The best practices for successful inclusion - Therapeutic Recreation - Cover Story

Inclusion should be a shared responsibility of general recreation and therapeutic recreation professionals.

The National Recreation and Park Association approved the Statement of Inclusion in 1999. How can professionals successfully include people with disabilities in community recreation programs? The answer seems to be that general recreation and therapeutic recreation professionals need to work together, instead of debating who has the responsibility for facilitating inclusion.

Although the recreation profession has begun to embrace the responsibility for inclusion of people with disabilities in community recreation programs, as is evident by NRPA's 1999 Statement of Inclusion, there have been ongoing challenges to this goal. Recreation professionals have faced barriers like perceived staff skill deficiencies, attitudes of staff, safety concerns and needs for behavioral management plans. In fact, Devine and Kotowski believe that the same problems have been identified as barriers to inclusion for at least 10 years.

Have there been successes with inclusion? Yes! What has been helpful in assisting with inclusion of people with disabilities into community recreation? "It has become clear that successful inclusion is only possible and sustainable when many key players work collaboratively in program design, implementation and ongoing monitoring of the process," Germ and Schleien wrote in 1997. Other authors have noted that the key to positive and successful inclusion is general recreation professionals and therapeutic recreation specialists working together.

Inclusion should be a shared responsibility of general recreation and therapeutic recreation professionals, not the sole responsibility of just one group. Each profession has skills and talents to help make inclusion work. It is through working together, or collaborating, that inclusion becomes successful and reduces the problems and barriers that have previously been identified. However, there has been little discussion as to what defines collaboration or how to collaborate.

What Do We Mean by Collaboration?

Collaboration is "a style for direct interaction between at least two coequal parties voluntarily engaged in shared decision making as they work toward a common goal," wrote Friend and Cook in 2000. According to these authors, collaboration has at least five defining characteristics:

1. Collaboration requires parity among participants. Each person collaborating has a contribution to make and that contribution is valued. Each person has equal power in decision-making.

2. Collaboration is based on mutual goods. There must be at least one common, shared goal. A goal might be designing appropriate programs for a participant, or supporting a participant to remain in a program.

3. Collaboration depends on shared responsibility. "Shared participation in task completion does not imply that the individuals must divide tasks equally or participate fully in each task required to achieve their goal. In fact, participation in the activity often involves a convenient division of labor."

4. Collaboration includes sharing. Poolingresources insures that the best resources are available to meet the goals.

5. Collaboration implies shared accountability for outcomes. "Whether the results of collaboration are positive or negative, all the participating individuals are accountable for the outcome."

Learning to Collaborate

Collaboration between general recreation and therapeutic recreation professionals is the key and best practice for successful inclusion of people with disabilities into community recreation programs. For this to happen on a regular basis, the recreation profession can no longer debate who is responsible for facilitating inclusion in community programs. The simple answer is that both the general recreation professional and the therapeutic recreation professional are needed. Success is achieved when we work together.

Although the solution appears obvious, general recreation and therapeutic recreation professionals have not necessarily been trained to work together or collaborate. At a session on collaboration at the 2000 Midwest Symposium on Therapeutic Recreation, a group of professionals was asked to describe if and how they collaborate to provide inclusive community recreation services to people with disabilities. Most could describe activities identified in the collaboration models discussed in the education literature.

When asked how they learned the skills needed to collaborate, the professionals responded that they were learned on the job. They said they were not taught the skills in their university programs.

If collaboration is critical for successful community inclusion, practitioners and students will need to be taught these skills. Workshops and conference sessions on the topic are necessary. Even more critical, however, will be the inclusion of collaboration definitions, characteristics and models into recreation and therapeutic recreation college curricula. Projects and assignments that focus on collaboration should be designed so general recreation and therapeutic recreation students have opportunities to practice skills that will be needed to include people with disabilities in community recreation programs. Through educational opportunities, students will learn that collaboration is necessary for successful inclusion.

Collaboration in Practice

Mrs. Li enrolled her 6-year-old son Jin in a park district "Learn to Swim" program. On the registration form she indicated that Jin has autism and will need a one-to-one assistant to be successful in the program. The aquatic staff have very little experience working with someone who has autism. The supervisor contacts a therapeutic recreation specialist to train the aquatic staff on what autism is and how best to work with someone who has autism. The therapeutic recreation specialist also helps train the person who will be Jin's one-to-one assistant.

Collaboration in Practice

Mandy is a 10-year-old girl who loves nature activities. Mandy's father registered her for a park district nature camp. Mandy has obsessive-compulsive disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and attention deficit disorder. Mandy's behaviors are such that the camp counselors don't know what to do. Mandy steals food from the other campers' lunch bags, she wanders away at swimming to watch whatever happens to catch her eye, and she runs away when she is being disciplined. The camp supervisor contacts a therapeutic recreation specialist to help identify ways to work with Mandy. The therapeutic recreation specialist meets with the counselors and Mandy's father to come up with suggestions on ways to help Mandy be successful in camp. The camp staff describes the activities that take place in camp, and the therapeutic recreation specialist provides suggestions on ways to work with Mandy in these activities. The therapeutic recreation specialist comes to camp several times to talk with camp staff to see how Mandy is doing. The therapeutic recreation specialist is available if the camp staff have any additional questions.

Moving Forward to Seamless Inclusion

It is well known that organized recreation for people with special needs in the United States grew out of social concerns created by the Industrial Revolution. Smith, Austin and Kennedy wrote that as time progressed and community recreation and parks departments attempted to meet everyone's recreation needs, the concerns for people with special needs were lost in the central focus of service. Ultimately, therapeutic recreation came to be seen as the primary recreation service provider for people with disabilities, whether the people were in hospitals or in the community.

With the passing of the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, parks and recreation agencies receiving federal funds were required to make their programs, services and activities more accessible for people with disabilities. Integration, as the process was called at the time, began to receive attention from the profession and arguments were made that general recreation professionals, not therapeutic recreation professionals, should be more responsible for providing community recreation services to people with disabilities.

In 1990, the more extensive Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) affected most recreation agencies and not just those that received federal funding. Inclusion became the focus of the profession's attention. Inclusion is used to describe the acceptance and involvement of people with disabilities in general community recreation programs. Again, general recreation professionals, not therapeutic recreation professionals, are responsible for providing community recreation services to people with disabilities.

ANNUAL NRPA

CONGRESS INTERNSHIP

National Recreation and Park Association Ashburn, Virginia *Stipend: $200/week

Become an integral part of the 2002 NRPA Congress in Tampa, Florida, October 15 - 19, 2002 and experience behind-the-scenes operations of the premier conference for parks and recreation by working as the Annual NRPA Congress Intern!

Duties and responsibilities include:

* working with the assistant director on a variety of administrative tasks;

* hands on experience with finalizing the Congress printed program;

* coordination of session speakers; working with state affiliate associations to compile and design NRPA Training Calendar;

* general trouble shooting on-site;

* management of audio-visual needs;

* and on-site management of the Program Office and speaker registration.

Must be attending school full time or recently graduated and be recommended by the university's parks and recreation department chairperson.

Must demonstrate excellent communication skills and be available from the end of August through the end of November (12 weeks). Experience with PageMaker and MS Publisher helpful.

Must be able to locate to the NRPA Headquarters in Ashburn, Virginia for duration of internship.

Stipend: $200/week plus paid travel expenses to Congress.

CLOSING DATE: Open until filled.

CONTACT: Send, fax or E-mail your resume and a two-page typed paper on your personal philosophy of recreation to Michelle Herrera, CPRP, Assistant Director, NRPA, 22377 Belmont Ridge Road, Ashburn, VA 20148. Phone: 703-858-2152; Fax: 705-858-0794; E-mail: mherrera@nrpa.org

SWIMMING POOL OPERATOR PENN STATE

Perform minor repairs and adjustments to motors, valves, filters, and chemical systems of the swimming pools. Conduct periodic tests to analyze chemical content of pool water. Maintain proper acidity-alkalinity balance of water. Inventory supplies and equipment. Collect water samples and send to Chemical Laboratory. Perform backwashing operations when necessary. Maintain daily records of chemicals used, amount of water added to pools and bather load, also inventory of chemical supplied, laundry inventories, and room and water temperature. Assure that instructional equipment is at hand and in proper working order. Accompany State Sanitary Inspectors during inspection and follow through with suggested changes. Direct the work of part-time employees. Adjust heating, ventilating and shower systems. Operate laundry machines. Operate and direct the operation of cash registers and the auditing procedures of the daily accounts. Set up and dismantle competitive swimming equipment. Drive University vehicle. Requires the use basic mathematics including decimals and fractions; simple use of charts, tables, drawings, specifications, and schedules together with the use of adjustable measuring instruments requiring interpretation and posting, preparation, use and checking of reports, forms, and records; plus 1 year of effective experience. SHIFT: 2:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.

Send cover letter and resume to: Employment & Compensation Division, Pos #: P-12862, 120 S. Burrowes St., University Park, PA 16801, or FAX to (814) 865-3750. Resumes accepted until position filled. AA/EOE

The Many Faces of Collaboration

Collaboration is identified as the cornerstone of inclusion in education. It has been through general and special educators working together that inclusion has been successful in schools. The education and special education literature was therefore reviewed to identify collaboration models.

WORKING AS A TEAM

A collaborative team includes the professionals who are involved with the client, the client's parents or guardian, and the client. The team should meet on a regular basis. Although they collaborate, all of the staff may not actually be involved in implementing the inclusion plan. For example, some professionals may assess a client and not actually work with the client. Teams are used because through groups, greater knowledge, wider experiences and with more approaches to problems are available than just one person working alone.

TWO IS BETTER THAN ONE

Two or more professionals can provide instruction in a single space. Typically both the general and the special educator are involved. It could be that one is teaching and one is assisting. Sometimes a paraprofessional or aide assists instead of the special educator.

WORKING WITH A CONSULTANT

In this case, the special educator is the service provider to the professional, who is directly responsible for the client. The special educator seldom works directly with the client, except for assessments or to demonstrate a strategy. The special educator may provide ideas for instructional modification or behavior modification, check in periodically to see how things are going, and be available if the professional needs assistance or help. In consultation, the special educator often provides an indirect service to the client and a direct service to the professional.

THE PROFESSIONAL AS STUDENT

A special educator can provide in-services and training for general professionals. The special educator may also train and supervise paraprofessionals or aides.

THE PROFESSIONAL GETS A COACH

The special educator can act as a coach and provide on-site personal support and technical assistance to the general professional. The coach models and demonstrates skills. The general professional practices the skills with the coach observing. The coach then provides structured feedback on how the professional performed the skill.

Sandra Wolf Klitzing, Ph.D., CTRS, is assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology and Recreation at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. Read her article, "Best Practices for Successful Inclusion" on page 60.

COPYRIGHT 2002 National Recreation and Park Association
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