The purpose of the review is to critically analyze English-written research articles pertaining to inclusion of students with disabilities in physical education published in professional journals both within and outside of the United States from 1995-2005. Each study included in this review had to meet seven a priori criteria. Findings of the 38 selected studies were divided into six focus areas: (a) support, (b) affects on peers without disabilities, (c) attitudes and intentions of children without disabilities, (d) social interactions, (e) ALT-PE of students with disabilities, and (f) training and attitudes of GPE teachers. Recommendations for future practice and research are embedded throughout the article.

This paper describes the development and validation of the Children’s Attitudes Toward Integrated Physical Education–Revised (CAIPE-R) inventory, an inventory designed to assess attitudes of children without disabilities toward including peers with disabilities in regular physical education. The CAIPE–R inventory includes a description of a student with disabilities, followed by seven statements regarding including a child with disabilities in regular physical education and five statements regarding specific adaptations to a team sport that would foster inclusion. Users respond to each statement on a 4-point Likert scale. Construct validity using factor analysis, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability was determined on a sample of 44 sixth graders. The CAIPE was revised (CAIPE-R) and given to a second set of subjects (n = 208). Results indicated that the CAIPE-R was a valid and reliable instrument for measuring attitudes of children without disabilities toward including children with disabilities in physical education. Preliminary data on children’s attitudes toward including a student with disabilities in regular physical education are also presented.

The purpose was to validate a self-efficacy (SE) instrument toward including students with disability in physical education (PE). Three scales referring to intellectual disabilities (ID), physical disabilities (PD), or visual impairments (VI) were administered to 486 physical education teacher education (PETE) majors. The sample was randomly split, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA, respectively) were conducted. After deleting items that did not meet inclusion criteria, EFA item loadings ranged from 0.53 to 0.91, and Cronbach’s alpha reliability was high (for ID = .86, PD = .90, and VI = .92). CFA showed that the ID scale demonstrated good goodness-of-fit, whereas in the PD and in the VI scales demonstrated moderate fit. Thus, the content and construct validity of the instrument was supported.

This study assessed the effect of peer tutoring on physical, instructional, and social interaction behaviors between elementary school age students with severe and multiple disabilities (SMD) and peers without disabilities. Additional measures addressed the activity time of students with SMD. The study was conducted in inclusive general physical education settings under three instructional support conditions for students with SMD: (a) teacher-directed, (b) peer-mediated, and (c) voluntary peer support. During peer-mediated and voluntary peer support conditions, the instructional and physical interaction behaviors between students with SMD and their peers increased, while social interactions remained low. The activity engagement time data increased for all target students throughout intervention sessions. Interactions between students with SMD and teachers decreased toward the end of intervention.

The purpose of this study was to measure the impact of including three 6th-grade students with severe disabilities who were given support services into a regular physical education class. Basketball skill improvement in passing, shooting, and dribbling during a 3-1/2-week basketball unit and attitudes toward students with disabilities were compared between a 6th-grade class that included 3 students with severe disabilities (CI) and a 6th-grade class in the same school that did not have any students with disabilities (C2). Results from the nonparametric Mann-Whitney U test indicated no differences in skill improvement between the two groups except in dribbling, which favored C2. C1 showed significantly greater pretest scores in general and sport-specific attitudes compared to C2, but there were no differences in gain scores for either general or sport-specific attitude. It was argued that, with proper support services, students with severe disabilities can be included in regular physical education without negatively affecting the program for students without disabilities.