Children with a Disability
Athletes, with and without a disability, need to acquire FUNdamental movement and sport skills, or physical literacy, through fun and games, and this needs to be achieved prior to puberty.
Children with a disability face difficulties in acquiring FUNdamental skills because:
- overly protective parents, care givers, rehabilitation facility staff, teachers, and coaches shield them from the bumps and bruises of childhood play.
- adapted physical education is not well developed in all school systems.
- some coaches and programs do not welcome children with a disability to their activities because of a lack of knowledge about how to integrate them.
- it takes creativity to integrate a person with a disability into a group activity where FUNdamental skills are practiced and physical literacy is developed.
The physical literacy skills needed by children with a disability vary greatly depending on the nature and extent of their disability nd should include all such skills learned by able-bodied children (modified as required) as well as the additional skills required or effective use of assistive devices. Regardless of their previous physical skill, individuals who acquire a disability often have to learn new physical literacy skills such as wheeling their wheelchair, using a prosthetic limb, or accommodating a restricted range of movement. Even though they may be adults, it is critical that individuals effectively learn the FUNdamentals of new movement and sport skills so that those skills can be applied to a wide range of sports and recreational activities.
Disability sports are late specialization sports (Canadian Sport for Life, page 22) and it is critically important that children with congenital or early-acquired physical or intellectual disability be exposed to the full range of FUNdamentals before specializing in the sport of their choice.