Adapted Physical Education

Adapted Physical Education (APE) is the art and science of developing, implementing, and monitoring a carefully designed physical education instructional program for a learner with a disability, based on a comprehensive assessment, to give the learner the skills necessary for a lifetime of rich leisure, recreation, and sport experiences to enhance physical fitness and wellness.

Federal law mandates that physical education be provided to students with disabilities. Physical Education is defined as the development of physical and motor skills, fundamental motor skills and patterns, skills in aquatics, dance and individual and group games and sports; including intramural and lifetime sports.

The Adapted Physical Education National Standards promotes qualified, nationally certified educators to provide physical education services to students with disabilities.

The history of Adapted Physical Education began with the implementation of P.L. 94–142 in 1975. This act recognized physical education as a direct service. Specially designed physical education programs must be made available to every handicapped child receiving a Free, Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted in 1990 to prohibit the discrimination of individuals with disabilities in the public and private sectors. The ADA outlaws discrimination against a person with a disability in five spheres: employment, public services, transportation, public accommodations, and telecommunications. ADA requires accessibility in physical education facilities. Examples include: Weight rooms that accommodate wheelchair users, gym lockers that use combination locks, playgrounds surrounded by a fence, and well lighted gymnasiums to aid students with visual impairments.

Enacted in 1990 (and reauthorized in 1997 and 2004), IDEA was the reauthorization of PL 94–142 and continued the emphasis upon FAPE, IEP, LRE, and physical education as a direct educational service. With this reauthorization, person-first terminology was instituted, and emphasis was placed on the education of students with disabilities within the general curriculum and parent involvement in educational programming. Under Federal Law, in order to qualify for this special education programming, students must fall within one of the thirteen disability categories identified under IDEA and demonstrate an academic need.

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