Ulster BOCES adaptive physical education teacher Roy T. Speedling has been elected president of the Adaptive Physical Activity Section of the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (AHPERD). Founded in 1924, AHPERD is a member service organization dedicated to the professional development of health, physical education, and dance teachers, along with recreation specialists.
Speedling teaches adaptive physical education at Ulster BOCES for the elementary, middle, and high school levels. A teacher for 23 years, he is also an activist for adaptive physical education, encouraging children-whatever the disability or skill level- to push their physical and emotional limits within the world of sport.
Recently, Speedling also received his national Adapted Physical Education Certification (APE) from the National Consortium for Physical Education and Recreation for Individuals with Disabilities (NCPERID).
"It's a very long process to go through," said Speedling. "Only a handful of teachers have it. One of the association's goals this year is to encourage more teachers to go for it."
Although Speedling has spent his entire career in the area of adaptive physical education, his entry into the field was more or less accidental.
"I knew that I wanted to be a physical education teacher," said Speedling. "But I'd never even thought about special education prior to my first job at the Lexington School for the Deaf in New York City. One thing led to another and now I spend much of my time advocating for all students to get equal time for physical education. It's really a civil rights issue when you think about it. How is making sure that children get treated equally regarding adaptive physical education any different than Title IX is for girls' sports programs?"
Federal Title IX legislation mandates equal athletic opportunities for girls in high school and college sports programs.
According to Speedling, every child can have some form of physical activity, regardless of any physical or emotional challenges they may have. In support of this belief, he has long been active in the area's Special Olympics program, sometimes tailoring his class activities to prepare students to compete in the annual events.
"You just don't 'show-up' for something like the track and field competition," Speedling explained. "You have to train for it, just like any other athlete would do. If a student is interested in taking part in the Special Olympics, I work with them over a long period of time on the events they want to enter so they can be ready to compete-and do well-on the field later on. It's a major self-esteem builder that factors into every other aspect of a child's life. That's one of the reasons it's so important."
With the Winter Olympics coming to Salt Lake City, Utah later this season, Speedling hopes that enthusiasm for the local Special Olympics scheduled for this spring can reach an all-time high with his students.
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