Current estimates are that 1 out of 88 children will be diagnosed with some form of autism. Planning a curriculum that includes all students, including those with ASD, can be a challenging task but well worth the effort. This book identifies strategies that highlight students’ skills, interests, and abilities though collaborative practices, environmental design, and assistive technologies. Physical Education for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Comprehensive Approach • introduces the inclusion spectrum as a tool to help teachers analyze appropriate instruction for students, aligning abilities with curriculum and activity context; • provides information on tools such as scripts, video modeling, social stories, and choice boards to assist teachers in developing programs; • presents a variety of activities that teachers can choose from to help students with ASD develop social and motor skills; and • assimilates best practices from general and adapted PE as well as autism training and research that offer solutions for increased student engagement in physical education. Written by contributors with extensive experience in developing inclusive programming for students with ASD, Physical Education for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Comprehensive Approach is ideal for physical education and adapted physical education courses across the K-12 curriculum. Part I provides an understanding of students with ASD that offers insights from parents’ and teachers’ perspectives. From there, the authors examine the application of the inclusion spectrum that helps teachers plan for appropriate instruction. Readers will also find communication and social learning tools they can use to minimize the stress students may experience while optimizing learning experiences. Assessment protocols assist with the development of relevant IEP goals and objectives. Part II contains individualized and group games and activities that enhance lifelong learning for students with ASD. Physical Education for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Comprehensive Approach is a practical resource that helps teachers design optimal plans for including students with ASD in general and adapted physical education classes. The manual contains numerous strategies, tools, and resources that assist teachers with individualizing instruction in ways that foster positive peer relationships as well as development of social and motor skills. It’s a win-win situation for all—teachers, parents, and most of all the students.

This book is an essential guide for how to teach fun and engaging physical education classes tailored to include the needs of autistic children and children with learning disabilities. With this practical guidebook detailing tested methods and best practices, teachers will be well equipped to support all students, including disabled students and those with varying support needs. Through a narrative lens that details children’s real-life journeys, and with key definitions and ready-to-use activities included throughout, Teaching Physical Education to Children with Autism presents a teacher’s first-hand account of what it’s like to teach students with diverse learning needs. Its comprehensive scope addresses all the practical challenges that educators may face in working with this population, including difficult behavior and disengagement. Detailing a myriad of solutions to try, along with flexible frameworks that can be applied to a myriad of physical education goals, this book is essential reading for any physical education teacher, special education teacher, and anyone wishing to create more equitable learning environments for children with varying learning needs.

This book opens with a discussion of neurodiversity and an elaboration of the diagnosis of autism. It then examines factors correlating with autism, including sex bias, month of birth, migration and impact of infant feeding. The next section is on the impact of autism. The neurobiology and genetic section deals with epigenetics and intracellular pathways associated with etiology. The development and behaviour section deals with proprioceptive profiles and joint attention in autism. The final section focuses on interventions including mindfulness, animal assisted activity, social/cultural perspective on autism intervention and physical activity. The book is relevant to all professionals and researchers working with persons with autism, including psychiatrists/psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, teachers, nurses and care workers.

This book will help practitioners employ appropriate teaching and learning strategies when working with autistic spectrum disorder students.

Createan appropriate learning environment to help children with ASD develop...

Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display a wide variety of cognitive, behavioral, physical/motor, and social abilities that often require some level of support in their education, including physical education (PE) and sport participation. Sport participation can afford students with ASD much needed opportunities for development of physical and social skills. This study examined PE teachers' sport recommendations for two hypothetical high school students with different functioning levels of ASD (high and low). An online survey was completed by general and adapted PE teachers across the U.S. A total of 277 (APE= 152, GPE = 125) responses were used for statistical analyses. Results revealed that PE teachers recommend individual over team sports for both high and low functioning students with ASD. There were no sport recommendation differences between adapted and general PE teachers. Also, there were no differences in sport recommendations between high and low functioning levels of ASD. It was most recommended that high and low functioning high school students with ASD participate in: cross country running, swimming, and track and field. Sports least recommended for high and low functioning students with ASD were football, lacrosse, and ice hockey.