OUR NEIGHBOR: Teacher helps students with special needs

WASILLA — For our neighbors with special needs, physical education is more than just fun and games.

Chris Stewart, along with two other Mat-Su School District adaptive PE teachers, makes sure the opportunity for socialization through sport is available to those who are too often isolated.

The Mat-Su School District takes an inclusive approach to special education. There is no discrimination as to what abilities are necessary for enrollment in any particular class. This means students with special needs take PE right along side students without.

“I am there to adapt PE programs to get everyone involved,” Stewart said.

Stewart said this adapting takes on different shapes at different levels. In elementary school, students are still learning motor skills and hand-eye coordination. The relatively simple games can usually accommodate his students simply by minor adjustments.

“For example, if we had a tag game in a class with a student with a wheelchair, we might make equipment that would extend his arms. We might take a pool noodle and put hands on it,” Stewart said. “Maybe the person in the wheelchair is the all-time releaser. This creates a positive interaction with the other kids.”

Stewart said he can also lessen the intensity of the physical requirements asked of the students with special needs. He can designate a certain section of the field as belonging to a special needs student, giving her a chance to pass the soccer ball before it is stolen.

But all of this comes without sacrificing the experience of the student without special needs, he said. If a class is playing volleyball, the gym can be split into two games. This means the four teams can rotate between the regular volleyball game and the version with a beach ball to make it more accommodating for the special needs students.

In fact, rather than harming the experience of the students without special needs, Stewart said they gain something more from their interaction with the special needs students.

“We are creating an opportunity. … The PE times are the only time when we have a good opportunity for socialization between students with special needs and those without,” Stewart said.

Stewart began his career in education after going to college for his K-12 PE teaching degree. He took some classes in adaptive PE but didn’t consider working in the field when he moved to the Lower Kuskokwim School District.

His wife, also a special education teacher, and he relocated to the Mat-Su to start a family. It was only by chance a job opened for an adaptive PE teacher.

Now, three years in, Stewart loves his job.

“Everyday is different. Every class is different. … There’s a lot of times it doesn’t work. Some activities are hard to modify,” Stewart said. “But it’s creative and definitely a job that fits me.”

Stewart said each one of the 40 to 50 students he sees on a regular basis is unique. Even students with the same special needs have different abilities, he said.

That’s why, as the students get older and the physical activities get more involved in game strategies, Stewart moves away from the adaptive model of PE.

“I start to look at the future of the students I’m working with. … I look at what options will be available for this person in five years, 10 years, 15 years. I start to push away from the Gen Ed curriculum and toward life-long fitness goals for students with special needs,” Stewart said.

Once in high school, Stewart helps his students get involved with Special Olympics and other activities that help them stay involved. Sports like bowling, yoga, disc golf and ice skating are all done, often with the regular education partners many students with special needs have, he said.

“These kids are going to see their peers perform these skills. It’s a good demonstration,” Stewart said. “They can watch me do it and learn from it, but it does wonders to have one of their peers do it. They say, ‘If a classmate can do it, I can do it.’”

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.