The ECC: Webinar #8 This video is posted online with the following chapter markers: Chapter 1. Introduction - Introduction of Joe Paschall, Athletic Director at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and general discussion of the importance of rec leirsure skills play in child development. Chapter 2. Role of the TVI & COMS - Cyral Miller, Outreach Director at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired highlights how TVIs and COMS can support Chapter 3. Assessment - Discussion about some of the assessment tools for physical education. Chapter 4. Implications of Visual Conditions - How different visual conditions may impact the activities students engage in. Chapter 5. Tips for APE/PE Instructors - Simple ways to make common activities accessible. Chapter 6. Adaptive Sports for the Blind - Discussion of specific sports adapted for blind or visually impaired players. Chapter 7. PE Credits In/Out of School Setting - Students can receive TEA credit for physical education activities during or outside of school activities. Chapter 8. Resources - Readily available resources for staff and families to find out more about rec leisure skills for blind or visually impaired students. The ECC: Webinar #8 Transcript [ silence ] Chapter 1. Introduction [ Start slide: ] Kate: Okay...when...when I was -- took on the mission of helping to pull this E-C-C webinar together, I thought geez, I don't know a whole lot about rec leisure for kids with visual impairment. I know a little bit. So I took this as sort of a personal challenge to see what I could find on my own and then -- so I'm going to share some of the things that I discovered and then Joe Paschall, who is the athletic director at T-S-B-V-I, is going to tell us some really good stuff from his expertise, area of expertise. And then Cyral Miller is also here with me and she's going to talk a little bit about the T-V-I and the COMS role but especially T-V-I role in...in delivering instruction or providing support in recreation and leisure skills. So the first thing I want to say about recreation and leisure skills are things that you probably already know, is that those skills are very important for our overall health. Not only our physical health. And...trust me as I get older I realize just how precarious your physical health can be, if you're not taking good care of it, but also your mental health. You know, that...that opportunity to not only exercise, but just to get away and relax and do things you enjoy largely accounts for a good mental state. I also know that for most of us recreation and leisure is sort of the focus of most of our social gatherings. If you think about the interest in superbowl parties or people like to go canoeing together or the knitting clubs that have sprung up around the country...we make some of our best social connections through recreation and leisure activities. I think for our students with visual impairments, it's...very important for the family dynamic. You know, when a family can and does include their child with visual impairments in just the everyday fun activities that they have as a family, then it just makes life better. And one of the things that most of you probably already know is that it doesn't matter how involved your child is, there are meaningful ways they can participate in recreation and leisure activities, in most cases. Then we do know that there are some children who have extreme medical conditions and that may get a little harder, but there are still things that can happen that way. Another most important outcome, I think, for recreation and leisure skills is that it helps build self‑esteem and it's also very important to yourself‑identity. There are things that I do just for the pure joy of doing them. And it's part of how I define myself and see myself. It's also something I take quite a bit of pride in. Although I can do other things it's the recreational and leisure activities that I'm often most proud of. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] I came across some quotes that I thought were really good quotes about leisure. It says what we do during our working hours determines what we have. What we do in our leisure hours determines...determine what we are. And I think that that's really true. I identify myself as a weekend gardener and as a book reader and as a knitter, and that's really a whole bunch of my identity. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] Another one that I thought was kind of nice talks about what's the difference between recreation...or leisure. And it says to understand the full power and potential of leisure it is important to separate it from another closely related word, recreation. Simply stated, recreation can be understood as the activity or experience, while leisure is seen as the outcome of the experience. And I really like that. So I want us to really keep in mind as we talk about things today that leisure is the outcome. Recreation is the activity. It says leisure has several distinct, yet related meanings. True leisure is a process involving, and I love this, freedom, self‑discovery and growth. And I think as we get into this more, you really will begin to appreciate just how much growth can come and self‑discovery can come from recreation and leisure activities. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] And then the final quote...leisure education. And this is what we're talking about. Leisure education provides individuals the opportunity to enhance the quality of their lives and leisure; understand opportunities potentials and challenges in leisure; understand the impact of leisure on the quality of their lives; and gain knowledge, skills and appreciation enabling broad leisure skills. And I really want to emphasize the whole part of broad leisure skills. You know, it's not good enough to just have one leisure skill, you know? We need a wide array of leisure skills to choose from...for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is cold and rainy and I don't want to go outside and work in my garden. Then I might prefer to knit. Or I might run out of yarn and don't want to go to the store, so I might choose to read a book at that point. But I need more than just one thing that I can do for my recreation and leisure activities. And I need access to that and I need the materials to do it with. And our students are no different. So that's a part of what we've got to be thinking about when we're focusing on recreation and leisure skills. And I think this is where the role of the T-V-I and the COMS especially becomes most important. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] Okay. Some of the barriers to physical activity. And I think again I'm preaching to the choir, but most of you really do already know what a lot of these are. For our students the level of vision can be quite a barrier. And I think it depends to some degree on who is helping them participate in that activity how much of a barrier it is. We all know‑‑ we've all probably seen the commercial now with the famous mountain climber -- I can't think of his name. Joe: Erik Wein. Kate: Yes, yes. Where he's climbing the mountain with his daughter and they're laying out and everything and he says, "you know, you don't need a camera to enjoy this experience." And I love that. And so, you know, if you've got a lot of skills, having no vision is not an obstacle. But being a person who sometimes doesn't do well at night with my vision anymore, you know, if I don't have the right skills and I don't have the right materials and equipment, I can injure myself and safety is a big issue. The lack of recreational and sports opportunities. Well, we all know that in some ways there is -- there's not much out there for our kids on the surface, but when you really get to looking and you get to thinking about it. And I hope today this will get you thinking about it, there are more opportunities for recreation and leisure activities than you can imagine. And so we really want to think about that in a broad sense and think about all the possible resources there are that we can use to get our kids engaged in great recreation and leisure activities. I think this is true to some degree that the general P-E instructor doesn't have much knowledge about the...the activities and curricular modifications that are needed for our students to participate in a lot of the P-E kinds of courses that we may have in general ed, but again, it's where the T-V-I comes in and we're going to share a lot of resources for helping them to learn how they can include that student better. Lack of appropriate facilities. Well, there are--that is true. And especially in some districts there's less than in others, but I think that's...that can be overcome. I think that that's not the most critical factor. And then this one I think is very important, lack of parental knowledge of physical activity resources. I think some parents just normally say, my kid's going to do this and they just say let's go do it. And that's terrific. But I think for other children there is...a lack of knowledge, maybe even a little bit of a fear factor involved in how could I possibly let my child participate in a particular activity that's going on with their peers? And so we want to -- as T-V-Is and COMs, one of our big responsibilities is helping those family members understand that their kid can participate and that they shouldn't just be sitting around playing videogames. They should get out and be doing stuff. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] So when we think about leisure skills, there are literally endless options. I listed a couple of ones that came to mind, things like gardening, sewing and weaving, sculpting, painting, photography, origami, cooking, camping, music, games, both online and face to face. Collecting. I have a great story about a young man I knew who was deafblind, significantly hearing impaired and totally blind, and his passion was collecting bowling pins. And he enjoyed that so much. And it was a great activity for him because he would go to the bowling alley, he could maybe bowl a game with some support, and then he would, you know, have his group of people, the guys that ran the bowling alley would always get introduced to him and he would really just wax poetic about bowling pins. And almost inevitably somebody would give him another bowling pin. [ Laughter ]. So it was great. And when he...when you got together with him and he wanted to talk about what was going on, he could pull out his bowling pin collection and just by touch alone he could tell you where he got every one of those bowling pins. I mean, it was wonderful. So we're going to pull up a poll now. Cyral: Doing it. Kate: And we're going to see if some of you have ideas about other activities that individuals can do. It says what are some additional recreational activities that individuals with visual impairments and deafblindness do that you can think of? And I encourage you to participate in this poll. You can type your answer in under the question or if -- if you have trouble accessing that you can also put it in the chat or you can press star 6 and unmute your mic and just tell us about some ideas. I really want to encourage every one of you that are out there to at least enter one idea. Cyral: So we have singing, beep ball, bowling so far. Kate: Swimming, yeah. Cyral & Kate: Track events. Cyral: There's more fun stuff to do. Kate: Okay. Playing instruments. That's a real -- being in bands, my goodness, that was one of my major major activities. Dance, that's another one. Cyral: Dance is a great one. Kate: Yeah, yeah. Okay. Cyral: Somebody could teach me all those things, that would be great. Kate: That would be terrific. That would be terrific. Okay. Well, thank you so much for participating in that. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] Chapter 2. Role of the TVI & COMS All right, now I'm going to turn it over to Cyral and she's going to talk to you guys about your role, as if you didn't know what they were. [ Laughter ] Cyral: Well, you know, it is confusing. This is so atypical in the school system to think about recreation and leisure. It's not what school districts report to their boards. It's not even the first thing that many of us think to talk to our parents about, but I think it's truly an important area for the comprehensive, holistic health of the student as they grow up. We have some ideas here on the slide of what your roles might be, and I want to kind of go through those and I also want to mention, I think the chapter in the E-C-C -- what is it called? E-C-C essentials, is really terrific. And I hadn't looked at it prior to this...to this workshop. So lots of good ideas in there. So one of them, of course, is that we need to make sure that assessment is done in rec leisure skills because it's part of the Expanded Core Curriculum. That doesn't mean that -- just like most of the areas of E-C-C--that it's our role to do the assessment, but it does mean that we need to make sure that appropriate assessment is done. So how would you do that? You would collaborate with others. You would collaborate with the--an adaptive P-E teacher or perhaps the general P-E teacher. A lot depends on the kid and their age. You will certainly work with the family and any other staff to make sure that you know about that individual student's needs related to that vision. You're going to make sure they know about the visual impairment so that any kind of assessment is done in an appropriate manner. The V-I teacher and the COMS, and, you know, I think that the COMS might play even a more significant role in rec leisure than many T-V-Is because the COMS get to go out, they get to be fun, they get to go in the community more than the T-V-I. So this relates to both of our roles. Providing support, information and support to the family and staff about modifications and adaptations for materials and instruction. This is critical. We do this in all the other areas. We certainly do this in all the compensatory areas, the core curriculum areas. We also need to think about it for rec leisure. What needs to be changed because this child has...acuity issues? So if they really want to do stamp collecting, how could we give them the kind of magnifiers that will lead to that being a fun pursuit rather than really frustrating as an example. Collaborating with family, education teams, rehabilitation teams and community entities to provide instructional opportunities and activities. That's a big one. And that really takes time that most of us don't have. So a lot of collaboration, a lot of figuring out who can do what and working with the family and the child to make sure you're focused on things that are of interest to the child and that are accessible to the family. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] The--Providing instruction and sighted guide might be an important part of making sure the child is safe within community activities. Most of our kids get this kind of right from the beginning, but you also want to teach everybody around them so a child doesn't go to an event, for example. Think about all the sports events I went to when my brothers were in different teams or in the orchestra or the band, and I went to those. Well, if I was a younger sibling and learning about these activities, my family needs to know safe ways and appropriate ways for me to be out in public. You can use rec leisure kind of teaching to help with mobility goals for independence and sighted guide or of course use of cane for those who are using that. Kate: And Cyral, let me just jump in here. You know, when you said going out and doing sports with my family. You know, one of the biggest things when I hit probably, maybe as young as 10, the minute I got there I was losing my parents. They were not going to be a part. Cyral: Exactly. Kate: So I think the other thing is you can't go around and teach all of the peers how to do sighted guides. Cyral: But you can teach their best friend. Kate: You can teach their best friend and you can help the student explain to someone how the best way is to do sighted guide for them. Cyral: Absolutley. Kate: It's not ideal, but, you know, it's part of being self‑determined and being a good self‑advocate is to be able to tell someone how to do sighted guide. Because even if you're a great cane traveler, in crowded situations or things like that. >>Cyral: It's tough. Kate: It's tough. And sighted guide is a must. Cyral: Well, and what's cool about what you said is that this area of expanded core is just like the others, I think, a gateway to all the other areas of the expanded core. So there's O and M, there's self determination, there's social skills and it's all under the rubric of rec leisure. You cover a bunch. Kate: You do. Cyral: The suggestions on modifications or adaptations on games, we have access, the V-I professionals, to all the adaptive materials through-- maybe the American Printing House for the Blind. I know those funds are really limited, but it's there. You can purchase them. And through other places that sell adaptive materials. And that is so beneficial in order to let the ch--the kids be with their peers because really that's what we're after here. Rec leisure is a lower stress way in to social -- socialization than some of the academic pursuits, so let's try to use it in fun -- because it's fun, we're teaching them to have fun, but give them the kind of equipment so it's fair and appropriate for them. There's lots of different kinds of beeping baseballs. And oh my gosh, when I watch Joe's gym and the classes there's lots of very special equipment that everybody could use and enjoy. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] Consults with staff and family about verbal descriptions and use of movement for learning, this is sort of helping them to understand where the vision might have an impact on how the child is learning. I want to talk also about in linking with parents and linking with the child, making sure you're going -- you're giving the kid the best chance possible. Phil Hatlen tells a story about going roller skating. Those of you who remember Phil Hatlen, he's six‑foot something and he's just built big. You know, roller skating was a hard kind of a sport for him. And he decided he didn't like it, but he had tried it a number of times before he decided he didn't like it. I wonder with our kids whether they get the kind of introduction to sports where they have the basic skills required so that when they go and try it, it's fun. They need successful opportunities to do these kinds of activities, otherwise they're going to say no, no, I don't do that, I don't do that. So I think that's part of our role as V-I professionals helping the family and the students to figure out a way to be successful. Because you don't have fun if you don't feel good at it. So encouraging involvement of the student in physical activities and not just score keeper. Oh, please -- [ Laughter ] Let's get them off the bench, right? Get them off the bench. Let's, I mean, score keeping is great, but it's not physical and it's not social. Let's get them in there and--and doing things. And then--this may be my last slide, reminding about the benefits of having a child use vision and touch for demonstration. I observed a T'ai Chi class a number of years ago where there was a blind student in that room and it was actually a community based T'ai Chi class in a private setting. The teachers were unbelievable about how they gauged when they could describe a movement, when they needed to model the movement on their own body and have the student that I was observing come and touch, and when they could just move the child's body through the movements. That's maybe not intuitive. That might be another role for us as the V-I professional to say here's what this child can see. Some shapes, yes, so if you've got the lighting right, maybe, et cetera. Or maybe their hearing is not so good, so talking to them all day long won't work. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] Chapter 3. Assessment Kate: Okay, I'm going jump back in here for a minute because when we're talking about assessment, which we all know is a starting place for everything we do, there are a lot of different tools out there. And we're going to talk about and Joe is going to share some of his favorites, but I just wanted to mention for those of you who have the EVALS kit, look through section--in the section 1 manual, pages 351 to 372. That is all on rec leisure. And it's a nice little assessment tool that you can use. Also, I want to mention for those kids who are the most significantly disabled students, using something like the functional scheme assessments, and what I like especially about the functional scheme assessment from Dr. Nielson is that the fine motor, the gross motor is especially good, but also she has a whole assessment piece on perception through play and activity. And you don't find that in many other assessments, and so I think that that's a real helpful piece, especially for those kids that are under the developmental age of about four. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] All right. Now, one of the things that I discovered -- I kind of knew about this to begin with, but when I was doing my searching around I went to Region 10 because they're the sports extravaganza...kings. [ Laughter ] And I began to just sort of mess around in their website. And this link takes you to a wonderful, wonderful download that talks about this whole list of assessment tools and it gives a brief description about each one and talks about the whole assessment process. And so I wanted to share that with you. But Joe, I have a question for you when I was looking at this, is you're the person who does a lot of this assessment. What are some of your favorite tools? Joe: Well, first of all, we use the Brockport, and that is kind of a parallel to a fitnessgram. And unfortunately there's not a standardized evaluation for just visually impaired, so we've got to pick and choose and pull and there's a lot out there to do that from. But by law we're required now to do -- to...administer the fitnessgram and even to the students that are severely and multiple disabled, unless there's a medical reason why we can't do that. I also like Texas Women's University, their...assessment, because they don't just assess motor skills like running back and forth in the fitnessgram and touching an object and how many times can you do that in a certain amount of time, but there's kicking and throwing and jumping and hopping and skipping, and it's all these motor skills that the kids do, not only to exercise, but just for fun. Kate: Great, Joe. I appreciate those comments. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] So I'm going to put another poll up here real quick and I'd like to know what tools you guys are using that was not on that list or have not been mentioned? Cyral: Do you want me to put it up Kate? Kate: I'll push this right over here. Cyral: Oh, you got it? Okay. Kate: Spread this out a little bit. If you would, like I say, you can enter your answers in the poll pod or you can put it in the chat, or you can do star 6 and unmute your mic and just tell us. Kim is saying EVALS kit. Any others? Are all of you using the EVALS kit? Cyral: Does it cover all the kids that you've got? I'm curious about that. Kate: Teacher made checklist. Parent‑student interviews. I think that's a real important piece of any...any evaluation. Let me spread this out a little bit more so we can see. EVALS kit. Teacher made checklist. Cyral: Student preference, that's great. So, one of the things that all the literature talks about is rec leisure and fun. And [Laughs] you know, I don't know how many of you were told by your parents that you were going to learn to play piano and that you were going to have lessons on Mondays with that icky guy who smokes a cigar, but that's what happened to me. And I think, you know, had we gone about that differently I might really like the piano, but it didn't. [ Laughter ]. Kate: Okay. Well, let's move along here. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] Chapter 4. Implications of Visual Conditions Okay. One of the things that Joe shared with me and that I think is really important for teachers is to find a nice concise way to share information about visual conditions and what are some implications of those. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] And when I was looking at this, these were just nice little short...phrases that would be good to put down, but I also was curious, Joe, what -- as a...as a P-E teacher, what kind of information do you need? How much is enough and how much is too much? Joe: Well, when I did a presentation for P-E teachers at a national conference, I listed or I believed and had seen actually through the division of blind services that these are the five most common -- I left diabetes out, but retinitis pigmentosa, glaucoma, macular degeneration, Stargardt's, cataracts, and I mentioned in that retinal detachment, which is a really big deal when all they do is play basketball. So I try to keep it -- I try to keep it that short because I think a lot of other eye conditions are just extensions of these. It's--They're more characteristics. I also I think it's really important to explain the distinction between low vision and blindness. And me being visually impaired, oh, he's blind. I am not blind, I have low vision. And the understanding of acuity also should be explained as well, because the term legal blindness to people, blindness is universal, it's just dark. And...they should‑‑that should be explained because it gives people a more clear picture. I think distance gives people a really clear picture about how well you see. So that really helps a lot too. Cyral: Joe, do you ever use simulation when you're teaching P-E teachers? Kate: That's just what I was going to say. Cyral: Have you had like simulator goggles to -- Joe: Oh, oh, absolutely, yes, yes. And as a matter of fact, at that particular conference in Fort Worth, and I used those and I used the blindfolds. And what I love doing is I have a jam box up as loud as it would go and I had them blindfolded and I threw basketballs right next to them. [ Laughter ]. Cyral: Oh my. Joe: So I definitely oriented them to -- to that, how that is for someone that's totally blind or even low vision in a gym with 60 other kids or students. Cyral: Yeah. The thing that always strikes me in gym classes is the level of noise. It's pretty hard for even people who can see what's going on to get a sense of safety, or feel safe. Joe: Right. Kate: Exactly. And that is a challenge. Also, I think, too, you know, the simulators are something I think is just great because I think, you know, most A-P-E teachers and P-E teachers really would like to include that kid. And either they overestimate or they underestimate what's possible. And using a simulator can give them a sense of, oh, just like we see with parents all the time, oh, they actually see a lot more than I thought they did. Or oh, I can understand how if I position them here, it's going to work better for them. So I think that's a really good -- Joe: Well, you know, I was really lucky. I grew up in a village, that's one of my favorite statements of Hilary Clinton's. And I did. However, the way my vision was explained to me, "Oh, honey, you just don't see very well." And we need to teach our student to have an understanding and be able to explain their eye condition scientifically instead of I just don't see very well. And I think the coaches would understand. And coming from the students that interaction with the coach I think would help tremendously. Cyral: That's a great point. Kate: That is a good point. And again, self‑determination, self‑advocacy. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] Chapter 5. Tips for APE/PE Instructors So these are some tips that Joe shared in an article that I'm going to include and then I want him to elaborate...elaborate on them some. Just running down them briefly, find ways to keep the V-I student active and not just sitting on the sidelines. We talked about that. Have someone, and it could be a COMS, it could be a T-V-I, it could be a para, it could be a peer possibly, orient the V-I student to the gym. I do think that the first time around it should be the orientation of mobility specialist. But, you know...As we all know gyms change from day‑to‑day and so once there is a general knowledge of the environment, using a peer or a para to sort of help the student know how the gym is set up each time they come in it is a plus. Break down and demonstrate specific components of skills and teach one on one, and I know you're going to talk a lot about that. Using stations that address different motor skills such as rope climbing, pushups, stairstepping, and so forth. Integrate longer stretching routines into the program. And that was real intriguing to me so I want you to talk especially about that, Joe. And then assign support staff to work with a child, not just watch. And oh, man, I have seen this so many times. There are paras assigned to go with them to the gym. Joe: And they sit right next to them on the bleachers. Kate: And don't do anything. Cyral: They don't do anything, yeah. Kate: It's so neat when you see a para that's out there really helping that child participate. And a lot of times demonstrating body movements and things like that. And so--and then the other thing, and I think this is real important, and I don't know that it's always possible, but I think especially in A-P-E classes where maybe the ratio is a little smaller that this does happen and it's so helpful is to have the actual P-E instructor provide some one on one time with the student. And so the para or the T-V-I might lead a group activity with the others so the instructor can have a little bit of time with that student. So Joe, tell us...tell us--talk about this stuff. Joe: Well, I -- this is all the things that I've seen. And these adaptations -- or not adaptations, but just suggestions for a regular -- this is regular physical education that they could do, And I'm going to elaborate a little bit on the stretching routine. I have--We are in partnership with a...a private girls school and they are -- I call it reverse mainstreaming. They are coming and sharing our P-E classes with our students that are visually impaired and it's really cool. And they -- at first they were in the helping mode, but the kids are interacting together and they're even being bad sometimes. [ Laughter ]. But the stretching, it -- I have a 45 minute routine and I know that it isn't -- it may not be feasible, but all those kids love that. And I put music on and they are manipulating every body part that they have. And the other kids, or the sighted kids sometimes don't really know that their body can do that or their leg can go behind them and twist and all kinds of things like that. The stations, in a regular P-E class, why not once a week why can't they -- the teachers have station and jump rope, stairstepping, pullups, situps, pushups? And I have like a 12‑station routine and it takes the whole class period and they're worn out, but they're not doing the same thing the whole time. So all the kids can do that together. Now...again, and you will be in that in just a little bit, I don't know, but it's just the ball skills, ball games and everything [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] are just prevalent in regular physical education. Right. And I had one school district call me and we have a student with a detach -- with detached retinas and they said oh, we're playing basketball all semester. Well, that is pretty lame to me. [ Laughter ]. And -- I mean, not jut for our--not just for someone visually impaired, but that whole class. So what they do is just turn 'em loose and let them play basketball and that's all they do. And when I say I never even thought about doing the same thing everyday all semester, I have six or seven different activities per like nine weeks that we do. And I just -- it's just really sad the creativity, and you haven't said I talk too much yet, but I do want to tell this story. I've been out and I consulted with two different school districts. One the young lady was totally blind. The coaches were on it. They -- I taught them how to tether. She was on the track team and competed. And then the other school district, the girl was barely legally blind, so she was probably 22‑20 somewhere in there in her acuity, and I said show me how you can run in the lines. And she just ran in the lines. And I went all that way. [ Laughter ] Now, the thing of it is, is the coaches told her--she lives with a grandparent and the parents can be really‑‑are especially a different generation, you know, a skipped generation, they can be really overprotective. The coaches said oh, it's just too dangerous for her to run, so hers was very--she needed no adaptations. Hers was easily remedied to where the girl with the most challenge or the young lady was on the team. So you have to really -- well, you've got to be really, really proactive and try not to be condescending. Cyral: And you know, that goes back to the T-V-I and COMS role to advocate for the student and to help the P-E folks know that they don't have to over adapt either. There's some--the minimum necessary to let this kid participate. Joe: Right, and it can't be 100%. It is impossible, and with all those other students, for them to do everything that the other students do. And if they do some of it, then that builds rapport with the other students and they can see. And then not just -- not just them being able to do something physical, but that gives them interaction with their peers and their social -- you know, they can be--they have socialization later. Because I just have seen it and Cyral and I go a long way back, and I would take kids to P-E when we worked together, and this has been 34 years ago, and I bring them back to our class and they had no interaction, it was just me with those students that were visually impaired. They didn't interact with the other students, so... Cyral: We've gotten better, I hope. Joe: Oh, they have. Cyral: Well, and another thing you've mentioned about playing games with balls. For one thing we're about to show some really awesome options now for adaptive games, but also that we were talking about how students need to learn the rules of the game even if they're not going to play all parts of it. And that has to do with social aspect as well. Joe: That's true. And what--with that, why that is so important, not only the social aspect, but parents. You know, like sometimes my parents, my parents thought I could go and the teacher is supposed to teach. And he's going to learn because he's--the teacher is teaching. Well, that's not the case because you can't see because there's 30 kids in there and then they don't -- the coach doesn't know to put you up in close proximity so you lose all that. So for the parents and teachers to work on that before they go in and they have an idea of how the game is played and it can be through tactile -- I mean I get a cookie cutter and roll a field diagram on the Braille paper, the thermal form paper. You know, that. And that's really important. Walk them around the field. Our kids -- I've had kids climb up on ladders and feel basketball goals, and I've had one student in particular crawl up on a goal post. He got all the way up. [ Laughter ] Cyral: And fell. Joe: No. No, he didn't. Kate: Well, and I will never forget seeing on YouTube this amazing video of two or three young deafblind folks down in South America who were watching, watching the World Cup, a World Cup...championship. Somebody had built a field, a tactile field and as they...as the game progressed there was a person there who would sort of move the players and things for them to experience it. And it was amazing. Cyral: Powerful. Kate: And that was so cool. It was just so cool. Chapter 6. Adaptive Sports for the Blind And speaking of cool, [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] if you guys aren't familiar with all the great new fabulous ways for individuals who are blind and visually impaired to participate in activities that are sort of ball‑related games and sports, I want to share some with you. I tried to find some things with some videos because I thought, you know, one of the things that's important to share with A-P-E teachers, with parents and others is good examples of people playing the sports who are visually impaired. And so these are -- you, know, I'll give you some actual footage to show: But you know, the other thing about P-E and A-P-E teachers is if you can interest them in one of these sports, then maybe they won't just play basketball all the time, they can play an adaptive sport too where at least their whole group of folks -- you know, whether you're visually impaired or not, you can play these games. So I thought that was really cool. The beep baseball, I think most all of you know about beep baseball, but tennis has suddenly become kind of a really thing. Cyral: Tennis for the blind! Joe: Tennis anyone? [ Laughter ]. Kate: Joe, I wanted you to talk a little bit about what is called blind tennis out in the world. Joe: Well, first of all, I don't think blind tennis is politically correct, the name of it, but that's what it's called. And it really bugs me every time I say it, but it is -- well it was developed in Japan 30 years ago and -- by a lady that was blind and it was popular in the Asian countries, but it didn't really make it over here until -- the first time I heard about it was three or four, five years ago. And the tennis coordinator for adapted tennis with U-S-T-A came and she and I kind of worked on--tried to work on different ways to play tennis. And then we looked in A-P-H and they found these balls and they were wonderful. However I didn't really know how to teach it. They were wonderful for low vision, but totally blind they were a challenge because we'd have them play up close on the net. Well, this summer I had...the Blind Tennis Foundation call me and want me to come down near Mexico for training and I was certified as an international coach. Well, in February of 2014, 12 countries met and it was us, and Mexico, and Britain, and Peru, and Japan, and Germany, Australia, Canada. That's all I remember right now. But what they did is they met and they just shared all their research and this coming year in 2016 they're going to reconvene and they might do that here at the school to solidify all the rules. And the way that I learned how to teach it was you don't bounce the ball and they swing at it. They don't even hold the racket at first. They train with trying to pick up the ball with their left or right hand when they hear it, which helps their lateral movement. And this year we had our first match with Mexico. It was the first international match. The School for the Blind, we went down there and it was an amazing experience. And they -- actually, I had -- I trained the kids for five weeks. That's all I had. And they did quite well. And I have kids that were totally blind that were able to volley and place in that, place in the meet. Kate: That is cool. That is really so cool. Well, and beyond beep baseball and tennis, [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] there is goalball, which we all know, but there was a new one that...that Joe turned me on to, which is beep kickball, and that seems to be also one that is catching on around the country. Joe: It is catching and it's played exactly like beep baseball. And you -- there's no pitcher, though. You place kick it or put it on the ground and kick it. Kate: Very cool. Cyral: And I'm just wanting to mention, here, you know Joe is a coach who happens to also be a T-V-I and knows how to teach it. In your local district you'll want to be, as the V-I person, the advocate with the coach to maybe take this on, or with parents to take this on. Some of these things happened in the evening, after schools and Y-M-C-A's have taken these things on, so the V-I professional's role here isn't necessarily to know how to play the game, although they just sound so cool, but to help make sure it happens. Kate: They really do. And at the end of this and I've included a lot of slides, but it's in your handout, there's a whole list of resources, organizations that you can contact to help you learn more about these activities. And a lot of times they're willing to sort of help you learn how to do it or do some teaching with someone in your community. So it's real important that you as T-V-I's, don't feel like "Oh, gosh! I've got to do all of this. I'm a klutz, I would be a disaster." But if I know the resources, that's the thing. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] Joe: Well, One thing I want to say and I'll say it very quickly, what--I was in athletics in high school and I don't want to sound like I'm tooting my own horn, but the opportunities that I have had getting in first with the United States Association of Blind Athletes led me to skiing, led me to cycling, which led me on a trip across Russia, which led me to triathlons, which led me to doing an ironman and the Boston marathon in my 50's. And it's just about killed me. [ Laughter ]. Cyral: He's nuts. He's nuts. You never know. Joe: You never know. And the beauty of it all is I get to teach this to the kids and it's wonderful. Especially the triathlons. That's a new one, too. Kate: Well, I heard at T-A-E-R someone saying about -- about the E-C-C in general, but I thought it was especially true about rec leisure, it's like now because of the laws, we have to get out and teach this fun stuff. And that is truly it. Cyral: That's right. Kate: And speaking of teaching, there's a lot of team sports, but for a lot of individuals, and I think actually for any individual, having an individual sport in their repertoire is really important. Some of these -- I have listed such as cycling, running, spinning, swimming, yoga, walking, hiking, a lot of the martial arts are really great for this, individual aerobic exercise, weight training, that's a great one. Bowling, darts. Now that was one I hadn't thought about, but -- Cyral: Why not. Kate: Why not? Dance, dancing around my house is my favorite forms of exercise. Gymnastics, archery, wrestling, and then as Joe mentioned, the triathlon. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] Chapter 7. PE Credits In/Out of School Setting Cyral: I wanted to ask about P-E credit because we had talked about that earlier. Kids have to get P-E credit, right? So how much and what can you do with that? Joe: It's really determined by the school district, each school district. However, what T-E-A, the minimum is six, seven and eighth, two years out of those three years. And only one year from ninth through the 12th grade, which I think is a travesty, especially for our kids. Cyral: But, can you get that credit? Joe: Yes, you can get that credit in community activities, like if you go to martial arts at the Y, they'll accept that. They'll accept just about anything if you're moving. Kate: You know, I really wasn't aware of that. I think that's a great option for a lot of our students, especially if you think about in a district where they don't have a lot of things to offer within with the P-E class, looking for individual martial arts activity or a swim thing at the Y. And then do they have to do any particular application to get credit for that? Is there a process that they go through? Joe: The only thing they have to do is record the hours. They have to have someone sign off on the hours. And I believe it's for -- I believe--yeah, the secondary, it's three hours per week and then elementary it's five days a week, 30 minutes, 150 minutes. Cyral: So it's another opportunity you can free up some time within the schools to do some of the V-I things we need to do and the student has something fun to do in the evenings or on the weekends that lead to lifelong community integration. So, that is very cool, and I was glad to learn about that. 1 Chapter 8. Resources Kate: I want to point out a neat resource that I discovered. It's available a couple of places, but I found it on amazon most easily, and it's called The Encyclopedia of Sports and Recreation for People with Visual Impairments. I thought how great is this. There's like a bazillion different things that you can share with folks, and I thought this might be good to mention. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] Also, I think most of you are familiar with probably our greatest treasure when it comes to...recreation and leisure currently is Lauren Lieberman. And we all know how much she has done. This is one of her books, Physical Education and Sports for People with Visual Impairments and Deafblindness, foundations of instruction. This is a great one to share with your P-E and A-P-E folks. Joe, I've got two questions for you. One is what are some of the other books and resources that you can suggest related to individual fitness? And then also I know that you are pretty close contact with Lauren Lieberman. What kind of things are in the works with her? What is she doing? Joe: Well, as a matter of fact, she -- well, they started, I believe it was last year, there's a camp in north Texas, Campabilities, and that's amazing. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] And it usually lasts about a week and they do everything. Horseback riding, canoeing, swimming, beep baseball. And they are on it all day long. I did one with Dr. Carlos Savontes at Texas tate in 2010 and we got really really really good reviews on that. And as far as books, there's a multitude of books and right now [ Laughter ] right now I pretty much when we talk about only sticking with one thing, I kind of stick with Lauren's book because she task analyzed just like I mentioned everything before. Everything is task analyzed. Swimming, from being able to use the ladder to doing the stroke correctly. So some people just don't know. And even for the multi‑disabled that's...that's beautiful because they might not have the fine motor to climb the ladder and nobody knows that. And somebody says "well, get in" and then they fall in the water, so... Cyral: Right, right. And again. Going back to making it a successful experience. You don't want to be traumatized. Kate: Like I was with baseball. Cyral: Well there you go. I think that's real important. Kate: Up on the screen you can see the slide for camp abilities. And the Denton program that Joe mentioned. If you go to Campabilities.org you can find out about that program. You also, as I understand, Lauren is very open to trying to help people start up camp abilities in other locations. So, you know, this might be something -- this is something I didn't think the school necessarily has to do. It could be anyone, you know, that's interested in getting that kind of activity going. So check that...resource out. Joe: And as Kate just mentioned, she's there. She just doesn't call you on the phone. She'll come down there. Kate: She is the most gung ho person in the world. It's really pretty exciting. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] Also, I've got to talk, just really briefly...when we're talking about kids with multiple disabilities, and especially those with the most significant disabilities, don't rule out physical activity for these kids. They need it maybe more so than any of the other kids because they can move so little. They're often in chairs and they're in, you know, all sorts of restraints and things like that. Make sure you're thinking about them. I'm going direct you, this link directs you to a great little YouTube video that Dr. Elina Mullen, one of our instructors here for P-E did a year or so -- Well, two or three years ago, I guess, and it's a great little thing to share with your A-P-E folks about how to involve kids. But again, active learning environments are great ways to get these kids moving and for them to have some independent play. Independent play is part of leisure, you know. Look at all the different ways that you can engage them in things that they enjoy. Pets are a good thing. A lot of these kiddos benefit from...hippotherapy or water therapy or aquatics. So don't don't overlook them. Make sure that you're talking to their families, that you're providing some support to them to get the recreation. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] Joe: And one comment in regard to water therapy. I don't know of any kids -- some kids are really afraid of the water because their parents have been trained to be afraid of the water. But it's so important. Even the kids that are quadriplegic to have that experience because it's such a--your whole weight shift changes. Your whole balance. And then some kids are able to support themselves standing up and they've never stood up in their life in water. And some of their parents are so afraid and I think that's so important to have for them to have some type of lessons with a professional that understands adaptive aquatics. Kate: Yes. Cyral: Great point. Kate: Very good. So, here's some important things to remember as we sort of wrap this up. First of all, find activities that appeal to the individual. But they will have to try out a variety of experiences first to figure out what's most enjoyable. You want to make sure that the individual has access to the materials and the ability to choose what is enjoyable. You know, again, especially when thinking about these more multiply disabled kiddos and kiddos with communication challenges, how are they going to tell you they want to do something? Do they know how they can make a choice? If they have time on their hand, do they know how to access materials and things that they do find pleasurable? These are important things for these kiddos to...to have available to them. And then to have multiple recreation and leisure activities options, not just one thing. [ End slide: ] [ Start slide: ] I'm going to share one more slide that I think Joe needs to tell us about and this has to do -- we have about one minute, Joe. Tell us about TAPVI and how TAPVI is involved in some recreation and leisure activities. Joe: Well, TAPVI is an affiliate of NATVI and that's national association of parents of visually impaired, so of course we're called Texas association of parents of visually impaired. And the last three years we've kind of reinvented ourselves. And what we do to bring families together, we call them family fun days. And I know hippotherapy was mentioned. Oh my goodness. We've done bowling and rock climbing and we're going to Arlington. And we're doing a family fun day with bowling again and just activities that the whole family can do together. And we try not to -- we try to make it fun. And then -- Cyral: It is fun. Joe: Yes, and then it brings people together and then at lunch parents can talk and we've worked really hard and I think it's finally working. [ Laughter ]. Kate: Well, we hope that you have gained some good information about recreation and leisure. Once again, thank you for joining us and... Joe: Thank you for giving me this opportunity. Cyral: There are lots of resources on those handouts, more than you could ever take in. It's just great. Pick and choose, and have fun. [ Silence ]