Campus Connection

Grant aims to improve physical education programs for students with disabilities A $1.2 million federal grant to UW-L will help improve the quality of physical education programs for students with disabilities and expand professional development for future adapted physical education teachers. The Center on Disability Health and Adapted Physical Activity in the university’s Exercise and Sport Science Department received the grant to continue its nationally recognized work of preparing highly qualified adapted physical education teachers. The four-year competitive award, one of the largest grants ever received by UW-L, will continue efforts from a similar grant ending in December. Professor Garth Tymeson, co-director of the project, says along with improving physical education programs for students with disabilities, the grant address the ever-growing issue of obesity. “It’s important to help reduce and prevent obesity and sedentary lifestyles among this population,” he says. “Obesity and physical inactivity are even more of a problem among persons with disabilities.” In addition, Tymeson says the project will raise awareness of the importance of physical activity as an educational and public health intervention against the obesity epidemic among all children. “All students in Pre-K-12 will benefit from having properly prepared teachers to provide educational services, advocacy and consultation with general physical education teachers,” he says. The grant will fund 12 graduate students and five undergraduate students annually in year-round and summer classes. Students receiving grant fellowships will have extra clinical education experiences with certified adapted physical education teachers. And, they will participate in additional professional development such as conferences, seminars, field trips, and hear from guest speakers who specialize in disability issues. Through extensive linkages and partnerships with area school districts and agencies, the UW-L students will also get additional leadership experiences from Center on Disability Health and Adapted Physical Activity programs. Tymeson says demand for adapted phy ed teachers is high since all students with disabilities must receive physical education as part of federal special education requirements. Wisconsin and Minnesota are two of 13 states requiring add-on teaching licenses in adapted physical education. Many graduate students in the UW-L?program are from out of state. The program’s graduates get jobs throughout the U.S. The adapted physical education teacher preparation program is one of many highly regarded teacher education programs in the UW-L School of Education that prepares future professionals to meet the needs of students with disabilities. Tymeson says there are only about six federally funded adapted physical education teacher preparation programs nationwide. UW-L has a long history of receiving these grants over the past 30 years. “We are a national leader in this field,” notes Tymeson. “Many of our master’s level graduates have progressed to complete doctoral study and are now faculty at universities throughout the U.S.” Other co-directors of the project are UW-L faculty members Manny Felix and Patrick DiRocco. To find out more about the Center on Disability Health and Adapted Physical Activity, visit http://www.uwlax.edu/sah/ess/sape/html/spp.htm.