As the first step of an instrument development, teaching challenges that occur when students with autism spectrum disorders are educated in general physical education were elicited using Goldfried and D’Zurilla’s (1969) behavioral-analytic model. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 43 certified physical educators (29 women and 14 men) using a demographic questionnaire and an elicitation questionnaire. Participants listed 225 teaching challenges, 46% related to cooperative, 31% to competitive, and 24% to individualistic learning situations. Teaching challenges were categorized into nine themes: inattentive and hyperactive behaviors, social impairment, emotional regulation difficulties, difficulties understanding and performing tasks, narrow focus and inflexible adherence to routines and structure, isolation by classmates, negative effects on classmates’ learning, and need for support.

Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991) was used to elicit salient behavioral, normative, and control beliefs of children without disabilities toward playing with a hypothetical peer with a disability in general physical education. Participants were 350 elementary and middle school students who completed two questionnaires. Questionnaires were assessed for content validity. Participants provided more affective (68%) than instrumental (32%) responses for favorable behavioral beliefs and more instrumental (76%) than affective (24%) responses for unfavorable beliefs. Peer social pressure was prevalent in favorable (69%) and unfavorable (99%) responses. Social pressure significantly varied across five grades, χ2(4, N = 448) = 40.51, p < .01. Participants responded many factors in the class would positively (76%) or negatively (89%) influence the behavior.

Acknowledging and understanding parental perceptions and experiences surrounding physical activity (PA) is crucial to promoting participation in PA for children with visual impairments (VI) given that parents strongly influence their children's participation in physical activities. The purpose of this study was to understand parents' perceptions regarding PA experiences for their family and children with VI. Participants in this study were parents of children with VI (N = 10) who took part in one-on-one semi-structured phone interviews that were transcribed and then analyzed through a thematic line-by-line analysis. Two themes emerged from the analysis of the data: (1) Health, Social, and Psychological Benefits and (2) Multifaceted Barriers. The parents in this study valued PA and had high PA expectations for their children; however, they struggled to overcome multiple barriers-most notably their limited ability to motivate their children to be physically active.

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