Position Statements and Guidance Documents

Physical Activity Position Statements

Physical Education Position Statements

Highly Qualified Adapted Physical Educator

Eligibility for Adapted Physical Education Services

Frequently Asked Questions About Adapted Physical Education - Guidance Document by SHAPE America 

Providing School-Sponsored Interscholastic Sports/Athletics for Students with Disabilities 

Physical Education is an Academic Subject

Providing Community-Based PE Services for Students with Disabilities in Special Education Transition Programs

Society of Health And Physical Education (SHAPE) America Position Statements

Adapted physical education is a special education service, which means it is specially designed instruction. 

Specially designed instruction means adapting, as appropriate to the needs of an eligible student, the content, methodology, and delivery of service. 

Adapted physical education services address the educational impact manifested from at least one of the federally identifiable categories of disability that the student has been found eligible under. 

Adapted physical education services are designed to support student access to instruction and growth toward their grade level general physical education curriculum.  

Content: What the student is learning

• The knowledge, skills, concepts, or standards the student is expected to learn. 

  • Skill simplification

  • Reduced number of skills

  • Modified rules

  • Modified concepts

  • Adjusted fitness goals

  • Alternative outcomes

  • Functional/life skills

 Methodology: How the instruction is being taught

• The instructional strategies, teaching techniques, and evidence-based practices the teacher uses to help the student learn the content. 

  • Increased modeling and demonstration

  • use of visual supports

  • Use of prompt hierarchy

  • Pacing adjustments 

  • Repetition and extended practice

  • Skill breakdown

  • Errorless learning 

  • Peer tutoring/teaching 

 Delivery of Service: How instruction is being accessed

• The format, setting, accommodations, or supports for the student to receive and participate (access) during instruction. 

  • Modified equipment

  • Environmental adaptations

  • Instructional grouping

  • Assistive technology

  • Additional support personnel

  • Altered time/space

  • Safety accommodations

  • Predictable transitions