Ellen M. Kowalski

Changing Kinesiology and Physical Education by Infusing Information About Individuals With Disabilities

Just as faculty are expected to refer to performance and behavior changes that occur by age, gender, and other factors, an infusion of information about individuals with disabilities requires us to focus on the range of human variability and its relation to physical activity across the life span. This call to infuse information about individuals with disabilities should affect most kinesiology/ physical education undergraduate and graduate curricula in institutions of higher education. Advocacy for this idea has been developing for many years (Hall & Stiehl, 1978; Sherrill, 1988; Stein, 1969). Such infusion could add to and enhance our ability to contribute to the broad goals of society. But for us to assume this role, we must change our curricula to meet our published mission of serving society. This change will help disciplinary and professional preparation programs produce a broader range of scholarly activity and provide leadership that other disciplines may envy

Implementing IEP or 504 goals and objectives into general physical education.

Abstract What does the physical educator do when a student with a disability has goals and objectives that differ from the class goals and objectives?

Getting Involved in the IEP Process

JOPERD • Volume 77 No. 7 • September 2006 M zs. Crowel is a physical education teacher in United City Middle School. She has been teaching there for three years and is very meticulous about her teaching, curriculum, and paperwork. She has an undergraduate degree in physical education, which included one course in adapted physical education. Ms. Crowel is very conscientious and always tries to do the right thing for her students. Because she is so conscientious, Ms. Crowel has had several students with disabilities such as Down syndrome and autism placed in her class. She knows that each of these students has an IEP (Individualized Education Program,) but she has never seen them. When talking to the special education teachers of these students, she discovered that there would be an IEP meeting for one of the students in a few weeks. Knowing that she should be involved in the writing of the IEP and an active participant at the meeting, she called the chair of the Committee on Special Education, who asked Ms. Crowel, “Why would you be involved in the IEP?” Ms. Crowel was disappointed and frustrated by this question. She knows that physical education is an important part of the student’s educational program, but had no idea how she could ensure involvement in the upcoming IEP meeting and in subsequent IEP meetings.

Influence of Balance on Oral-Motor Control of Speech: A Pilot Investigation

In this exploratory study, the interaction between motor coordination for balance and oral-motor control for speech was investigated in 31 typical college-aged women, ages 20 to 29 years (M = 22.3, SD = 2.1), recruited through the local university. Since speech is dependent on the control and coordination of the subsystems of the speech production mechanism, it was hypothesized that a difficult balance task would interfere with speech motor control. Oral-motor control was measured by diadochokinesis while participants were in a nonchallenging balance position (floor standing) and a challenging balance position (balance disk on one leg). Results indicated that individuals compensated for speech rate while having to maintain their balance for the syllable repetitions. However, the number of syllables repeated was significantly fewer while on the balance disk. In addition, a correlational analysis indicated that history of speech therapy services was related to poorer balance screening score. Directions for future research are discussed.