Bracing and orthotic management for children with disabilities is often overlooked in physical education. Orthotics may be defined as custom-made devices that are fabricated to address musculoskeletal deformities, deficits, or discrepancies, while attempting to increase function or regain mobility of a specific musculoskeletal structure.

Orthotic wearing schedules, maintenance, and compliance are among some of the most important components leading to successful orthotic interventions or treatment plans. Physicians, orthotists, and therapists work diligently to select the most appropriate orthotic device for a child while considering his or her diagnosis, physical limitations, level of cognition, gait abnormalities, range of motion (ROM), skin sensitivities, and environmental factors. Because children wearing orthotic devices spend most of their time in school settings, it is important for adapted physical educators to understand the basic components of orthotic management in order to meet treatment goals, increase physical function, and most importantly to ensure the safety of the child.

Wearing Schedules

Typically, orthotic braces are prescribed to maintain alignment, prevent further deformity, and facilitate independence during functional activities. Orthotists and therapists generally instruct orthotic patients to wear the device during all physical activities, and recommend disuse of the orthosis during several activities of daily living such as bathing and sleeping. Adapted physical educators should keep the following factors in mind when working with special needs students who wear custom-made orthotics:

Bracing and orthotic management for children with disabilities is often overlooked in physical education. Orthotics may be defined as custom-made devices that are fabricated to address musculoskeletal deformities, deficits, or discrepancies, while attempting to increase function or regain mobility of a specific musculoskeletal structure.

Orthotic wearing schedules, maintenance, and compliance are among some of the most important components leading to successful orthotic interventions or treatment plans. Physicians, orthotists, and therapists work diligently to select the most appropriate orthotic device for a child while considering his or her diagnosis, physical limitations, level of cognition, gait abnormalities, range of motion (ROM), skin sensitivities, and environmental factors. Because children wearing orthotic devices spend most of their time in school settings, it is important for adapted physical educators to understand the basic components of orthotic management in order to meet treatment goals, increase physical function, and most importantly to ensure the safety of the child.

Wearing Schedules

Regular or adapted physical education teachers, physical therapists, and occupational therapists could all use Special Olympic (SO) lead-up skills as objectives for children with disabilities IEPs.

Linking movement skills to Special Olympics offers the following benefits:

1. Extends teacher instructional knowledge toward teaching sports to children with disabilities;
2. Links skills to functional activities;
3. Helps develop basic skills for more successful participation and inclusion in team sports;
4. SO offers life-long sports opportunities. By law ISDs must make a plan and IEP objectives will help prepare children with disabilities for life after school that includes recreation. Adapted PE, PE, PT, and OT starting at age 12 to graduation (21 years old need) must prepare them for continued physical activities;
5. SO competition offers a chance to highlight the athlete’s achievements to friends, family, teachers, and volunteers; and
6. The SO event (opening ceremony, competition, awards, food, dance) is a great avenue for everyone involved to congregate in a fun way, express joy, love, and care toward each other as we celebrate with the athletes.

The Individual Skills Competition (ISC) events for various sports, allow the athlete to practice important fundamental skills that ultimately lead up to organized sporting events. In the complete document attached to this introduction that you are invited to download, we share our experience having presented 10 sports each having several lead-up skills to perform. We have shared several Individual Education Program (IEP) objectives for each sport. Note that, some of the IEP objectives are lead-up components to the ISC, meaning that some SO athletes cannot perform all the skills needed to finish the event. For example, in swimming, athletes are expected to swim a distance of 15 meters. But perhaps we have a student, “Jo” who has Cerebral Palsy and can only swim 10 meters before getting fatigued and unable to finish the race. In this case, Jo’s objective might be to increase his distance by perhaps 20%, 2 out of 3 times. Jo is then working toward finishing the race. Every athlete will have unique abilities and the IEP objectives should reflect where progress and improvement is needed and can realistically be achieved.