Disabled students have PE barriers, GAO says(2)

Only in fiscal year 2007, school districts received $10.8 billion in federal grants to provide services to school-aged students.

“The health and social benefits of physical activity and athletic participation for children are well established. These benefits may be even more important for children with disabilities, including those with cognitive and physical disabilities who have a greater risk of being sedentary and having associated health conditions, such as obesity and reduced cardiovascular fitness. Studies have shown that for students with disabilities, regular physical activity may help control or slow the progression of chronic disease, improve muscular strength, control body weight, and enhance students' psychological well-being through additional social ties and improved self-confidence and self-esteem,” the report states.

To conduct the study, GAO included data from its 2006 School Health Policies and Programs Study, the 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, data from the 2001 National Longitudinal Transition Study-2, and from the 2000 Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study.

In addition, GAO representatives visited districts and school sites in California, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota and New Jersey, and interviewed officials from state departments of education, state athletic associations, school districts, and local schools. In each state, GAO visited two districts and four schools.

Rural and suburban districts were chosen. Also, several districts were picked based on varied socio-economic status. Phone interviews were conducted with school district representatives from Georgia and Texas. All these states were elected because they “had relatively higher number of students with disabilities nationwide, and varied in whether they had policies requiring elementary, middle and secondary schools to teach PE.”

The report indicates that the choice GAO made regarding districts and schools to be studied was made based on guidelines that focused on “multiple states or districts that met our selection criteria. We purposely chose some that external stakeholders recommended as having innovative or promising practices.”

Various factors may affect students' experience in PE, such as their school level, elementary or middle, or their type of disability. For instance, some parents and school officials said that PE teachers in elementary school may be able to more easily integrate students with disabilities in their classes than those in secondary schools “because peers in elementary school are more accepting, the equipment is more varied, and there is less focus on competitive games than in secondary school, which may be harder for students with disabilities to participate,” GAO found.

“Officials from a number of schools we visited told us that for some students with disabilities who are in special education classes, PE is the one general education class that they attend on a regular basis,” the report indicates. “School and district officials also noted that the emphasis on educating students with disabilities in an inclusive environment with their peers without disabilities in all subjects also contributes to the high numbers of students in general PE classes.”

According to the 2006 report, data collected and to several teachers interviewed, common informal adjustments that teachers use for students with disabilities in PE class include simplifying the instructional content, providing additional skill modeling or repetition, and having peers without disabilities assist in teaching or coaching.