Adapted Physical Education at Denver Public Schools

Adapted Physical Education is the art and science of developing, implementing, and monitoring a carefully designed physical education instructional program for students with disabilities based on a comprehensive assessment. It is specially designed instruction that addresses the individualized needs of students with disabilities that require modifications in physical education to benefit from instruction in the least restrictive environment.

The APE teacher is a direct service provider, not a related service provider, because physical education for children with disabilities is a federally mandated component of special education services [U.S.C.A. 1402 (25)]. This means that physical education needs to be provided to the student with a disability as part of the  special education services that child and family receive. Adapted physical education can be a stand-alone service on an Individualized Education Program (IEP). This is contrasted with physical therapy and occupational therapy, which are related services. These therapies are provided to the child with disabilities only if he/she needs them to benefit from instruction.

The terms “adapted” and “adaptive” should never be used interchangeably when describing specially designed physical education services (Sherrill, 1998). “Adaptive” is a term that describes behaviors, skills or functions. The goal for specially designed physical education services is to adapt equipment, modify rules, environment or instruction to best suit the child's needs, not to change the student.  

Adapted Physical Education Instructional Curriculum Specialist at Denver Public Schools

The Adapted Physical Education Instructional Curriculum Specialist will provide education and capacity building trainings to general education teachers, general physical education teachers, and paraprofessionals to support the needs of all students from a universal design for learning approach.  The Specialist will providing high-quality instructional resources and best practices in physical education for students with disabilities. 

Additionally, the Specialist will support schools with Peer to Peer PE, Unified PE, Adapting General PE curriculum, Adapted Field Days, DPS Special Olympic Events, DPS National Sports Center for Disabilities Events, DPS Move through Yoga Events, Professional Learning sessions, and yearly PDU - Universal Design in PE.