INTRODUCTION: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have been shown to possess relative strengths in processing visual stimuli as opposed to verbal stimuli (Tissot & Evans, 2003). Therefore, instructional strategies that use visual means and presentations are recommended over the traditional (verbal) instruction. The effectiveness of video modeling has been...
Background/Purpose: A variety of models have been proposed to understand individuals with disabilities. Although it is important to consider the perspective of disability each model presents, the social model has gained considerable attention. This model explains disability as limitations and restrictions of society and the environment. A subset of the...
In recent years, there has been an increased interest in accurately measuring physical activity levels with accelerometers. Two distinct approaches have been used to estimate physical activity levels with accelerometers are vertical axis activity counts and vector magnitude (VM). Although previous studies evaluated these two distinct approaches for individuals without...
The benefits of physical activity (PA) are well established (USDDHS, 2008). Concern over the high rate of childhood obesity, however, has highlighted the emphasis of PA. Yet, children and adolescents are not obtaining the recommended amount of PA (CDC, 2011). Physical education (PE) has been recognized as an important source...
Alterations in gait patterns are commonly observed in individuals with transtibial amputation (TTA) who use a prosthesis. Current commercially available ankle-foot prostheses (AFP) offer very little range of motion (ROM) at the ankle joint. Previous researchers have hypothesized that lack of ankle ROM significantly contributes to alterations in TTA gait...
Current literature supports the benefits of participation in extracurricular activities(Barnett & Weber, 2008). However, a report from the U.S. Government AccountabilityOffice (GAO) found that students with disabilities participated in athletics to varyingdegrees, but at consistently lower rates than students without disabilities (US GovernmentAccountability Office, 2010). In January 2013, in response...
The promotion of out of school physical activity during physical education has received increasing attention as a tool for combating increasing sedentary time among youth. Qualitative work has shown that physical education teachers feel they lack the knowledge necessary to include physical activity promotion in their lessons and unprepared by...
The inclusion of students with disabilities in general physical education (GPE) classes has become a concept and practice that is expected if not always understood. A review of inclusion in physical education literature suggested that GPE teachers possess less than favorable feelings towards the inclusion of students with disabilities in...
Afterschool staff have been identified as a critical piece in the positive outcomes youth receive through participation in afterschool programs (Apsler, 2009; Daud & Carruthers, 2008; Riggs & Greenberg, 2004). These programs may benefit youth with disabilities but little is known about what influences staff to include youth with disabilities...
Walking is the most popular type of physical activity among the adult population in the United States including individuals with disabilities. Considering the popularity of the activity, walking-related physical activity should be a focus of health promotion campaigns among the adult population. Rhodes and Nigg (2011) suggested that employing theory-based...
Pedometers have become a frequently used tool to measure physical activity. The accuracy of pedometers has been an interest of many researchers given the popularity of the tool. When, pedometers are employed, there are many potential sources of error, including missing data. Because previous studies indicated that the amount of...
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune condition that affects the central nervous system, and impacts the lives of over 400,000 individuals in the US. These individuals face unpredictable relapses of disabling conditions, are less active and experience poorer quality of life than the general population. Health professionals are challenged to...
The low physical activity levels of children today are a cause for serious concern. When examining certain populations of children, such as children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), there is a possibility of even lower overall physical activity levels. However, when exploring the current literature examining the physical activity levels...
The role of schools and physical education curriculum in the promotion of physical activity (PA) has been widely recognized in recent years and schools have been identified as an appropriate setting for the promotion of PA (Cale, 2000). Physical educators have the unique role of working with children in a...
The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion released the Healthy People 2020 plan in 2010 (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion [ODPHP], 2010). The mission of Healthy People 2020 is focused on improving the health of all Americans. One common tool utilized to improve the health of Americans...
Increased physical activity (PA) in children has been linked to improved quality of life, as well as the establishment of life-long PA habits that lead to improved health outcomes. The literature suggests that children who participate in organized sport programs engage in more PA than children who do not. Notably,...
School-aged children with disabilities have difficulty in meeting current physical activity guidelines (Stanish et al., 2019). As such, there is a need for providing effective physical activity promotion programs for school-aged children with disabilities. School settings can be the right place to promote physical activity for children with disabilities because...
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been reported to have motor skill delays and deficits. However, there have been challenges to these findings on whether these deficits are due to lack of movement skills or inaccurate assessment methods. Due to relative strengths in processing visual stimuli as opposed to...
Physical education is important to promote physical activity of adolescents with and without disabilities, but many adolescents are not active during physical education classes. Innovative instructional strategies are imperative to change this phenomenon, but it will be challenging to develop effective instructional strategies without thorough understanding of students' physical activity...
Childhood obesity and physical inactivity are significant health problems. According to the CDC (2012), only 12.5% of high school students meet the recommended requirements for physical activity. One method to reverse this trend is promoting physical activity. The Walk to School Program promotes active transportation in schools nationwide. PURPOSE: The...