Towards the inclusion of students with ASD in physical education: action-research in a pilot programme

Abstract

The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has increased in recent decades. It is necessary for teachers to attend to the diversity present in the classrooms, taking into account the characteristics and needs of people with ASD when designing educational proposals capable of motivating the inclusion of all students. The present work reports an action-research (AR) process approached within a pilot program of Physical Education (PE) sessions with students with ASD. The objective consisted of testing a program of activities focused on offering useful guidelines for teachers, applicable both in ordinary PE sessions, as well as in specific communication and language units. Based on the commitment to the inclusive education approach, the proposal of activities was based on the current legislation and analysed through the AR methodology. The results obtained show that guidelines such as the use of pictograms to explain the tasks, modelling, the introduction of topics of interest, and the use of a directive methodology can improve participation and serve as a reference for the design of future PE proposals.