Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities

1. Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities A Recreational Perspective

2. Outline • Introductions • Our Staff • About the Academy • Our students • LDs • Definitions reviewed • Barriers to Physical Activity and Recreation • Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) • History/Philosophy TGfU • Let’s play a game (Junkyard) • Implementing TGfU into programming • Questions

3. Introductions

4. About Us Nicole Klement B.Sc , B.Ed Teaching (since 2005) special education science specialist physical education Zareh Demirdji B.PHE , B.Ed Teaching (since 2009) special education science physical education specialist

6. An Academy PE class • Student 1 has high functioning Asperger’s and struggles with sensory stimulus and transitions • Student 2 has gross motor issues and struggles with hand eye coordination • Student 3 is slow at processing and may take a full day to process instructions given • Student 4 has ADHD, is an athletic kinesthetic learner who is impulsive and sometimes unsafe during PE because their medication has worn off • Student 5 is self conscious about PE sports skills, is unlikely to try new things and has developed a loud, oppositional defensive approach to avoiding participation

7. LDs as barriers in PA

8. Types of Learning Disabilities • Visual • Organizational • Conceptual • Auditory • Motor Source: LDAO website

9. LD Symptoms as Barriers to PA Memory • Remembering instructions, rules, etc • Remembering complex movements (skills) Processing • Remembering instructions, rules, etc • Remembering complex movements (skills) Auditory • Hearing instructions • Processing instructions Motor • Performing complex movements (skills)

10. TGfU

11. History of TGfU • Developed in the early 1980’s in the UK (David Bunker and Rod Thorpe). • Resulted from the focus on learning technical skills in PE classes with little to no emphasis on strategy and game sense.1 • Philosophy of TGfU is to enhance physical literacy through the teaching of game-like activities in an inclusive, non-threatening, highly motivational environment. 1

12. Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) • The first thing students ask when they come into the gym is… “Are we going to play a game today?”

13. TGfU: Junkyard Skillet Junkyard Skillet

14. TGfU: Junkyard Junkyard • Face each other with a junkyard in between • Notice 3 skillets on each side of the junkyard. • Throw your beanbag and try to knock down the other teams skillets while avoiding objects in the junkyard. • Throw must be underhand. • Beanbag must remain in contact with the ground while travelling through the junkyard. • Opposing players retrieve the other team’s beanbag and attempts to hit down a skillet. • The team to knock down all three opposing skillets first is the winner.

15. Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) • The TGfU model begins with game play. • This: • Increases motivation of children by hooking them on the game, then introduces skills that will make them more successful.2 • Provides context to make the learning of skills and strategies meaningful.2 • At the Academy we’ve used this concept to provides a framework to reduce anxiety and transitions related to sport’s skills.

16. http://nicole-classes.wikispaces.com/Gr.10+H.A.L+PPL2O

17. Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) Traditional Model of Physical Education • Teacher directed • Skills  Game understanding • Students assessed primarily on their skills and effort TGfU Model of Physical Education • Student/Learner directed • Game understanding  Skills • Students assessed on improvements and efforts

18. Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) ***Note the position of tactical awareness in each model.*** Source: (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.mpeta.ca/documents/FARSIDE 08/TGFU.pdf

19. Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) • Think about an activity/sport you played in PE class and write it down on a post-it note. • Get up and move to the wall with the heading you think matches the activity/sport you wrote down.

20. Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) • TGfU breaks all sports and games into 4 categories. • Target/Aiming • Net/Wall • Striking/Fielding • Invasion/Territory

21. Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) Adapted from: (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.mpeta.ca/documents/FARSIDE 08/TGFU.pdf

22. Let us revisit Junkyard • What TGFU category would Junkyard fall under? • What level of difficulty would you rate it (easy, moderate, difficult)?

23. Implementing TGfU into Programming

24. Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) 1 – TGfU + skill 2 – TGfU + skill 3 – TGfU + skill 4 – TGfU + skill 5 – TGfU + skill 6 – TGfU + skill ... 1 – TGfU 2 – TGfU 3 – TGfU 4 – TGfU + skill 5 – TGfU + skill 6 – TGfU + skill ... Layering Concepts – Net/Wall easy  difficult

25. Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) Net/Wall (Badminton) Class 1 – “Baloonminton” + forehand serve

26. Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) Net/Wall (Badminton) Class 2 – “You’ve Been Served”+ backhand serve

27. Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) Net/Wall (Badminton) Class 3 – “Get Back” + forehand return

28. Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) Net/Wall (Badminton) Class 4 – “Twos” + backhand return

30. Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) Skills/Strategies can be transferred both within and between each TGfU category. Example of within a category (target/aiming): • Junkyard to beanbag golf. • Bowling to curling. Example of between categories (target/aiming to net/wall): • Volleyball

31. TGfU inherently accommodates for LDs

32. An Academy PE class • Student 1 has high functioning Asperger’s and struggles with sensory stimulus and transitions • Student 2 has gross motor issues and struggles with hand eye coordination • Student 3 is slow at processing and may take a full day to process instructions given • Student 4 has ADHD, is an athletic kinesthetic learner who is impulsive and sometimes unsafe during PE because their medication has worn off • Student 5 is self conscious about PE sports skills, is unlikely to try new things and has developed a loud, oppositional defensive approach to avoiding participation

33. TGfU and Learning Disabilities TGfU inherently accommodates for LDs? • Breaks game skills down into step-by-step movements that allow the students to be more successful at complicated skills.1 Helps: Processing (student 3), Auditory (student 1), Motor (student 2), and Memory (student 3) • Increases the amount of active participation and, “promotes enjoyment for participants.”1 Helps: All • Allows many skills, technical and tactical, to be transferred from game to game.1 • allows the students to understand this transfer process and therefore can increase game competence.1 Helps: Processing (student 3), Auditory (student 1), Motor (student 2), and Memory (student 3)

34. TGfU and Learning Disabilities • Recognizes differences in developmental levels and allows students/athletes to work at their own rate.1 Helps: All • Promotes the overall knowledge and understanding of a game.1 • This gives students an opportunity to gain essential knowledge and skills, which allows them to be able to participate in a variety of games.1 Helps: All

35. Equipment Larger/lighter equipment Larger goal/target Mark positions on playing field Lower goal/target Vary balls (size, weight, color, texture) Boundary/Play Area Decrease distance Use well-defined boundaries Simplify patterns Adapt playing area (smaller, obstacles removed) Rules, Prompts, Cues Demonstrate/model activity Partner assisted Disregard time limits Oral prompt More space between students Eliminate outs Allow ball to remain stationary Actions Change locomotor patterns Modify grasps Modify body positions Reduce number of actions Use different body parts General Adaptations for PE Class3 Source: Differentiating instruction for students with disabilities. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pecentral.org/adapted/adaptedactivities.html

36. Differentiated Instruction is Great But… What about students who are average, skilled, or highly skilled? TGfU Adaptations (Junkyard) • Use non-dominant hand • Stand farther from target • Increase play area size • More obstacles in junkyard • Play seated • Shoot beanbag with an implement (hockey stick, etc.) • Spread out Skillets • Use a ball and bounce it through junkyard

38. References • History and philosophy of tgfu. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://tgfu.wetpaint.com/page/History and Philosophy of TGfU • (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.mpeta.ca/documents/FARSIDE 08/TGFU.pdf • Differentiating instruction for students with disabilities. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pecentral.org/adapted/adaptedactivities.html