PE - Support for schools and settings

Strategies for teaching PE to a child or young person with a visual impairment

General points to consider

Give clear verbal descriptions and explanations.
Use child or young person’s name before giving instructions.
Familiarise child or young person with layout of PE department, both indoor and outdoor, arrangements for changing and care and storage of equipment.
From an early age, teach the child to be methodical when changing for PE. Ensure clothes are left the right way out, that socks are paired with shoes. Using a box to keep clothes together is helpful in the primary school. Ensure that the whole class places clothes and shoes away from any walkways to avoid trip hazards.
Encourage independence so child or young person doesn’t become over-reliant on help and assistance.
Show child or young person the safest routes to and from different areas.
Always keep verbal contact with child or young person.
Lighting conditions match the need of child or young person.
When explaining team sports, don’t assume that the child or young person has understood. Discreetly check their understanding of the rules. Pre teach rules if needed
Break new skills into smaller steps
Be aware of background noise and how it can echo in a large gymnasium, and bring the child or young person closer to you if necessary.
Always look at the situation from the student’s perspective.
Check: Is there a better position for the student to see you? If they see better in one eye, try standing on that side to demonstrate a task.
Position yourself with the sun in front of you.
Consider health and safety aspects such as obstacles or different types of terrain. Imagine what it feels like under-foot.

Athletics

Ensure that equipment is attended and not left lying around where it could present a hazard.
Large open space may disorientate a child or young person so consider adding reference points or landmarks to support independent orientation.
Inform or mark the location of any obstacle, e.g. goal posts, in open areas.
Clearly mark lanes and throwing areas. Make child or young person is aware of any raised edges.
Bright sunlight, dark days and fluctuating lighting may alter the child and young person’s functional vision. A cap or sunglasses may be required.
The use of a tether for running is a skill that has to be learned. Sight Scotland have a useful guide to running which can be accessed using the following link: An introduction to guided running with people with visual impairment | Sight Scotland

Dance

Establish a clear well-defined area.
Inform others discreetly that a child or young person with a visual impairment may not be able to see and react to others who are moving quickly.

Football

Avoid tackling where possible and use 1m zoning.
Ground-only passing along with verbal descriptions.
Choose a bright ball – yellow or orange (not white). Consider using a bell ball.
Child or young person may prefer to in play midfield position.

Games

Consider participation of fast moving team games, small games situations involving 4-5 players maybe more appropriate.
Areas of play must be well defined and the child or young person made aware of them.
The ball be used must be clearly visible and/or audible.
Posts such as goal posts should be well contrasted.
Make it easy for players to differentiate between opposing sides by using bibs/tops of contrasting colours.

Gymnastics

Equipment should always be stored in the same place.
Ensure storage areas are kept tidy.
Small apparatus must be contained and not left around where it can present a hazard.
Child or young person should be orientated around the equipment first and made aware of potential hazards, both on the floor and at head height.
When climbing, child or young person need to realise how high they have climbed and reminded to descend with care.

Hockey

Use brightly coloured balls/pucks.
Opponents should wear bibs so child or you person knows who is on team.
Place child or young person in a passing/receiving position.

Netball

Use 1m zoning to ensure child or young person always has physical space around them
Use an orange or yellow ball for high contrast.
Child or young person to play positions of goalkeeper or goal shooter only – stay in a zone circle area.
Verbal descriptions to be used when someone is passing the ball.
Defending players should only shadow child or young person and not compete for the ball. Arms should be kept down.
Use highly contrasting colours for bibs (for example, avoid pink and purple).
Use names as child or young person may not be able to see numbers.

Outdoor pursuits

Outdoor pursuits in unfamiliar surroundings may disorientate the child or young person, undermining their confidence. With appropriate support the child or young person will be able to succeed in a range of outdoor activities including abseiling, canoeing and surfing.

Rounders

When child or young person with vision impairment is batting, balls need to be bowled underarm.
Bowlers need to say when they are throwing the ball (e.g. “now”).
Use orange or yellow balls.
Provide the option of a tennis racquet to bat with.
Child or young person may prefer to hit the ball placed on top of a tall cone,(at the start point, then run

Swimming

Ensure child or young person are aware of changing room layout, the route to the pool and the pool layout, including steps. Point out changes in the floor texture leading to the pool and the edge of the pool.
Clear emergency signals and procedures are needed.
Verbal commands may not be easily understood in the pool where voices can distorted by echoes. Practise dialogue in the pool to familiarise the child or young person with the sound distortions.
Where possible lane off an area of the pool for the child or young person to work in. Establish a method of making the child or young person aware of the end of the pool e.g. use a caller or bell.

Child or young person with additional disabilities

Use music to encourage movement.
Join in alongside the child or young person, showing examples of the movements required. But stand back at times to let the child or young person learn through their own experiences.
Repeat activities. It may take weeks or even months for the child or young person to begin to participate and learn through organised activities.

Supporting success

Success criteria: every time pupil the hits it a point is scored, change area have to hit it to, a shot towards goal counts as a point
Task to achieve: overhead clear rally to hand feed and can you get it into a hoop, pass a shorter distance to a larger area
Skill to achieve: change overhead clear to working on serve and getting it to partner, change volley to side footed pass

Adaptions to PE equipment

Use sports equipment may need sound, for example balls with bells in.
Use balloons, as they move more slowly, to encourage throwing and catching skills
Mark out tracks and fields with tactile markers or black on yellow stripe tape and string.
Enlarge signs to font size 36 and above.
Use texture on equipment to make the equipment accessible.
Think about making things big, bright and bold. Consider the colour and contrast of the equipment and avoid, for example, green markers on grass.
Consider altering the size of equipment: shorter rackets, larger head, larger ball or shuttle, lower net, bigger or smaller goals
Consider the colour of equipment: racket head and shaft, ball or shuttle, teacher or opposition can wear brightly coloured or contrasting bib
Use lighter, slower shuttle or ball and racket or increase weight to get feeling
Consider the type of equipment: sponge ball, different bat, balloon inside cloth covering

Modified equipment

There are a variety of balls with bells inside that can be purchased from online and from RNIB. Sports | RNIB

The following link is to yellow foam tennis balls with a jingling bell inside. These balls are great for VI tennis, they’re very good for starting out in table tennis and they also work well as play balls for children. Blind Tennis Balls | RNIB

Cricket ball (with ball bearings).These cricket balls contain ball bearings inside to help players locate them during the game. They can also be used for baseball, rounders or just playing catch. They produce a loud noise and are great for working on auditory skills. Just be careful though as they’re very hard!

B1 football size 3 (with bell) & size 5. These footballs produce a fairly loud noise, making them easier to track. They are useful for B1 football. They are also very useful in mainstream lessons to help children and young people with vision impairment track the ball.

Rugby ball (with bells). The bells in this are good for giving an auditory cue of where the thrower is and help with tracking movement of the ball.

Hi vis shuttlecocks: Sports Equipment and Sportswear Online Store (newitts.com)

Giant Shuttle – PE Equipment from Early Years Resources UK

Useful signposting

British Blind Sport has useful advice that supports participation: Use the following link: https://britishblindsport.org.uk/sport-and-coaching-resources
Your School Games – Free Activity Resources
RNIB Shop for modified equipment: https://shop.rnib.org.uk/leisure/sports
Goalball: https://goalballuk.com
Profiles of Paralympics athletes competing for GB: ParalympicsGB | Athletes
Sight Advice: Sight Advice FAQ | What sports can children with vision impairment do?
Activity Alliance: Activity cards cater for all age groups and school development stages, for example Foundation to Key Stage 4 in England. With 25 games and activities across five different categories there’s plenty of choice for teachers and pupils. The categories include warm up games, fundamental skills, striking and fielding skills, invasion games, and net court, and wall games. These can be downloaded using the following link: https://www.activityalliance.org.uk/how-we-help/resources/7053-inclusive-pe-activity-cards
Modified exam past papers available via the following link: https://www.jcq.org.uk/examination-system/past-papers/
RNIB Bookshare for all revision guides Revision Guides Hub.

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