Students with Multiple Disabilities

This section offers practical ideas for activities and adaptations for children with multiple disabilities or deafblindness.  Research on communication, inclusion, and motivational strategies are also found here.

Adapting Games, Sports, and Recreation for Children and Adults who are Deaf-Blind; Deaf-Blind Perspectives
http://www.tr.wou.edu/tr/dbp/pdf/may96.pdf (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
This article (pp.5-8) by Lauren Lieberman offers some important guidelines for developing and adapting activities for people who are deafblind.  Specific examples are included.

Adaptive PE for Students with Vision Loss and Other Disabilities; Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
www.tsbvi.edu/Outreach/handouts/Dec07/12.12TETNAdaptivePE/SupplementAPEhandout.doc
This is a skills checklist of developmental milestones for movement activities.

Recreation and Leisure; National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness
http://www.nationaldb.org/NCDBProducts.php?prodID=42
Lauren Lieberman discusses helping individuals who are deafblind to develop an interest in recreational activities.  She offers suggestions on individualizing one's approach, researching communication patterns, developing a plan, and maintaining interest.

Suggested Activities for Young or Multi-Disabled Blind Children; Blind Children's Resource Center
http://www.blindchildren.org/sports%5Fgames/5_1_2.html
Angelo Montagnino offers activities for many situations: at home, in the classroom, in the community, and in a structured physical education class.

Research

Communication during Physical Activity: A Review of Strategies; Deaf-Blind Perspectives
http://www.tr.wou.edu/tr/dbp/may2004.htm#strategies
Dr. Lauren Lieberman and Katrina Arndt discuss the difference between discrete and continuous activity and the implications of this type of categorization on communication.

Including Students who are Deaf-Blind into Physical Education: Barriers to Overcome; Oregon State University
http://asstudents.unco.edu/students/AE-Extra/2005/8/Art-3.html
Kerstin Kindinger identifies a range of obstacles that impede the inclusion of students who are deafblind in physical education, including teachers' barriers, students' barriers, administrative barriers, and attitudinal barriers.

An Investigation of the Motivational Effects of Talking Pedometers among Children with Visual Impairments and Deaf-Blindness; Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/2b/2e/32.pdf
This study of 22 children who were visually impaired or deafblind reveals that they were motivated to set challenging goals for increasing daily activity levels through the feedback of a talking pedometer.

Physical Activity and Individuals who are Deafblind: Research to Practice; Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
http://www.tsbvi.edu/Outreach/handouts/jun07/Lieberman%20ResPrac%20Handout.doc
In this 10-page booklet, Lauren Lieberman lists the practical implications of research.  Topics include Health-Related Fitness, Guide-Running, Play and Recreation, Talking Pedometers, and Communication.

A Comparison of Chosen Strength Abilities in Deaf and Blind Adolescents; Journal of Human Kinetics
http://www.johk.awf.katowice.pl/pdfy/nr15/08_gawlik_zwierzchowska.pdf
Krystyna Gawlik and Anna Zwierzchowska present a comparative study of the conditioning abilities of adolescents who are deaf and blind.