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Recreation and Leisure Skills Curricula & Resources

Contents of this page:

Recreation and Leisure Skills Curricula

• How to Thrive, Not Just Survive: A Guide to Developing Independent Life Skills for Blind and Visually Impaired Children and Youth
• Independent Living: A Curriculum with Adaptations for Students with Visual Impairments. Volume III: Play and Leisure. 2nd Edition

Recreation and Leisure Skills Resources

• Creative Recreation for Blind and Visually Impaired Adults
• Games for Individuals with Sensory Impairments: Strategies for Including People of All Ages
• Getting in Touch with Play: Creating Play Environments for Children with Visual Impairments
• Go For It: A Book on Sports and Recreation for Persons with Disabilities
• Movement and Fundamental Motor Skills for Sensory Deprived Children
• Movement Without Sight: Physical Activities and Dance for the Visually Handicapped

How to Thrive, Not Just Survive: A Guide to Developing Independent Life Skills for Blind and Visually Impaired Children and Youth

R. M. Swallow & K. M. Heubner. Eds. (1987). American Foundation for the Blind, New York. 93 pp.

This book provides guidelines and strategies for helping blind and visually impaired children to develop, acquire and apply skills that are necessary for independence in socialization, orientation and mobility, and leisure time and recreational activities.

Subjects Covered:

• Daily living skills: Eating, toileting, dressing and undressing, motor development, learning to be independent, personal hygiene and grooming, choice and care of clothing, socially appropriate behavior, self-esteem, etiquette, home management, communication, learning through play, low-vision devices, sex education
• Orientation and mobility: Concepts, awareness of the environment, sensory training, travel techniques and devices
• Leisure and recreational activities: Elements of recreational education

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Independent Living: A Curriculum with Adaptations for Students with Visual Impairments. Volume III: Play and Leisure. 2nd Edition

R. Loumiet & N. Levack (1993). Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Austin. 175 pp.

This curriculum serves as a resource and guide for assessment, evaluation, and instruction of students with visual impairments. Each volume is divided into goals which represent the major components of play and leisure. Each goal contains skills that are sequenced into age groups. Information is also included on adapted materials and special methods that can be used to teach individuals who have visual impairments. Numerous general education books and instructional materials are listed with individual skills as resources for teaching ideas and activities. Procedures and forms are included for initial assessment of a student's level of competence and for on-going evaluation of the student's progress.

Subjects Covered:

• Management of leisure time
• Solitary play and leisure activities
• Social play and leisure activities
• Physical games and sports
• Enjoyment of pets and nature
• Music and dance
• Arts and crafts
• Reading, writing, speaking, and drama
• Science and technology

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Creative Recreation for Blind and Visually Impaired Adults

I. Ludwig, L. Luxton, & M. Attmore. (1988). American Foundation for the Blind, New York. 56pp.

This booklet offers information about a variety of recreational activities. Suggestions are included for hints for family members and friends for adapting favorite leisure activities. Specific recreational activities are listed with suggestions for adaptations for visually impaired persons.

Subjects Covered:

• Adaptations for recreational activities
• Physical fitness: Running, jogging, bicycling, exercise programs
• Sports: Bowling, skiing, swimming, canoeing, badminton, horses, orienteering, hiking
• Cultural activities
• At-home activities: Needlework, card games, crafts, cooking, home repair, technology, pets, gardening
• Sources of information

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Games for Individuals with Sensory Impairments: Strategies for Including People of All Ages

L. J. Lieberman & J. F. Cowart. (1996). Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL. 144 pp.

The activities offered in this book can all be presented to students who are sensory impaired with multiple disabilities within a regular physical education curriculum, or to adults with sensory impairments in any recreational setting. Part I focuses on program adaptations and instructional strategies for successful participation. Part II includes activities offered by physical education teachers experienced in working with students who are sensory impaired with multiple disabilities. These games address sport skills, physical and motor fitness, and fundamental motor patterns and skills.

Subjects Covered:

• Adapting and teaching games and activities: Adapting games and activities, Instructional strategies
• The Games: The Game Finder, games and activities

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Getting in Touch with Play: Creating Play Environments for Children with Visual Impairments

K. Blakely, M.A. Lang, R. Hart.(1991). The Lighthouse, Inc., New York. 44 pp.

The purpose of this manual is to offer design ideas that support more creative and satisfying play experiences for children who are blind or visually impaired as well as for children with full vision. It demonstrates how outdoor play environments can be designed to provide stimulating activities through the manipulation of play elements, the organization of play spaces, and input from adults.

Subjects Covered:

• Physical movement and play
• Fine motor activity and construction play with toys and loose materials
• Sensory play
• Socio-dramatic play
• General design considerations
• Some design considerations for younger children
• Examples of play environments that work well for children who are blind and visually impaired

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Go For It: A Book on Sports and Recreation for Persons with Disabilities

J. D. Kelley & L. Frieden, Eds. (1989). Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Orlando, FL. 236 pp.

This book describes many opportunities available to persons with disabilities from highly competitive athletic endeavors to casual games in neighborhood playgrounds, recreation centers, and sports clubs. Through pictures and print, the book encourages persons with disabilities to become active participants. It is designed to motivate and stress possibilities, not limitations. It describes what sports and recreation offer and how one might go about selecting an activity that fits individual needs and interests.

Subjects Covered:

• Team sports
• Individual sports
• Outdoor sports and recreation
• Aquatics
• Track and field
• Winter sports
• Dance
• Recreational games
• Fitness

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Movement and Fundamental Motor Skills for Sensory Deprived Children

L.E. Kratz, L.M. Tutt, & D.A. Black. (1987). Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, IL. 81 pp.

This book focuses on physical activity and fundamental motor skills for deafblind and visually impaired children.

Subjects Covered:

• Sensory impairment defined
• Early movement experiences
• The role of the physical education teacher
• Developmental theories related to educational approaches
• Motor skills development of deaf-blind and visually impaired children
• Service and delivery: The school, the parents and the Individual Educational Program

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Movement Without Sight: Physical Activities and Dance for the Visually Handicapped

L. E. Kratz. (1977). Peek Publications, Palo Alto, CA. 135 pp.

This book looks at the implications of movement for individuals without sight and gives information about teaching physical activity to children who are visually impaired.

Subjects Covered:

• Roles and definitions: Blindness defined, The role of relaxation, The role of posture and locomotion, The role of physical fitness, The role of the teacher.
• Special methods: Special methods in organization; Play, a developmental continuum; Individual activities; Stunts and self-testing; Special methods, rhythms and dance; Recreational and lifetime sports; Evaluation, motivation and testing

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Last Revision: July 30, 2002