Adapted Physical Education 

What is adapted physical education? 

Adapted physical education typically refers to physical education that is individualized to meet the unique needs of disabled students. This term was originally used in the United States by the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation (now SHAPE America) in 1952, and gained prominence throughout the 1970s and 1980s when federal laws in the US were passed mandating a free public education for disabled students. 

Adapted physical education is considered to be under the umbrella of adapted physical activity, a service delivery profession and academic branch of kinesiology focused on physical activity, broadly defined, of and for disabled people. The goald of the field of adapted physical activity is to help improve the lives of disabled people by providing equitable access to physical education, physical activity, sport, and exercise opportunities. Adapted physical activity is a broad, cross-disciplinary field of study, spanning physical education, sport, recreation, dance, creative arts, nutrition, medicine, and rehabilitation, and therefore draws upon many different disciplines and scholarly traditions to advance knowledge and inform practice. 

Our work at ODU falls within the broad field of adapted physical activity, as well as the subdiscipline of adapted physical education.