Lauriece L. Zittel chapter 22 Early Childhood Adapted Physical Education

Federal Legislation and Young Children PL (1997)... Consider age group (3-9 years) noncategorical approach multiage and multiability classrooms multidimensional assessment

Early Childhood Movement Programs... selected, designed, sequenced, and modified to maximize learning and active participation for young children in preschool and primary age programs

Testing Young Children Identify a gross motor-developmental level compared to children of the same age. “What instruments do you use?” Identify specific skill delays for program planning and instruction. “What instruments do you use?”

Assessing Developmental Delay Norm-referenced instrument Standardized testing Formal setting Instruments: –Brigance: Diagnostic Inventory of Early Development (Brigance, 1991) –Peabody Developmental Motor Scales–2 (Folio and Fewell, 2000) –Test of Gross Motor Development–2 (Ulrich, 2000)

Planning for Instruction Criterion-referenced Curriculum-based assessment Formal and informal testing Instruments: –Smart Start: A Preschool Movement Curriculum (Wessel and Zittel, 1995) –I CAN K-3 (Wessel and Zittel, 1998) –Carolina Curriculum for Preschoolers With Special Needs (Johnson-Martin, Attermeier, and Hacker, 1990)

Why Use Rubrics to Assess? Individualized for each ability Benefit children with severe disabilities Assist with designing instructional environments

Primary Objectives for EC Programs 1.Young children experiencing delays in their motor development should receive opportunities and instruction designed to parallel what their same- age peers receive but which are modified to address individual challenges. (continued)

Primary Objectives for EC Programs (continued) 2.Activity environments should be designed according to assessment information and individualized. Arbitrarily selecting games and activities because they are “fun” is not in line with good practice.

EC Instructors Must Consider... Developmental differences between preschool age and primary age Developmental differences between children of the same age with differing diagnoses

Facilitating Communication Use both verbal and nonverbal: Recognize similarities and differences. Collaborate with all team members. Consider strategies to prompt speech or other communication.

Alternative Systems for Communication Sign language Picture systems Voice output systems Acting out stories and songs

3 Cs of Curriculum Design (Wessel and Zittel, 1995, 1998) Content Construction Contact

Content Differences between preschool and primary age depend on how well the teacher has examined the assessment information and understands the developmental differences.

Construction How the teacher “constructs” the activity environment and how the activities are introduced differs for preschool and primary-age children.

Contact Critical to instructional planning is the thought given to the strategies that maximize engagement with equipment and peers versus time with adults.

Curriculum Organization Instructional units might be organized around: Fundamental skill units (e.g., locomotor skills, play skills) or Themes Driven school-wide Driven from classroom themes (e.g., colors, numbers, events)

Teaching Approaches Exploration: the teacher selects the instructional materials to be used and designates the area to be explored (Pangrazzi, 1998). Children explore the many possible ways of using equipment.

Guided Discovery Children are presented with a variety of methods to perform a task and then asked to choose the method that is most efficient or that works best for them.

Movement Environments Preschool age Principles of design: 1.Child-directed learning 2.Opportunity for choice 3.Self-initiated exploration 4.A mix of novel and familiar equipment 5.An opportunity to view peer models

Primary Age Principles of Design 1.Use of a variety of learning styles 2.Equipment options available for practice 3.Task-rule flexibility 4.A variety of classroom designs 5.Opportunity for peer observation