For optimum development of lifelong healthy physical activity and athletic performance, children and adults, including those with a disability, pass through a serious of developmental stages.  

 

A brief overview of the stages is given below. For more details, refer to Canadian Sport for Life, pages 36-44. The ages given in the diagram represent the normal range of ages are each stage for non-disabled individuals. Individuals with a disability, particularly those with an acquiring disability, may pass through the stages at significantly different ages and at greater speed and time since acquiring a disability (rather than chronological age) becomes an important factor.