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Adapted Physical Education Specialists

Provide individualized physical education instruction or services to children, youth, or adults with exceptional physical needs due to gross motor developmental delays or other impairments.

What you’d do

  • Provide adapted physical education services to students with intellectual disabilities, autism, traumatic brain injury, orthopedic impairments, or other disabling condition.
  • Provide students positive feedback to encourage them and help them develop an appreciation for physical education.
  • Provide individual or small groups of students with adapted physical education instruction that meets desired physical needs or goals.
  • Instruct students, using adapted physical education techniques, to improve physical fitness, gross motor skills, perceptual motor skills, or sports and game achievement.
  • Write reports to summarize student performance, social growth, or physical development.
  • Evaluate the motor needs of individual students to determine their need for adapted physical education services.
  • Establish and maintain standards of behavior to create safe, orderly, and effective environments for learning.
  • Collaborate with other educational personnel to provide inclusive activities or programs for children with disabilities.

Skills that matter

  • Instructing
  • Active Listening
  • Learning Strategies
  • Social Perceptiveness
  • Speaking
  • Active Learning

How to get there

Considerable preparation: most need a four-year bachelor's degree

Also called

  • Adapted Physical Educator
  • APE Consultant (Adapted Physical Education Consultant)
  • APE Teacher (Adapted Physical Education Teacher)
  • PE Teacher (Physical Education Teacher)
  • Adapted Aquatics Instructor
  • Adapted Physical Activity Specialist
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