Strategies to Make Physical Activities Accessible for CWSN

Taking part in physical activity benefits all children, including those with disabilities: it promotes inclusion, minimises deconditioning, optimises physical functioning and improves overall wellbeing. Yet children with disabilities are more restricted in their participation, are generally less fit and are more likely to be obese than their peers. Making activity genuinely accessible to them therefore calls for a set of well-devised strategies.

Communication. Give advance information about the activity, the space, the resource person and any change of plan. Use a mix of verbal, visual and peer instructional strategies, and support them with visuals or a 'social story' about the activity. Give positive, corrective and specific feedback. Instructions should use simple words and short sentences, a low tone and one instruction at a time; where needed, a communication board or book can help.

Space. The area should be approachable for a child with a physical disability and limited in size. It should be as disturbance-free as possible (free of excess noise, heat, cold, awkward floor texture or audience) and is best started indoors, with boundaries clearly marked as starting point, finishing point and sitting area. Children with autism should be given a specific area where they can take time to relax. Once behaviour, discipline and understanding of instructions are secure, the activity can move outdoors.

Equipment. A shortage of suitable equipment, together with a shortage of trained professionals, discourages participation. A growing number of modified and even computerised devices (such as sport wheelchairs) are now available for adapted sport. Competition involves four groups of disabled sportspersons — (1) the deaf, (2) people with a physical disability, (3) people with an intellectual disability, and (4) people supported by specially-designed high-level engineering equipment — and all of them can use many kinds of equipment and facilities. Equipment can be adapted along the characteristics shown below so that an activity is made easier or harder to suit the child:

Graded Activities. In the early stages activities should be simple and based on a single action, moving gradually from non-locomotor to locomotor to manipulative activities. The level of assistance should progress from physical to verbal to independent. A new motor skill should be practised with the student, demonstrated through the teacher's own body action and reinforced with videos (highlighting the key moment), asking the child to demonstrate it back before practising, and practising with a progressive count or even with rhymes and songs so the activity is enjoyable.

Did you know? Locomotor skills include running, jumping, hopping, galloping, rolling, leaping, dodging, the horizontal jump and the slide. Manipulative skills include throwing, catching, kicking, striking, trapping, dribbling, the overhand throw and the underhand roll. Stability skills include balancing, twisting, turning and bending.

Social strategies. Let the CWSN choose a sport she or he enjoys, since enjoyment is the easiest route to motivation. At first encourage the child to watch others; seeing people having fun is motivating. Then move to individual training, and later to a small supervised group. The teacher should act as a mediator, helping the CWSN interact with others, checking on each participant, offering reminders when attention wanders, greeting each child before the session and ending each lesson with positive feedback. …