Educators in Norridge say an innovative approach to teaching physical education to high school students with special needs also is serving to inspire their peers.
The Adapted PE course at Ridgewood Community High School is part of a special education component known as “LIFE,” a generic acronym for “Learning Is For Everyone.”
The class pairs each special ed student with one or two peer tutors from the general education population of the 850-student school.
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“We encourage our student tutors to think outside the box, to be creative and come up with different activities for the LIFE students,” Ridgewood Special Education Teacher Karen Patino said. “We ask them to create their own lessons to make an activity accessible to the other students.”
It can begin with something as simple as escorting the Special Ed students to walk around the gym or track, she said.
“Some of the students who are in wheelchairs might be helped to get out of the chair and stretch their bodies,” Special Education Teacher Gina Cholewa said. “We use workout equipment as well. But if a student can only use their legs or their arms, that’s how we’ll use the equipment.”
Located at 7500 West Montrose Avenue, Ridgewood is the only school in District 234, which covers a 2.68-square-mile area comprising most of Norridge and small sections of Harwood Heights and Chicago.
The LIFE program at the school is administered through the Leyden Area Special Education Cooperative (LASEC), a Franklin Park-based nonprofit that guides member school districts Rosemont D-78, Pennoyer D-79, Mannheim D-83, Franklin Park D-84, Rhodes D-84.5, River Grove D-85.5, Union Ridge D-86, Leyden D-212, Ridgewood D-234 and Elmwood Park D-401.
“Our program serves many different students with many disabilities,” Patino said. “Currently, we have about 12 students from our general education population who are helping nine LIFE students.”
Cholewa said most of the peer tutors volunteer to help with Adapted PE class because “some of them hope to be teachers one day or get into the education field.”
Patino said she was a peer tutor for Special Ed when she herself was a student at Lane Tech High School.
“I took the Adapted PE course,” she said. “It was through that experience that I decided to become a Special Ed teacher. That was because of little small moments, seeing what students were able to do and to make things acceptable for them.”
Another Adapted PE activity at Ridgewood is kickball.
“That one can be a lot of fun for many of the students,” Cholewa said. “Instead of using a regular-sized kickball, we use a really big one so that our visually-impaired students can see it a little better.”
According to Ridgewood Principal Gina Castellano, “The LIFE parents give us great feedback. They really love the program and are excited that the students are integrated into the general education population with their same-age peers.
“Through the LIFE program and our Adapted PE course, we have been creating a more accepting and inclusive school climate for students with and without intellectual disabilities.”