ABSTRACT
Mr. Jackson is an adapted physical education (APE) teacher at Southern Middle School. Many of the students at the school, like many kids their age, are sports enthusiasts. For example, during lunch the boys and girls frequently talk about sports and their favorite sports teams, whether the local high school or their favorite college or professional team. Typically, at recess they divide into teams and play football or soccer or basketball. Sometimes it seems that all the students at Southern are involved in sports in some way. Well, almost all the students. The students in Mr. Jackson’s class, a self-contained APE class for students with severe disabilities, have not caught the sport bug quite like the other students at Southern. All of Mr. Jackson’s students have severe intellectual impairments. Some are able to walk and even run while others have physical disabilities that require them to use wheelchairs. None of the students can read or write, but some can talk and even say short sentences. Because of the severe nature of their disabilities, the school district has chosen to self-contain these students for the majority of the day with Mr. Jackson and two teacher assistants.
