November 14, 2013 Physical Prompting/Assisting in Physical Education
By Wendy Beffert, Health & Physical Education Teacher
To prompt or not to prompt?….that is the question. Prompting is the new four letter word in special education and should be avoided at all costs right? The true answer to this question lies in the setting in which it is used, the goals and objectives of the teacher and whether that teacher has a clear understanding of how to achieve those goals and objectives within their discipline.
In the pursuit of academic endeavors, teachers and parents of special needs and typical children know all too well the dangers of giving away the answers and doing things for children when they are capable of doing these things themselves. Too much prompting in these activities can absolutely be counterproductive to thinking and independence. These tasks are typically cognitive in nature and may involve fine motor skills, such as writing or keyboarding.
When learning physical/gross motor movements, as in Physical Education classes, prompt dependence does not occur if physical prompts are executed skillfully and eventually faded. After the repetition of a skill using physical prompting/assisting, the prompt should be gradually faded until the student begins to embody the skill for the first time and begins to feel how to execute it correctly, thereby gaining a deeper sense of mastery. This is all done with the utmost respect for each student’s free will and personal boundaries. I do not ever “force” a student to receive physical prompts, however, I do encourage it. I’ve used these techniques for years with special needs and typical students ranging in age from 3-65, and have documented their excellent progress. Physical prompting is just another name for what’s widely known and regularly used in yoga classes all over the world as an adjustment. I’ll refer to them simply as assists. Physically assisting/prompting with gross motor skills differs from prompting in the classroom mainly due to muscle memory and gravity vs. cognitive understanding.
Verbal Instructions, Modeling/Mirroring, Physically Assisting, Fading The Assist
Verbal instructions followed by modeling/mirroring the task for the students are naturally the first choice in teaching motor tasks and many students may learn them easily this way. For those who don’t, physical assists/prompts may be required and is a beneficial and valid tool to help anyone, whether special needs or typical, learn or improve upon gross motor skills. Dr. Wachs uses this method, as do most adaptive PE teachers, physical therapists, yoga teachers and coaches. Physical assists, gradually faded, give many students with motor planning challenges the opportunity to learn a motor skill that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to execute on their own.
Rhythm & Timing
Every student is uniquely different and may need an assist in one skill but not in another. Many students will fall into a relaxed rhythm and timing with the person assisting them as they begin to connect with the movement through repetition. It’s the same concept as rocking a baby, swinging on a swing or going for a long walk or run. Repetitious physical movements, whether passive or active, are paradoxically relaxing and invigorating at the same time! Anyone who’s ever received a Thai Yoga massage can attest to this. Older students who’ve never been taught this way may tolerate or only need 1-2 prompted tennis swings while others can handle and may benefit from 50 swings initially. The resulting joy, self-confidence and self-esteem I see when a student is able to accomplish a physical skill that they’ve only ever been able to watch others do before is worth the effort!
Muscle/Motor memory
According to the American Coaches Association, muscle memory is “the result of teaching the muscles how to perform a specific activity and repeating that activity until it can be done freely without methodical thought”. It is the neurophysiological response to the repetition of gross motor tasks. In other words, the brain and body connect better when a physical demand is placed on it regularly. The more repetitious the task, the deeper the neurological pathway becomes and the less one will have to “think” about doing the task. Let’s use dribbling a basketball as an example. A very skilled basketball player who practices the sport daily doesn’t have to think about dribbling because the neurophysiological pathway for dribbling is deeply engrained. He or she is then able to use brain resources for strategy. The muscles aren’t really remembering, but rather the brain is, and is able to send a clear, strong signal to the muscles to execute the correct response. Creating a strong foundational muscle memory and body-brain connection is of paramount importance to academic success, according to Dr. Wachs in his book, Thinking Goes to School.
In the same way that the basketball player isn’t consciously thinking about dribbling, the student who doesn’t have to consciously think about how to sit up in a chair, or where his or her body is in relationship to the pencil, paper and desk is better able to use their brain resources for academic endeavors!
Once a student no longer has to think so long and hard about how to do the basic skill, then the brain is potentially able to learn and process the nuances of the sport, such as rules and strategies, thereby affording greater social opportunities. We DO want our students to think about the deeper things in life, which is precisely why we do NOT want them to have to think about movements that we take for granted. This is where physical assists may be needed so that they can feel in their bodies what they are being asked to do. If left on their own with just verbal instructions, many special needs students would simply never be able to participate because there’s no established neural pathway, or “dialogue”, between the brain and the body for the motor task given. Sadly, this is what often happens to students when they’re mainstreamed into typical PE classes, or left alone for “processing time”. This so often leads to the student doing nothing and feeling discouraged. Even if the student cognitively understands the instructions, they may not be able to effectively make the movement happen. This applies to a large percentage of typical adult learners too. How many of us have felt “uncoordinated” when doing something new? The difference is that a typical learner can more easily take command of the body brain continuum at will. Even then, it’s not easy. Imagine how our students feel!
Gravity
When teaching sports, Adaptive Physical Education teachers use adapted equipment such as bigger, slower, flatter balls, balloons and other modalities to give students more time to make contact. Even the slowest moving balloon, however, will not stop moving in order to give a student extra processing time! Any physical endeavor is subject to the gravity of one’s own body weight. This may be the clearest differentiation between academic learning and motor learning. Motor learning is subject to the laws of gravity where as pure academic/cognitive learning is not!
We may need to help the student connect with a falling or fast moving object to help increase their reaction time by assisting them in doing the skill repeatedly. In coaching it’s called a drill. This repetition gives his or her body the feedback needed to create a new neural pathway in the brain for the task. It works the same way for us too. The more often we do a motor task, the more skilled we become at it. Aren’t 30 year old drivers better than 16 year olds? Practice is just another word for repetition. A physical assist provides students with the correct body position, motion, timing and repetition that they may not be able to initiate or maintain on their own. It allows the student to actually DO and FEEL the practice. The neurons firing in the brain during motor movements don’t know that the movement is being assisted. From a neurophysiological perspective, all that matters is that the movement happens. Of course, the student is consciously aware of being assisted and for this reason it should be done with the utmost respect for the student and their tolerance level.
Ultimately, carefully designed and executed Physical Education classes help to lay down the foundation for academic success. Additionally, physical activity and sports provide the student with widely known health, social and affective benefits. Of course, the time frame in which this happens will vary widely in each student according to his or her individual cognitive and physical abilities. No single modality, Physical Education being among them, is a panacea for ASD. The activities that are chosen in a specialized Physical Education program and the methods used to teach them are one of the many holistic supports used to help foster success in our students’ education. Each one is not an end unto itself, but rather an important piece of the ASD puzzle. Physical Education has the potential to positively impact the lives of special needs students or not do much at all, depending on the methods used, and the level of support and respect it is given.
Sources:
Thinking Goes To School, Hans G. Furth and Harry Wachs, Oxford Press, 1975)
Visual/Spatial Portals to Thinking, Feeling and Movement, Serena Wieder, Ph.D. & Harry Wachs, Profectum Foundation, 2012
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"Practice Makes Permanent"
Successful Practices incorporate Drills , By American Coaches Association
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice. In the pursuit of these objectives, such areas as discipline, teamwork, persistence, timing, mental toughness, responsibility, organization, and gamesmanship play important roles during practice.
Coaches should ensure that learning, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are included in each practice. A good practice session also invigorates, enlightens, teaches, develops, excites, encourages, and promotes teamwork among team members. Your ability to select the best drills to match your practice goals often determines the success or failure of your practice sessions.
Three familiar quotes succinctly describe the importance of practice. The saying “practice makes perfect” has often been used to illustrate the need to do things repetitively while pursuing excellence. The value and importance of practice sessions is expressed even more strongly by the commonly heard saying, “perfect practice makes perfect.” An even more precise and descriptive way to point out the importance of practice is “practice makes permanent.” Choose any, all, or none of these sayings but realize that most would agree that practice sessions directly relate to the final results.
We practice to prepare for each game. If that practice is productive, the results will show. A well-designed practice in which players repeat and diligently try to perfect fundamentals is a big step toward success. A poorly designed and sloppily executed practice likely produces chaos and leads to failure in games.
Drills are an important part of teaching and coaching. Some coaches use drills without knowing it. I once had a coach tell me, “I’m not big on drills. I seldom use them.” Then I watched his team practice and noticed the skill and precise rhythm and timing of his players. I further noticed that his team’s batting practice was very well organized and that outfield and infield practice was impeccably orchestrated. Of course, what his players were doing was running drills. Their pepper games (a drill), their hitting in the batting cages (a drill), and even their playing catch (another drill) clearly showed the results of fine teaching techniques through drills.
What Is a Drill?
A drill is a means of teaching and training through repeated exercise or repetition of an act. Fielding a series of ground balls, playing catch, practicing footwork, hitting, running the bases, or doing any other activity that is repeated can be called a drill. These kinds of activities make up a practice schedule. Among the many practice activities are both productive repetitions and unproductive, even harmful, repetitions.
It’s virtually impossible to conduct a practice without using drills. However, it is not difficult to conduct a practice using drills that do little toward achieving team or individual goals. Obviously, the most effective practices incorporate proper drills that help players pursue excellence in the skill being taught. This is where sound teaching begins. Sound, effective drills are among a coach’s key assets.
The Value of Drills
Muscle memory is important in accomplishing any athletic endeavor. Throwing a baseball, hitting it, and running the bases properly are activities that require freedom of movement. To perform these activities successfully, the performer must be able to react without having to carefully tell each muscle group what to do. His reactions are seemingly automatic. Muscle memory is the result of teaching the muscles how to perform a specific activity and repeating that activity until it can be done freely without methodical thought. Throwing, for example, requires some thought in where to throw and how hard to throw, but the mechanical part of throwing (getting the proper grip, bringing the arm into throwing position, and releasing the ball) should be routine. In order to get to the automatic stage, the muscles are trained to react quickly to each competitive situation.
Either the athlete is already gifted with the ability to make a mental command and have his muscle groups react and perform, or the athlete must train those muscle groups to respond to his mental commands. Most *baseball skills must be methodically practiced before the body is able to react freely and without conscious thought to each part of the activity. This is muscle memory. Mental toughness and concentration are also necessary. Learning the proper techniques and methods and then repeating them correctly form an avenue toward success.
You can incorporate drills into practice in many ways. Some coaches use the “machine gun method,” which employs several kinds of drills to improve a single skill. The theory here is that someone will benefit from something. In other words, if enough different kinds of drills are executed and enough different kinds of approaches are used to explain the skill, something from these drills will stick to some of those who participate in them.
It’s true that some players are astute and skillful enough to get the most out of even an ill-conceived, poorly conducted practice session, but these are the rare ones. Most players need the help that carefully chosen and orchestrated drills can provide.
Drills used wisely and correctly dramatically improve skills. There are many roads to success. Some coaches do most of their teaching with a few well-planned drills. They select drills that fit the lesson plan and repeat them with precision. Others use many different well-thought-out drills to accomplish the same end. Some coaches are clever enough to design on-the-spot drills that fit perfectly into the lesson plan for the day. Successful coaches and teachers have, or develop, an ability to know exactly where they are going and how they will get there. They can identify the areas that most need work and select the proper drills to address them. Coaching with concern and passion, they stay focused until they get results.
Along with selecting the proper drill, it’s also important to choose the best length of time to do the drill and the number of times to repeat it. Appropriate drills performed several times in short spurts usually work better than lengthy drill sessions with long intervals between them.
This is an excerpt from The Baseball Drill Book.
*Editor’s note: This concept holds true for any sport or movement one wants to train the body to do.
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Why Does She Do It That Way? Skill Development & Teaching Methods In Physical Education
By Wendy Beffert, September 2013
In his book, Thinking Goes To School, Dr. Wachs discusses the absolute necessity of mastery over the physical body as a precursor to academic achievement. After reviewing several studies, Wallhead & Buckworth (2004) found that that “There is a strong positive relationship between perceived competence and participation in physical activity.” (JOPERD vol. 78 No. 7 – September 2007). Gaining that confidence is a result of developing skills, whether they are used for organized sport participation or lifetime physical fitness. These same skills and motor movements are, at their foundation, functional in nature and serve as the basis of many of our Activities of Daily Living. It stands to reason that gaining confidence in the physical body is transferable and contributes to one’s overall self-confidence and well-being.
In Physical Education for sport skill development I use four symbiotic methodologies; errorless learning, muscle memory, skill progression and task interspersal.
Errorless learning is based on the principal that a skill is learned better and is more easily retained when learned and performed correctly. It is much harder to “un-learn” a skill learned incorrectly than it is to fade out the physical prompting of a skill done correctly.
Muscle/Motor memory is the neuro- physiological response to the repetition of motor tasks; in other words, the brain and body connect better when a physical demand is placed on it regularly. The more repetitious the task, the deeper the neurological pathway becomes and the less one will have to “think” about doing the task. Let’s use dribbling a basketball as an example. A very skilled basketball player who practices the sport daily doesn’t have to think about dribbling because the neuro- physiological pathway for dribbling is deeply engrained. He or she is then able to use brain resources for strategy. The muscles aren’t really remembering, but rather the brain is and is able to send a clear, strong signal to the muscles as to the correct response. Once a student no longer has to think about the basic skill, the brain is then potentially able to learn and process the nuances of the sport such as rules and strategies. More importantly, perhaps, when the student doesn’t have to consciously think about how to sit up in a chair, or where his or her body is in relationship to the pencil, paper and desk then that student is better able to use their brain resources for academic endeavors. The time frame in which this happens will vary widely in each student according to his or her individual cognitive abilities. What does this have to do with “gym” class? The activities that are chosen in Physical Education, and the methods used to teach them are one of the many modalities of cross- curricular support used to help our students succeed in all facets of their education. They are not an end unto themselves, but rather a piece of the puzzle. The foundation laid in Physical Education has the potential to positively impact the lives of our students or not do much at all, depending on how it is carried out. How it is carried out is dependent upon the level of support it is given by the community, school district, parents and para-professionals.
In Skill progression I break a skill down into its most rudimentary form and add on more complex variations of the same skill as the student progresses. For example, dribbling a basketball can be progressed in this order: catching a ball, bounce passing & catching a ball with partner, bounce & 2 handed catch to self, 2 handed dribble, 1 handed dribble, crossover dribble, add motion, dribble under leg etc.
Task interspersal is teaching a previously learned skill in conjunction with a new skill such as the familiar warm-ups we do as a confidence builder prior to learning something new. Muscle memory kicks in here so as not to overload the body brain-processing continuum during new skill acquisition.
Assessment & changing the skills/activities.
I’ll often do a quick group assessment prior to skill instruction to see students’ current skill levels and team participation abilities. These are the 1-5 minute games or activities that seem to last a lifetime for us as we observe them and try very hard not to help them. What may look like a failed activity is actually a valuable assessment tool! If skills need tweaking I’ll break it down and show staff how to do the skill with them through a combination of modeling and physical prompts as many times as is needed and tolerated until it becomes rhythmic and repetitious. There is always a rationale for everything I do and if you’re not sure what it is, please ask. If you have another idea on how to help your student during class, please share it with me and I can tell you whether or not it is following the Adaptive PE skill progression methodology and can be used. For example, if we’re working on a football catching drill and someone decides to add throwing into it, the world won’t come to an end, BUT it significantly reduces the practice time that student had in catching and, therefore, eye tracking. Since catching a football comes before throwing in the progression continuum, that student is then also at a disadvantage and behind for the next lesson, which may or may not impact their perceived confidence and self-esteem for that skill.
Modeling
Whenever physically possible, please try to model the activity for your student by first showing them yourself, using physical prompting when suggested and then doing it with them in tandem as equipment supplies and activities reasonably allow.
Physical Prompts/hand over hand assists
After the repetition of a skill using physical prompting/assisting, we begin to fade them out until the student begins to embody the skill for the first time or begins to feel how to execute it correctly and gains a deeper sense of mastery. This is all done with the utmost respect for each student’s free will and personal boundaries. I do not ever “force” a student to maintain physical prompts, however, I do encourage it because I’ve used these techniques with this population for a few years now and have seen students make excellent progress. Many will resist out of habit but then fall into a relaxed rhythm and timing with you. Older students who’ve never been taught this way may tolerate or only need 1-2 prompted tennis swings while others can handle and may benefit from 50 swings initially. Some students can execute the skill with just verbal instructions and don’t need physical assists at all. Every student is uniquely different, of course. The self-confidence displayed during events and the positive self-esteem that resulted in our students at the Special Olympics last May was proof that these methodologies work.
Caveat
When I teach yoga as a group, the main and first objective is relaxation and self-discovery, not physical mastery and skill acquisition as is the case with sports and other typical PE activities. The body and mind have to relax first before we overly concern ourselves with physical mastery; therefore, the teaching methodology I use is slightly different. Physical mastery here will come over time. The most effective method for teaching relaxation, self-discovery and ultimately flexibility is for us to be relaxed ourselves, and let the process unfold.
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice. In the pursuit of these objectives, such areas as discipline, teamwork, persistence, timing, mental toughness, responsibility, organization, and gamesmanship play important roles during practice.
Coaches should ensure that learning, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are included in each practice. A good practice session also invigorates, enlightens, teaches, develops, excites, encourages, and promotes teamwork among team members. Your ability to select the best drills to match your practice goals often determines the success or failure of your practice sessions.
Three familiar quotes succinctly describe the importance of practice. The saying “practice makes perfect” has often been used to illustrate the need to do things repetitively while pursuing excellence. The value and importance of practice sessions is expressed even more strongly by the commonly heard saying, “perfect practice makes perfect.” An even more precise and descriptive way to point out the importance of practice is “practice makes permanent.” Choose any, all, or none of these sayings but realize that most would agree that practice sessions directly relate to the final results.
We practice to prepare for each game. If that practice is productive, the results will show. A well-designed practice in which players repeat and diligently try to perfect fundamentals is a big step toward success. A poorly designed and sloppily executed practice likely produces chaos and leads to failure in games.
Drills are an important part of teaching and coaching. Some coaches use drills without knowing it. I once had a coach tell me, “I’m not big on drills. I seldom use them.” Then I watched his team practice and noticed the skill and precise rhythm and timing of his players. I further noticed that his team’s batting practice was very well organized and that outfield and infield practice was impeccably orchestrated. Of course, what his players were doing was running drills. Their pepper games (a drill), their hitting in the batting cages (a drill), and even their playing catch (another drill) clearly showed the results of fine teaching techniques through drills.
What Is a Drill?
A drill is a means of teaching and training through repeated exercise or repetition of an act. Fielding a series of ground balls, playing catch, practicing footwork, hitting, running the bases, or doing any other activity that is repeated can be called a drill. These kinds of activities make up a practice schedule. Among the many practice activities are both productive repetitions and unproductive, even harmful, repetitions.
It’s virtually impossible to conduct a practice without using drills. However, it is not difficult to conduct a practice using drills that do little toward achieving team or individual goals. Obviously, the most effective practices incorporate proper drills that help players pursue excellence in the skill being taught. This is where sound teaching begins. Sound, effective drills are among a coach’s key assets.
The Value of Drills
Muscle memory is important in accomplishing any athletic endeavor. Throwing a baseball, hitting it, and running the bases properly are activities that require freedom of movement. To perform these activities successfully, the performer must be able to react without having to carefully tell each muscle group what to do. His reactions are seemingly automatic. Muscle memory is the result of teaching the muscles how to perform a specific activity and repeating that activity until it can be done freely without methodical thought. Throwing, for example, requires some thought in where to throw and how hard to throw, but the mechanical part of throwing (getting the proper grip, bringing the arm into throwing position, and releasing the ball) should be routine. In order to get to the automatic stage, the muscles are trained to react quickly to each competitive situation.
Either the athlete is already gifted with the ability to make a mental command and have his muscle groups react and perform, or the athlete must train those muscle groups to respond to his mental commands. Most *baseball skills must be methodically practiced before the body is able to react freely and without conscious thought to each part of the activity. This is muscle memory. Mental toughness and concentration are also necessary. Learning the proper techniques and methods and then repeating them correctly form an avenue toward success.
You can incorporate drills into practice in many ways. Some coaches use the “machine gun method,” which employs several kinds of drills to improve a single skill. The theory here is that someone will benefit from something. In other words, if enough different kinds of drills are executed and enough different kinds of approaches are used to explain the skill, something from these drills will stick to some of those who participate in them.
It’s true that some players are astute and skillful enough to get the most out of even an ill-conceived, poorly conducted practice session, but these are the rare ones. Most players need the help that carefully chosen and orchestrated drills can provide.
Drills used wisely and correctly dramatically improve skills. There are many roads to success. Some coaches do most of their teaching with a few well-planned drills. They select drills that fit the lesson plan and repeat them with precision. Others use many different well-thought-out drills to accomplish the same end. Some coaches are clever enough to design on-the-spot drills that fit perfectly into the lesson plan for the day. Successful coaches and teachers have, or develop, an ability to know exactly where they are going and how they will get there. They can identify the areas that most need work and select the proper drills to address them. Coaching with concern and passion, they stay focused until they get results.
Along with selecting the proper drill, it’s also important to choose the best length of time to do the drill and the number of times to repeat it. Appropriate drills performed several times in short spurts usually work better than lengthy drill sessions with long intervals between them.
This is an excerpt from The Baseball Drill Book.
*Editor’s note: This concept holds true for any sport or movement one wants to train the body to do.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why Does She Do It That Way? Skill Development & Teaching Methods In Physical Education
By Wendy Beffert, September 2013
In his book, Thinking Goes To School, Dr. Wachs discusses the absolute necessity of mastery over the physical body as a precursor to academic achievement. After reviewing several studies, Wallhead & Buckworth (2004) found that that “There is a strong positive relationship between perceived competence and participation in physical activity.” (JOPERD vol. 78 No. 7 – September 2007). Gaining that confidence is a result of developing skills, whether they are used for organized sport participation or lifetime physical fitness. These same skills and motor movements are, at their foundation, functional in nature and serve as the basis of many of our Activities of Daily Living. It stands to reason that gaining confidence in the physical body is transferable and contributes to one’s overall self-confidence and well-being.
In Physical Education for sport skill development I use four symbiotic methodologies; errorless learning, muscle memory, skill progression and task interspersal.
Errorless learning is based on the principal that a skill is learned better and is more easily retained when learned and performed correctly. It is much harder to “un-learn” a skill learned incorrectly than it is to fade out the physical prompting of a skill done correctly.
Muscle/Motor memory is the neuro- physiological response to the repetition of motor tasks; in other words, the brain and body connect better when a physical demand is placed on it regularly. The more repetitious the task, the deeper the neurological pathway becomes and the less one will have to “think” about doing the task. Let’s use dribbling a basketball as an example. A very skilled basketball player who practices the sport daily doesn’t have to think about dribbling because the neuro- physiological pathway for dribbling is deeply engrained. He or she is then able to use brain resources for strategy. The muscles aren’t really remembering, but rather the brain is and is able to send a clear, strong signal to the muscles as to the correct response. Once a student no longer has to think about the basic skill, the brain is then potentially able to learn and process the nuances of the sport such as rules and strategies. More importantly, perhaps, when the student doesn’t have to consciously think about how to sit up in a chair, or where his or her body is in relationship to the pencil, paper and desk then that student is better able to use their brain resources for academic endeavors. The time frame in which this happens will vary widely in each student according to his or her individual cognitive abilities. What does this have to do with “gym” class? The activities that are chosen in Physical Education, and the methods used to teach them are one of the many modalities of cross- curricular support used to help our students succeed in all facets of their education. They are not an end unto themselves, but rather a piece of the puzzle. The foundation laid in Physical Education has the potential to positively impact the lives of our students or not do much at all, depending on how it is carried out. How it is carried out is dependent upon the level of support it is given by the community, school district, parents and para-professionals.
In Skill progression I break a skill down into its most rudimentary form and add on more complex variations of the same skill as the student progresses. For example, dribbling a basketball can be progressed in this order: catching a ball, bounce passing & catching a ball with partner, bounce & 2 handed catch to self, 2 handed dribble, 1 handed dribble, crossover dribble, add motion, dribble under leg etc.
Task interspersal is teaching a previously learned skill in conjunction with a new skill such as the familiar warm-ups we do as a confidence builder prior to learning something new. Muscle memory kicks in here so as not to overload the body brain-processing continuum during new skill acquisition.
Assessment & changing the skills/activities.
I’ll often do a quick group assessment prior to skill instruction to see students’ current skill levels and team participation abilities. These are the 1-5 minute games or activities that seem to last a lifetime for us as we observe them and try very hard not to help them. What may look like a failed activity is actually a valuable assessment tool! If skills need tweaking I’ll break it down and show staff how to do the skill with them through a combination of modeling and physical prompts as many times as is needed and tolerated until it becomes rhythmic and repetitious. There is always a rationale for everything I do and if you’re not sure what it is, please ask. If you have another idea on how to help your student during class, please share it with me and I can tell you whether or not it is following the Adaptive PE skill progression methodology and can be used. For example, if we’re working on a football catching drill and someone decides to add throwing into it, the world won’t come to an end, BUT it significantly reduces the practice time that student had in catching and, therefore, eye tracking. Since catching a football comes before throwing in the progression continuum, that student is then also at a disadvantage and behind for the next lesson, which may or may not impact their perceived confidence and self-esteem for that skill.
Modeling
Whenever physically possible, please try to model the activity for your student by first showing them yourself, using physical prompting when suggested and then doing it with them in tandem as equipment supplies and activities reasonably allow.
Physical Prompts/hand over hand assists
After the repetition of a skill using physical prompting/assisting, we begin to fade them out until the student begins to embody the skill for the first time or begins to feel how to execute it correctly and gains a deeper sense of mastery. This is all done with the utmost respect for each student’s free will and personal boundaries. I do not ever “force” a student to maintain physical prompts, however, I do encourage it because I’ve used these techniques with this population for a few years now and have seen students make excellent progress. Many will resist out of habit but then fall into a relaxed rhythm and timing with you. Older students who’ve never been taught this way may tolerate or only need 1-2 prompted tennis swings while others can handle and may benefit from 50 swings initially. Some students can execute the skill with just verbal instructions and don’t need physical assists at all. Every student is uniquely different, of course. The self-confidence displayed during events and the positive self-esteem that resulted in our students at the Special Olympics last May was proof that these methodologies work.
Caveat
When I teach yoga as a group, the main and first objective is relaxation and self-discovery, not physical mastery and skill acquisition as is the case with sports and other typical PE activities. The body and mind have to relax first before we overly concern ourselves with physical mastery; therefore, the teaching methodology I use is slightly different. Physical mastery here will come over time. The most effective method for teaching relaxation, self-discovery and ultimately flexibility is for us to be relaxed ourselves, and let the process unfold.