VIDBE-Q 2026 Volume 71 Issue 3
within general education classes when activities permit. Environmental safety
and individual safety considerations must be comprehensively addressed to
create optimal learning conditions, especially if the student with deafblindness
has any health needs or contraindications. Movement performance depends on
numerous student factors including previous knowledge and experience,
language and communication abilities, interest levels, functional relevance and
meaningfulness, energy levels, flexibility, range of motion, mobility, processing
time, and residual vision or hearing level. Understanding these factors enables
educators and service providers to design appropriate environments which
include needed interventions and realistic expectations. A systematic review
found that adaptation to the educational environment was a key intervention to
increase benefit to the students with deafblindness (
Sundqvist et al., 2023).
Furthermore, social interaction/communication and motivation/participation
were the other major goals of interventions provided for youth who are
deafblind.
Students must have access to communication and language within their
preferred mode to be able to provide input on their wants and needs while
being provided choice throughout their physical education and activity
experience. Students who are deafblind should feel safe and experience success
throughout physical activities while progressing their skills.
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