Every community and school should have accessible playgrounds and naturally integrated play areas. Your neighborhood, parks department or school district may already be planning, building and updating playgrounds so they can be enjoyed by children with physical disabilities, developmental delays or other special needs, alongside their mainstream peers.
What can you do to provide these options for children in your community? Existing school and neighborhood playgrounds can often be adapted so they are safe and accessible for all children, with only a bit more effort and cost than would be spent for regular annual maintenance or improvements.
Where children of varying ability, age and size have been considered in playground design, most issues related to crawling and climbing by children using wheelchairs for access to the equipment have already been addressed.
Many of the reasonable and quite simple accommodations that have been developed for children with special needs already benefit and are enjoyed by their mainstream peers. Every child deserves public play areas that are both challenging and fun - and when well planned, the natural integration that results can help us build inclusive communities from the first years of our children's lives.
Accessible Designs in Playgrounds and Play Areas
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art51609.asp
Inclusive P.E. for Children with Special Needs
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art46155.asp
Recess Skills for Children with Special Needs
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art432.asp
Home Accessibility and Visitability for
Families of Children with Special Needs
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art37751.asp
Universal Design for Learning - Access to General Education Curriculum
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art50363.asp
Finding Strollers Walkers and Wheelchairs for Children
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art9507.asp
Is Diversity Like A New Box of Crayons?
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art5144.asp
Inclusion of Children with Disabilities Benefits Classmates
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art6157.asp
Dolls for Children with Special Needs
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art51720.asp
Back to School with Diabetes
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art52832.asp
Exploring and Designing Technology Solutions for Today's Educational Needs and
Children with Learning Differences
http://www.ashleysmom.com/index.html
National PTA - Rescuing Recess
Recess kits, grants and support for funding playground equipment, volunteer programs and research studies
http://www.pta.org
Dr. Mac's Amazing Behavior Management Advice Site for Teachers - Thomas McIntyre
http://www.behavioradvisor.com
The Behavior Survival Guide for Kids by Thomas McIntyre
Search Amazon.com or your local bookstore for books related to play areas and playground design:
Recess Games
Teaching by Design - Using Your Computer to Create Materials for Students with Learning Differences
Teaching Conversation to Children with Autism - Scripts and Script Fading
Preschool Toys and Games
Toddler Toys and Games
