Book Description

The use of consultation as a means of delivering educational instruction to students with disabilities in the general physical education setting is becoming increasingly prevalent in the United States and is most frequently operationalized in a triadic model. In this model the adapted physical educator serves as the consultant, the general physical educator serves as the consultee, and the student serves as the target, or the one who receives the intervention. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to answer the following questions. What are adapted physical education specialists' perceptions about consultation as a delivery model for individuals with disabilities? How do adapted physical education specialists define an effective consultation model for adapted physical education? How do adapted physical education specialists define their role in the consultation process? Six adapted physical education specialists participated in this study. Analysis included two in-depth individual interviews, a one-day field observation with each participant, researcher notes, and a final focus group including, definition, situational context factors, effectiveness, skills, training, consultation model preferences and roles. It was apparent from these participants that consultation interactions on behalf of students with disabilities varied greatly based on the multidimensional and dynamic nature of the educational environment. Results showed that the use of consultation was more prevalent with middle and high school students. It was also found that adapted physical education (APE) consultation could be presented on a continuum from proximal to distal, dependent on the degree of interaction between the APE specialist, the general education teacher and the student. The effectiveness of consultation was dependent upon the general education teacher's attitude, the APE specialist's skills, and the degree of administrative support. Finally, five roles of the APE consultant were delineated from the participants' descriptions of their job-related interactions. These roles were; advocate, educator, courier, supporter/helper, and resource coordinator.