Overcoming Adapted Physical Education Barriers through Collaboration among Special Educators and Administrators

Authors

Scott W.T. McNamara, Ph.D., Lisa Silliman-French, PhD., Valda Morgan, Ph.D., Tammy L. Stephens-Pisecco, Ph.D.
  • Scott W.T. McNamara, Ph.D. (Author) Texas Woman’s University image/svg+xml
    Scott W.T. McNamara, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the area of Adapted Physical Education at University of Northern Iowa (UNI). He also has developed a podcast that interviews panels of experts in the field of adapted physical education. Research interests include adapted physical education, online professional development, and school administration.
  • Lisa Silliman-French, PhD. (Author) University of Northern Iowa image/svg+xml
    Lisa Silliman-French, PhD, is a Professor in the area of Adapted Physical Education at Texas Woman’s University (TWU). She has been at TWU for 13 years and taught in the public school as an Adapted Physical Education teacher and special education coordinator for 17 years. Her research interest area is in pedagogy for school-aged children with disabilities.
  • Valda Morgan, Ph.D. (Author)
    Valda Morgan, Ph.D., is a special education consultant with over 30 years in the field of special education as a teacher, program supervisor and program director. As a consultant, she provides special education guidance for charter schools and advocacy for parents of school-aged students with disabilities. Her interests lie with transition for youth with intellectual disabilities.
  • Tammy L. Stephens-Pisecco, Ph.D. (Author)
    Tammy L. Stephens-Pisecco, Ph.D. is a Clinical Account Executive at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She is an educational diagnostician and has worked as a university professor and a special education teacher. Research interests include appropriate assessment and intervention practices.
https://doi.org/10.64546/jaasep.408
Specially designed physical education (PE), also known as adapted PE, is frequently provided by an adapted physical educator. Adapted physical educators are unique, as they need knowledge about both PE and special education curricula (Kwon & Block, 2014). However, students with disabilities are not provided appropriate PE services. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, U.S.C. § 300.108, 2004) requires students with disabilities to have access to specially designed PE to meet their unique needs as determined appropriate by the individualized education program (IEP) team. However, it has been well documented that many barriers prevent effective adapted PE service delivery to students with disabilities (Government Accountability Office [GAO], 2010). Some barriers are associated with local special education administrators and special educators. The purpose of this article is to highlight the existing barriers for students with disabilities and offer possible solutions.

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McNamara, S. W. T., Silliman-French, L., Morgan, V., & Stephens-Pisecco, T. L. (2019). Overcoming Adapted Physical Education Barriers through Collaboration among Special Educators and Administrators. Journal of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals, 14(3), 94-105. https://doi.org/10.64546/jaasep.408

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  • Article Type Articles
  • Submitted September 12, 2019
  • Published October 15, 2019
  • Issue Fall 2019
  • Section Articles
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