S.E. Uromova¹
Associate Professor, PhD E.A. Ol'khina¹
Associate Professor, PhD E.Y. Medvedeva¹
Associate Professor, PhD S.N. Kashtanova¹
N.V. Molotkova^2
1Kozma Minin Nizhny Novgorod State University (Minin University), Nizhny Novgorod
²Sport and Fitness Complex "Meshcherskiy", Nizhny Novgorod   

Keywords: adaptive physical education, swimming training model, people with multiple severe developmental disorders.

Background. Modern special education system includes adaptive physical education (APE) as an integral component of the correction and development process. Multiple tools and forms of the APE are being applied today forming an innovative educational domain designed to “... facilitate the vital abilities of people diagnosed with chronic health disorders being improved through the efforts to mobilize their natural and still functional body/ motor abilities and spiritual powers and harmonize them to contribute to their effective self-fulfilment in the role of socially and individually valuable members of society” (S.P. Evseev), and the APE contribution may be really valuable due to its outstanding potential resources and role in the strategic goals of the special education system being attained [1].

Some researchers (A.A. Dmitriyev, L.N. Rostomashvili, A.E. Mitin, O.V. Talitskaya, N.V. Mazitova et al.) underline the corrective and developmental mission of the individually accessible APE practices, whilst applied swimming practices are commonly recognized to help develop vital abilities of people with severe and multiple developmental disorders [2, 5].

Objective of the study was to develop an application swimming model for the people with severe and multiple developmental disorders.

 Methods and structure of the study. In view of the subject being highly important albeit poorly studied, we have developed a swimming model applicable to the above health category. Theoretical framework of the model was designed and tested at the “Meshersky” Physical Education Centre in Nizhny Novgorod in the period of 2011-16. Subject to the model tests were 87 people (aged 7 to 37 years) diagnosed with multiple developmental disorders. We designed the model on the assumption that competitive swimming practices in application to the people with multiple developmental disorders should not necessarily be integrated in the general method as a leading mission, rather an emphasis is to be made on the social and psychological developmental needs of the trainees.

Study results and discussion. The new frame model is designed to give the means for the trainees to adjust to unusual environments. The vitally important communicative and behavioural competences of the trainees are formed under the model by variable situations with the relevant response behavioural strategies being modelled and mastered. The newly proposed model includes the following four interconnected modules:

1. Diagnostics module was designed to assess motor and cognitive abilities, vital skills formation levels/ competences, behavioural and communication models of the trainees. With this purpose in mind, the module includes an Athlete’s Daybook to record and rate physical progress of the people with severe and multiple developmental disorders, using relevant variable diagnostic tools being applied. To make the integrated ratings of the trainee’s progress as fair as possible, concrete health/ mental/ education progress data, motor abilities test data and family questioning data were fixed in a daybook, with a special emphasis on the child’s personality traits and behavioural models, special (including swimming) skills acquiring progress rates etc. The Athlete’s Daybook was kept for the whole period of the swimming practices, with the individual progress being rated twice a year and the individual accomplishments of the trainee being profiled [7].

The swimming groups were composed based on the above progress profiles and the relevant health typing categories. The grouping facilitated the swimming methods and tools being applied in a most flexible and efficient formats at different stages of the educational process.

1. The diagnostics-organization module was designed to group the trainees for the swimming practices with account of their individual health conditions and classified limitations in the swimming skills mastering process. The following most important, in our view, criteria for the swimming group practice design were applied:

1.       Motor deficiency types, with an emphasis on disorders of the central nervous system mechanisms [4, 6]. This criterion was ranked as highly important since motor disorders are diagnosed in 100% of the cases of severe and multiple developmental disorders, even others than cerebral palsy:

• People with motor disorders due to pyramidal insufficiency;
• People with motor ability developmental disorders, with persistent pathologic reflexes;
• People with extra-pyramidal insufficiency due to automatic response developmental disorders and insufficient protective reflexes;
• People with frontal insufficiency; and 
• People with cerebella insufficiency.

2.    Psychological and cognitive needs of the trainees, with an emphasis on the due contacts, communication and cooperation being maintained at every stage of the educational process. Provisionally all the trainees were classified into the following typological groups:

• People with the autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Problems of this typological group were dominated by the highest variability of communication disorders;
• People with severe speech disorders complicating the communication;
• People showing no serious social behavioural disorders, with fair speaking ability;
• Intellectual development level as a key indicator of the individual potential ability to master the applied competitive swimming skills;
• Moderate mental retardation with disorders in some analyzers; and
• Severe mental retardation with behavioural and/ or communication disorders;

The above criteria were designed to cover the whole range of the cognitive/ motor/ emotional disorders.

3. The organization module was intended to model the training process structure including its stages duly individualized for every class group followed by the model testing in the swimming training process. Despite the people with severe and multiple developmental disorders being highly variable in the types, we designed the following key process stages in the integrated swimming practices for the people diagnosed with severe and multiple developmental disorders [8]:

1. Preparatory stage that regulates the trainee’s actions from entering the sport facility to being allowed to the swimming pool. The key missions of this stage are to help form and cultivate the relevant social rituals and expand the range of possible actions in the habitual situations – including greetings when coming to the facility, communication in the cloakroom, timing of the preparatory process before entering the pool etc. This stage is designed so as to ensure the role of assistant (parent, tutor) being gradually decreased in the preparatory rituals and procedures in the cloakroom of the swimming centre and the shower stalls, with a part of the process being shared with other parents, service staff of the centre and peers.

2. Session opening procedure with obligatory greetings and presence check.

3. Dryland warm-up practices controlled by a precise action algorithm designed to increase, in a phased manner, the difficulty of the training practice, reduce the assistants’ role and master the relevant swimming practices at the sessions. The warm-up practice is performed for 5-7 minutes in small groups of 3-5 people.  

4. Water warm-up practice (10 minutes) designed to activate the motor skills using special preparatory exercises customized for the individual difficulties/ needs of the trainees. Process at this and later stages is focused both on the trainees and their assistants (parents, tutors) and designed to prepare the trainees’ muscle groups for the main physical exercise; cultivate positive attitudes to the practices in cooperation with a coach; foster problem-solving abilities; focus the trainees on the mission of the session; and refresh the rules of in-water behaviour.

5. Main part of the session (10-20 minutes) is designed to master specific motor skills under the educational stage, with due regard to the individual types of the trainees’ needs and difficulties in the competitive swimming style mastering process (the difficulties were referred to in detail in our earlier publications [3, 4, 6]). At this stage, a top priority is given to the duly differentiated (by missions of the practice) and individualized (in terms of performance control and physical exercise specifics) procedures.

6. Session closing procedure, with free swimming (5 minutes) for fun viewed as a reward for the successful work, followed by a goodbye ritual. 

The integrated adaptive swimming practice application model within the overall vital competences formation system is to include long detailed preparations for the sessions; necessary corrections to the practices; special selected exercises and applied swimming technique mastering procedures customised for the individual limitations and abilities of the trainees.

4. The diagnostic test module designed to monitor and rate motor skills, cognitive abilities, mental and social behaviour and conditions in the process. We used the following progress rating tests: 10 m assisted swimming test; 25 m assisted swimming test; 25/50 m freestyle/ backstroke swimming tests.

Conclusion. The proposed applied swimming mastering model for the people with multiple and severe developmental disorders was designed with due consideration for the theoretical and practical aspects of the process and may be applied as a basis for practical designs of individual/ group learn-to-swim systems for mixed-age groups. The proposed model is designed to factor in further research findings in the relevant swimming training technologies customized for the motor deficiencies and neuro-dynamic functional disorders of the trainees.

References

1. Evseev S.P. Teoriya i organizatsiya adaptivnoy fizicheskoy kul'tury: uchebnik (Theory and organization of adaptive physical education: textbook) / S.P. Evseev. – V. 1. – Moscow: Sovetskiy sport, 2005. – 296 p.
2. Mazitova N.V. Metodika obucheniya plavaniyu mladshikh shkol'nikov s psikhicheskimi i intellektual'nymi narusheniyami v usloviyakh lokal'noy pedagogicheskoy integratsii: avtoref. dis. … kand. ped. nauk (Swimming teaching technology for primary pupils with mental and intellectual disabilities within local pedagogical integration: Abstract of PhD thesis) / N.V. Mazitova. – Khabarovsk, 2006. – 19 p.
3. Medvedeva E.Y. Kharakteristika dvigatel'nykh navykov pri obuchenii plavaniyu invalidov (Characteristics of motor skills of people with impairments when learning to swim) / E.Y. Medvedeva, S.E. Uromova // Sovremennye tendentsii razvitiya nauki tekhnologiy (Modern trends in technology science): Proc. of II International res.-practical conference, May 31, 2015: 7 V.) / Ed. by E.P. Tkacheva. – Belgorod: EGITsENTR, 2015. – V. V. – P. 89-93. – URL: http://issledo.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Sb_k-2-5.pdf
4. Molotkova N.V. Sposoby obucheniya plavaniyu detey s vyrazhennymi intellektual'nymi narusheniyami (Swimming teaching methods for children with severe intellectual disabilities) / N.V. Molotkova, S.E. Uromova, S.V. Zemkova // Sovremennye podkhody reabilitatsii, adaptivnoy fizicheskoy kul'tury v rabote s litsami, imeyushchimi ogranichennye vozmozhnosti zdorov'ya (Modern approaches of rehabilitation, adaptive physical education in working with persons with disabilities): Proc. of V Intern. res.-practical conf.) / Ed. by E.N. Fomicheva, Y.P. Zverev, V.A. Orinchuk. – N. Novgorod: OOO «Tsvetnoy MIR», 2014. – P. 81-84.
5. Tipovaya programma po plavaniyu (dlya organizatsiy i uchrezhdeniy, zanimayushchikhsya s det'mi s otkloneniyami v razvitii) (Sample swimming program (for organizations and institutions dealing with special needs children) // «Physical rehabilitation and sport of people with impairments». – Moscow: Sovetskiy sport, 2003.
6. Uromova S.E. Model' individual'nogo dnevnika soprovozhdeniya sportsmenov s intellektual'nymi narusheniyami (Sample individual diary to follow athletes with intellectual disabilities) / S.E. Uromova, Y.P. Davydova // Sovremennye tendentsii razvitiya nauki i tehnologiy (Modern trends in development of science and technology): Proc. of III International. corresp. res.-pract. conf. (Belgorod, June 30, 2015) / Ed. by E.P. Tkachevoy. – Belgorod: EGITsENTR, 2015. – V. V. – P. 118-121. - URL: http://issledo.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Sb_k-3-5.pdf
7. Uromova S.E. Razvitie dvigatel'nykh navykov u detey s narusheniyami intellekta sredstvami fizicheskogo vospitaniya (Physical education to develop motor skills in children with intellectual disabilities) / S.E. Uromova // Vestnik Mininskogo universiteta (Bulletin of Minin University). – 2014. – # 3(7). – P.11. – URL: http://www.mininuniver.ru/mediafiles/u/files/Nauch_deyat/Vestnik/2014-09 3/uromova.pdf
8. Uromova S.E., Chesnokova L.S. Formirovanie zhiznennykh kompetentsiy u lits s tyazhelymi intellektual'nymi narusheniyami s pomoshchyu sistemy kompleksnykh zanyatiy po adaptivnomu plavaniyu (Integrated adaptive swimming classes to build vital competences in persons with severe intellectual disabilities) / S.E. Uromova, L.S. Chesnokova // Sovremennye problemy nauki i obrazovaniya. – 2015. – № 4. – URL: http://www.science-education.ru/127-20852

Corresponding author: oldlady@mail.ru

Abstract      

Modern globally accepted humanistic attitudes to the children with health impairments have largely contributed to the traditional views on their education and development being revised. Modern society in its progress could not help being increasingly sensitive to the problems of educational support for the people with multiple severe developmental disorders that were at some period classified as “learning-disabled” individuals. However, training of these people is still designed as a complicated and multisided process facing many problems including those related to adaptive physical education (APE) that are among the least studied ones.

The article summarizes practical experience in one of the domains of adaptive physical education and offers a framework version of the swimming training model applicable to the people with multiple severe developmental disorders. The proposed model includes the following interrelated modules: diagnostics module designed to assess the motor and cognitive abilities, vital skills formation levels/ competences, behavioural and communication models of the trainees; diagnostics-organization module designed to group the trainees for swimming practices with account of their individual health conditions and classified limitations in the process of learning to swim; organization module intended to model the training process structure including its stages duly individualized for every class group followed by the model testing in the swimming training process; and the diagnostic test module designed to monitor the motor skills, cognitive abilities, mental and social behaviour and conditions in the process. The study offers a structure of group training sessions with duly substantiated stages tailored to the individual health conditions and classified limitations in the learn-to-swim process.