Museum of Disability History
Adaptive Sports and Recreational Games
It's truly amazing how people with physical disabilities are able to find ways to overcome their impairments. Their tremendous perseverance is evident in this handout that describes the ways different sports, ranging from bowling...
Perkins School for the Blind
Modified Golf
Golf is a popular game that is enjoyed around the world. Invite your pupils with visual impairments or blindness to putt a few balls or make a hole in one. This lesson provides several very good suggestions as to how you can teach an...
Perkins School for the Blind
Warm-Up Exercise with Hula Hoop
To improve mobility, social skill development, and the concept of position, learners with physical disabilities work together to raise and lower a hula hoop over their heads. The activity is short and intended to be used as a warm-up.
Perkins School for the Blind
Tug of War
Don't be fooled by how short this lesson is; it contains a good idea for adaptive PE. The activity is intended to help learners with visual impairments increase motor skills, muscle strength, and mobility. Two kids play a game of tug of...
Curated OER
Including the Disabled Student
Students read and discuss the history of special education in public schools related to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Students work in groups to design ways to modify classroom activities based on the needs of a...
Curated OER
Youth Helping to Elevate Awareness
Eighth graders read a book whose main character has a physical disability, and complete various related activities. They listen to a guest speaker, simulate experiences at school as a disabled individual through the use of wheelchairs,...
Curated OER
Physical Differences
Students role play what it would be like to have a physical disability. In this lesson on acceptance, students listen to the book A Rainbow of Friends by P.K. Hallinan. As a class, the students discuss similarities and differences in...
Perkins School for the Blind
Rolling Along
I cannot stress enough how important orientation and mobility training is for learners with visual impairments. To practice maintaining their balance, as well as work on building the confidence to participate in recreational sports,...
Perkins School for the Blind
Mini Goalball Battleship
Here is a game that can be played by both sighted and unsighted children. Floor mats, blindfolds, and bowling pins are used to create a real-life battleship game where each team attempts to knock down the other team's pins.
Curated OER
Disability Awareness Lesson
Students gain an understanding of how activities should be modified for the physically challenged.
University of Oklahoma
Advocating For My Needs After High School
A three-lesson unit teaches learners with special needs how to advocate for their needs after high school. Class members review appropriate was to disclose their disability during interviews and applications, and how to request...
University of Oklahoma
Advocating For My Needs in High School
High schoolers enrolled in resource and special needs classes learn and practice how to schedule and conduct a self-advocacy meeting with a teacher to request accommodations in that subject area class. In lesson one they review and...
Curated OER
Religion and Ethics: Living with Special Needs
Students explore human behavior by exploring mental and physical disabilities. In this learning disability lesson, students identify the different disabilities students have which prevent them from working at the same pace as the rest of...
Curated OER
Reproduction, Day 2: Pregnancy
Nearly all students have seen pregnant women and may have questions about human development. Intended for secondary students with mild to moderate mental disabilities, this lesson defines the process of pregnancy in a developmentally...
California Academy of Science
Kinesthetic Astronomy: Earth's Rotation
After completing the activity, "Kinesthetic Astronomy: The Meaning of a Year," zoom in on Earth's rotation using the same simulation setup and this outline. Each class member dons a map of the Western Hemisphere and plays the part of...
Curated OER
On the Beach: Disabled and Mother's Pride
What do an early 20th century poet and a 1980's rock star have in common with a novel from the 1960's? Using Wilfred Owen's poem "Disabled" and George Michael's song "Mother's Pride," learners answer questions about the lyrics and themes...
Curated OER
P.E. Lesson: Black Bear
Students run and try to tag a classmate as "Black Bear, Black Bear" is yelled by another student. In this P.E. lesson, students try to get to the opposite side of a playing area without being tagged or being tricked by the person who is...
Perkins School for the Blind
High Stepping
Learners who are blind or have visual impairments learn to take high steps in order to improve their balance and mobility. They start by marching in place, and then march around the room. Finally, they attempt to step over a towel as...
Museum of Disability
Rolling Along
Kindness and empathy can be as important as reading comprehension skills, especially for younger learners. Reinforce both with a lesson based on Rolling Along: The Story of Taylor and His Wheelchair by Jamee Riggio Heelan. As...
Curated OER
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Disability: Was He Successful in Concealing It?
Students examine how President Franklin Roosevelt kept his disability out the public eye. In this presidential history lesson, students analyze political cartoons and information from the Roosevelt Library to determine whether or not...
Curated OER
Using Poetry in Teaching Reading to Special Education Students
A series of well-written activities, these lessons prompt middle schoolers reading below grade level (at a second, third, or fourth grade level) to use poetry to practice basic reading skills. They rhyme, build words, make inferences,...
University of Oklahoma
Improving My Communication Skills
The two lessons in the fifth unit in this series are designed to help students with disabilities improve their communication skills. The first lesson has class members practice strategies and skills for appropriate communication. They...
University of Oklahoma
Developing My Resources
Learners with special needs create Summary of Performance (SOP), a written document which describes their disability, its impact on their daily life, ways they have learned to compensate, their personal strengths, and their goals. The...
Curated OER
Educators
After viewing selections from a website and discussing the role of the teacher in educating the disabled, students work in pairs. They analyze the work of an educator and relate the work to a given quote, then decide if that quote fits...