3. AdolesceNts with autism disorder

The adolescent years are tough for teenagers and their parents. Adolescence is a time of change, uncertainty, and frustration, but also of growth and the development of those skills needed to function as an adult. This is especially true for teenagers with autism and their families. (Gerdtz J, Bregman J, 1990, 88). Based on the research done by Marcus and Schopler in 1987 year it has been determined that teenage period for families who have a child with autism disorder is the most stressful and complicated.

A teenager with autism faces all the usual struggles and hopes of adolescence, in addition to some special challenges and situations. Issues faced by teenagers with autism: (1) Physical growth and development, (2) Need for independence, (3) Being part of the group. (Gerdtz J, Bregman J, 1990, 89).

Difficulties in the area of physical growth and development are not confined to medical and behavioral problems. If the teenager with autism is severely disabled, his of her physical development will soon outpace cognitive and emotional development. (Gerdtz J, Bregman J, 1990, 95).

Youngsters with autism typically do not use speech for social communication; the reciprocal interaction common to normal conversation is rarely present. Similarly, children with autism do not employ the gestures, body movements, or intonation frequently found in daily social conversations. (Rosenberg M., Wilson R., Maheady L., Sindelar P., 1997, 86).

To summarize the findings of previous researches in field of adolescences with autism disorder, it is possible to outline few key concepts that could help to develop motivation and physical activity level. They are: family support and understanding, professional help for families and teenagers with autism.

The research is focused on kids in the specific age group 13-16 years old. This age gap is considered as a final part of adolescence period. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) adolescence is: “any person between ages 10 and 19”.

4. Adapted physical education

Adaptive Physical Education (APE) is the art and science of developing, implementing, and monitoring a carefully designed physical education instructional program for a learner with a disability, based on a comprehensive assessment, to give the learner the skills necessary for a lifetime of rich leisure, recreation, and sport experiences to enhance physical fitness and wellness. (Auxter, D, Pyfer, J, Zittel, L, & Roth, K., 2010).

Adapted Physical Education is physical education, which has been adapted or modified, so that it is as appropriate for the person with a disability as it is for a person without a disability. (ASPENS website). For all practical purposes, Adapted Physical Education is developmentally appropriate physical education at its finest. It involves differentiating instruction so the physical activity is as appropriate for the person with a disability as it is for a person without a disability. The emphasis of adapted physical education is to facilitate participation of students with disabilities with typically developing peers in age-appropriate activities. (PESENTRAL website).

Generally, learning disabled children evidencing conceptual problems will not stick out at first in physical education classes, as will those beset with clumsiness, for example. However, youngsters who have difficulty remembering, drawing conclusions, and the like will likely be the children who have difficulty not only remembering the rules for one of the complex games of middle childhood, but also quickly calling up the correct rule or skill to meet a given situation in a fast-moving game. Moreover, such children may remember rule or strategy when it is repeated, evidencing recognition memory, but at the same time be unable to recall or to formulate for themselves the correct rule, skill, or strategy when it is called for.  Often such memory deficiencies are connected to problems in attention, that is, children apparently cannot remember because they never attended closely enough to learning in the first place. (Cratty B., 1998, 174).

Children with autism frequently engage in bizarre and repetitive patterns of behavior (APA, 1994). Also, it has been proven that kids, who are having autism disorder, are having repetitive and stereotyped play. Basically, that means that the play provided by autistic kids is very limited. They are repeating the same kind of the activity and typically do not develop the ability for imaginative pretend play. (Aarons M., Gitten T., 1992, 9). 

To prove the fact that autistic people are really good in remembering things, which they are repeating many times, it has been shown that many autistic children show remarkable feats of memory and rote learning. (Aarons M., Gitten T., 1992, 9).

-     why do you need APE

-     how it differs from standard physical education

-     Who is it for, where is it used

-     What results are currently achieved using APE