How can you modify your sessions to be inclusive?
You will be doing much of this already in the nursery, but you can apply the TREE Principle to help you modify activities/ drills
T – Teaching style
R – Rules
E – Equipment
E – Environment
T – Teaching Style
- Verbal/ Visual Cues – White board to write / draw drill / game / flags.
- Slow down communication.
- Model behaviour – with buddy system or Coach demonstration – allowing players follow another player or coach.
- Allow time for player to perform drill / activity – allow time for them to work it out themselves.
- Encourage players to explore their own way.
- All player to develop and build confidence on skill they they find easier to acquire – bouncing.
R – Rules
- Modify drill to make skill easier or harder. In the nursery, drills progress, if the child is not ready to progress, revert back to prior drill.
- Modify rules, e.g. allow extra bounce of ball, play an extra player (with consent of opposing team).
E – Equipment
- Use larger, smaller, tactile, foam, different shape, bright or noisy balls, use beanbags, lighter, bigger, smaller hurls or tennis racket to modify the drill.
- Change the ball to speed up or slow down the game or drill (catching a balloon may be easier than a football), change ball or beanbag to alter ease of grip, brighter or noisy ball for those with visual impairment.
- Colour code cones in drill.
E – Environment
- Increase or decrease the playing size by moving cones closer or further apart.
- Adding zones – to create space/ time for weaker players, smaller zones to challenge stronger players.
- Alter shape of playing area- circles, squares, triangle to challenge the team.
The success of our club is due to our amazing volunteers who selflessly give up so much time to coach and volunteer. It is important that everyone plays a part. If your child has a disability, it can be particularly important that you are present, but not always with your child. Coaches are keen to modify their coaching, but do not know how. As a parent, you can model coaching behaviour, educate coaches and play a big part in normalising disability – reducing fear and showing people how to look past a disability and see the individual.
It is often better that the parent of a child with a disability is an additional coach, rather than running a station, so that they have more flexibility.
If your child struggles in the nursery, sometimes it’s a case of taking a break, sticking with it, coming along and doing what you can, coming early to allow your child to settle in, coming later, or coming along to our Specialised session – Friday Sports Club at 4–5pm on Fridays.
As a manager, if you see a parent or child struggling, ask if something can be done to make it easier, reach out to managers of other teams who have experience and contact your Healthy Club Officer who is responsible for Diversity and Inclusion.
As a parent with a child with additional needs, please advocate for your child. Educate all the parents around on how to communicate with your child and how to get the best out of them. People are only too happy to help, they just may not know what to do.
We are interested in the reasons why people with disabilities do or do not take part in sport and physical activity in our club. If there is something that stops you or your child from taking part in our club, please let us know.