The Study
Three educators worked together to devise a physical education curriculum for preschool students to help teachers and schools meet the provisions called for in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 (IDEA) and its 1991 amendments,. Gail M. Dummer, professor of kinesiology at Michigan State University, Fiona J. Connor-Kuntz, assistant professor of physical education at Indiana University-Purdue University Schools at Indianapolis, and Jacqueline D. Goodway, assistant professor of health and human performance at the University of Houston, designed the curriculum to facilitate the motor development of both typical developing preschool children and preschool children with disabilities.

The Findings
This curriculum works to meet three specific educational needs of preschool children: motor development, age-appropriate functional skills, and integrating children with or without disabilities. To achieve the motor development objectives, the curriculum highlights 47 body management skills and 22 fundamental motor skills. For example, one objective in dance is to demonstrate the ability to "imitate or create movements during dance activities," which shows developing body management skills. To make this curriculum functional for the children, activities were included only if they met certain criteria, such as activities used in daily living or prerequisites to daily living skills. Lastly, the curriculum ensures integration of students with or without disabilities by representing skill areas rather than specific ways of accomplishing a skill. Most preschool children, including those with disabilities, will be able to perform the movement skills from this curriculum in the usual manner, but for those who cannot, these activities can be modified to meet their needs.

What It Means to You
Schools and centers that choose to use this curriculum as a starting point should set priorities based on input from parents, teachers, administrators and community leaders. Teachers can then select program objectives, taking into account the ages of the children taught, estimates of instructional time needed to meet these objectives and the actual instructional time available. The resulting physical education program will not include all objectives for the curriculum, but it will reflect selected high-priority objectives that mirror community values and individual needs, giving students a head start on an active, healthy lifestyle.

More Information
To read further about these preschool physical education curriculum guidelines, consult Dummer, G. M., Connor-Kuntz, F. J., and Goodway, J. D., "A Physical Education Curriculum for All Preschool Students," Teaching Exceptional Children, Spring 1995, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp.28-34.

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