Role of Adapted Physical Education Specialist in Transition Planning

Mandated by Public Law 105–17, public schools are to provide transition services to students with disabilities by age 14. The purpose of transition services is to assist students in moving from school to community settings. One area of transition is community participation in recreation and leisure. The purpose of this study was to determine extent of participation of adapted physical education (APE) teachers in planning and implementing transition services in recreation and leisure. There is a dearth of research–based literature in this area. Basic research questions were: 1. Are APE teachers members of transition planning teams? 2. If APE teachers are not members of planning teams then who is responsible for planning in recreation and leisure? Hypotheses of no difference in proportions with regard to transition were: (a) year of licensure (pre or post IDEA) and familiarity with mandate, (b) level of responsibility and familiarity with mandate, (c) level of responsibility and perception of importance, (d) level of familiarity and perception of importance, (e) level of responsibility and perception of school districts’ importance, and (f) level of familiarity and perception of school districts’ importance. Selected from random number generation, participants were licensed APE teachers (N=146) who completed a questionnaire modified from one used in earlier research. Demographic data were analyzed descriptively, and hypotheses were tested with chi square analyses. Results indicated the following. Only 24% of APE teachers provided transition services. However, 43% did not teach students age 14 and older. Of those teaching students age 14 and older but not involved in transition, 69% stated that special education teachers were most often responsible whereas 19% stated that other APE teachers were responsible. Results of chi square analyses testing hypotheses were: (a) no difference between year of licensure and familiarity with mandate, (b) difference between level of responsibility and familiarity with mandate (X²=23.72[1], p< .05), (c) difference between level of responsibility and perceived importance (X²=6.70[1], p< .05), (d) no difference between level of familiarity and perceived importance, (e) difference between level of responsibility and district importance (X²=11.40[1], p< .05), and (f) difference between level of familiarity and district importance (X²=10.84[1], p< .05). Within the parameters of this study, it may be concluded that, although APE specialists perceive transition in recreation and leisure as important, many of them do not have an active role in the transition process.
Keyword(s): adapted physical activity, community-based programs, recreation programming