Special Olympics Canada has partnered with the Canadian Disability Participation Project (CDPP) to produce A Blueprint for Building Quality Participation in Sport for Children and Youth with Intellectual Disabilities. This Blueprint introduces program leaders and volunteers to key concepts that underpin quality participation (i.e., the building blocks of quality participation) to better facilitate quality sport experiences for young athletes with intellectual disabilities.
The Blueprint is tailored to Special Olympics Canada Active Start and FUNdamentals recreational youth programs (i.e., for athletes ages 2-6 years and 7-12 years, respectively) and provides evidence-based strategies for building quality participation in programs specifically for children and youth with intellectual disabilities. However, this Blueprint may be of broader interest to all sport program providers for children and youth with intellectual disabilities, to ensure they are meeting the needs and participation priorities of their athletes.
A Blueprint for Building Quality Participation in Sport for Children and Youth with Intellectual Disabilities includes:
- Case Study Examples demonstrating how a program may accomplish the building blocks of quality participation
- Key Considerations for Quality Participation including establishment of quality participation priorities
- Priorities to Enhance Quality Participation involves understanding your program’s and athlete’s unique needs to identify the building blocks and strategies to focus on
- A Quality Participation Strategy Guide linking the six building blocks with a list of safe, welcoming, and inclusive strategies
- Building a Plan to Enhance Program Quality prompting program leaders to reflect on their program strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
Quality Participation Self-Reflection Tool (QP-SRT) for Program Leaders and Volunteers
Special Olympics Canada and the Canadian Disability Participation Project recognize that physical activity is an essential aspect of health and well-being that should be fully inclusive and accessible. Quality participation is achieved when athletes with a disability view their involvement in sport as satisfying and enjoyable, and experience outcomes that they consider important. The evidence-informed recommendations highlighted throughout the QP-SRT, if implemented, can help to facilitate access and inclusion, a fundamental human right of all children.
The QP-SRT is a quick, easy-to-use reflection-based tool designed for program leaders and volunteers, and is not an evaluation. After you complete the QP-SRT, a customized action plan is generated. You also receive strategies and examples of how to facilitate these recommendations within your program.