The purpose of this article was to review published research literature on physical activity for school-age individuals with visual impairments by describing study characteristics and major findings. Keyword searches were used to identify articles from electronic databases published from 1982 to June 2013. Eighteen articles met all inclusion criteria, and relevant data such as participants, visual-impairment levels, theory, measurement, and dependent variables were extracted from them. Of the 18 studies, 5 were descriptive, 6 correlational, and 7 were interventions. Only 4 studies explicitly stated a theoretical or conceptual framework. Major findings suggest that low physical activity levels of school-age individuals with visual impairments may be related to perceived participation barriers including the availability of appropriate opportunities rather than visual acuity or educational setting.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of an after school physical activity intervention on adolescents with visual impairments within the context of Social Cognitive Theory. Four adolescents with visual impairments (1 female, 3 males) between 14 and 19 years of age from a residential school for the blind served as participants. We used a range-bound changing criterion single-subject design. Physical activity was measured using ActiGraph accelerometers. Questionnaires were used to obtain information on selected social cognitive theory constructs. Results show that the intervention exerted functional control over the target behaviors (e.g., leisure-time physical activity) during intervention phases. Similarly, changes in scores for selected social cognitive constructs, in particular for outcome expectancy value, suggest a positive relationship between those constructs and physical activity behavior. No maintenance effects were observed.

This paper reports both the contents and key developmental activities of Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly over its second decade of publication (1994-2003). The first section describes the contents of Volumes 11-20 relative to the number of articles by journal section, science area, disability category, and country. These data are compared to selected data reported for the journal’s first decade (1984-1993) of publication by Reid and Broadhead (1995). The second section describes developmental activities pertaining to enhancing the journal’s international quality through selected writings, impact factor recognition, editorial board membership, and guest reviewer database development.

This study compared physical education and recess physical activity levels of elementary school age students with mild mental retardation (MR) and students without disabilities who possessed either high or low cardiorespiratory fitness. For this study, the System for Observing Fitness Instructional Time (SOFIT), a measure of physical activity, was validated for students with mild MR. A significant difference for moderate to vigorous physical activity was obtained between settings. Findings suggest that students with MR and those without disabilities were more active during recess than during physical education. Students with mild MR and those with low cardiorespiratory fitness performed similarly in both the physical education and recess settings.