into the van stop is a good example of this.

Basketball for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Meet with the student prior to discuss current abilities and skills, as well as, modifications they already use as well as what they are comfortable with having. Be sure to determine whether there are any health concerns (Some eye conditions may carry a higher risk for retinal detachments). In discussion with the eye doctor, sometimes sports goggles can be used to minimize certain injuries.

Only modify the game as much as is needed for safe participation.

1)Equipment Modifications:

  • Sounds sources and textures/ varied materials can help with identification of various areas.
  • High contrast colors for court lines,bright back board and/ or ball (f.e. court that is bright blue with bright yellow court lines; yellow/ light border painted around edges of court
  • White backboards can "disappear into the background"; consider a dark border line
  • A beeper box can be mounted at both baskets to allow for orientation (should have different beeps)
  • Use the student’s cane to tap continuously on the inside back edge of the basket to orient
  • Attach bells to the basket net, so it is heard when the ball goes through
  • The court boundary lines can have a different texture (f.e. carpet); see the article ICEVI.org. Take care that these modifications do not create slip and/or trip hazards.
  • The backboard could have a piece of metal mounted on the square behind the basket, so they hear when it bounces off it
  • Basketball can have bells inside it and/ or be brightly colored to allow better visual contrast.

2)Potential Rules Modifications:

  • Allow the player(s) to dribble with two hands, or travel with the ball for longer periods
  • Have the player move to a specific area and then have the ball passed/ handed to them for shooting during the game (if running between other players is a safety issue)
  • Require all players to walk instead of run while travelling around the court
  • Use verbal name cue and bounce pass so they will be alerted and hear it bounce
  • Spend adequate time on individual skills and highlight their strengths
  • Allow visually impaired student to shoot free throws for both teams

3)Teaching strategies

  • Make tactual "maps" of playing area
  • Allow student to tactually explore equipment
  • Use larger balls that move more slowly to learn/ practice dribbling (consider punching balloons)

Resources:

Tapping net with cane (watch into video at1:27):

Accessible Court:

Bell net: (make your own with the bells):
Beeper Box:PSS, Sport Edition and Portable Sound Source 2003:
Bell ball:

ActiveMind:

Adapted Physical Activity Resources:

USGAMES.COM

RIFTON.COM

LET'S PLAY

2018 Texas Focus – I Want to Play, Too! – Mullen, E.Page 1

Aquatics-

  • competitions of varying stokes and distances, displays

Baseball –

  • t-stand,
  • adapted bats,
  • cones,
  • wiffle ball

Basketball-

  • adjustable height basket stand, trash baskets, balls of varying textures, sizes and weights

Beep baseball-

beep baseball, adapted bat, beepers doormats cones

Beep kickball-

  • beep kickball, adapted bat, beepers doormats, cones

Beep obstacle course-

  • bolsters and soft objects eg cushion, beepers or sound device.

Bog ball volleyball –

  • parachute of varying sizes, balls of varying sizes and weights

Bowling –

  • adapted bowling balls, ramps

Cycling-

  • 3 wheelers,
  • tandem front/back or
  • side by side

Dancing-

  • various

Fitness workouts –

  • various

Football-

  • adapted goal, footballs of various sizes

Games from other Cultures

  • e.g. Boulle (curling)

Golf-

  • sticks of varying sizes,
  • bubble balls,
  • empty boxes,
  • crates of varying sizes golf kits with holes, any size you need it to be.

Gymnastics -

Hiking-

  • map and
  • comfortable clothing, shoes

Hockey-

  • varying size and types of sticks,
  • varying size and types of pucks,
  • varying size and types of goal

Line games-

  • bean bags,
  • balls,
  • scarves

Martial Arts –

  • environment,
  • clothing (wrestling)

Noodle Hockey/ scooter board hockey –

  • noodles,
  • scooter boards,
  • varying pucks

Parachute-

  • volleyball/snow ball

Relays-

  • egg and spoon,
  • water and bucket,
  • sand and spoon

Riding –

  • Horseback

Rope jumping –

  • regular ropes,
  • adapted ropes

Running –

  • comfortable shoes,
  • clothing and safe place to run,
  • treadmill

Soccer-

  • regular balls,
  • balls of varying sizes,
  • soccer trainers

Target games-

  • Velcro targets and balls,
  • archery

Track and Field-

  • adjusted distances and equipment,
  • sighted guide runners/riders -(triathlon)

Tennis-

  • adjustable net-stand,
  • adapted racket,
  • balls

Volleyball-

  • regular,
  • adapted balls,
  • tethered balls
  • balloons (latex??)

Walking-

  • comfortable shoes,
  • clothing and safe place to walk,
  • treadmill

Wheelchair games,

  • dancing
  • race.

2018 Texas Focus – I Want to Play, Too! – Mullen, E.Page 1

Text Books

Strong T., Lefevre, Dale N. (2006) Parachute Games. Human Kinetics

Horowitz, Gayle. (2009) International Games. Human Kinetics

Sherrill, C. (1976) Adapted Physical Education and Recreation. Wm. C. Brown Publishers. Dubuque. Iowa

E. Ann, Davies. (2012) Physical activities in the Wheelchair and Out. Human Kinetics.

Dennison, Paul E. & Dennison Gail E. (1988) Brain Gym. Edu-Kinetics, Inc. Ventura California.

Sher, Barbara. (1992) Extraordinary play with Ordinary Things. Therapy Skill Builders. Tucson, Arizona

Liberman, Lauren & Cowart, Jim F. Games for People with Sensory Impairments. (1996)

Lawton, John. Complete Guide to primary Swimming. (2013) Human kinetics

Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired

Outreach Programs

Figure 9 TSBVI logo

Figure 10 IDEAs that Work logo and US Dept. of Education OSEP disclaimer