9 Questions to Ask About Recess and Your Child with Special Needs

Your child's age and the degree of crowding at his or her school may determine just when recess takes place. Younger children may take to the playground at different times than older children, and kids in the same grade may have a staggered schedule with alternating lunch and recess periods. Learning when your child takes recess can help you draw a line between behavior at other points in the day and the nearness of recess, or identify possible reasons for problematic recess or lunchroom behavior.

When the "when" of recess is a complicated puzzle for school personnel to figure out, the "who" will also be complicated. Special-education classes may go out with age peers or with whatever group needs a few extra bodies. Your child with special needs may wind up going out with kids who are younger or older, both of which can be problematic for play possibilities. If your child has trouble with particular classmates or students in other classes, you'll want to know if they'll be sharing the playground too.

If your child is in a self-contained special-education class, he or she may not get free run of the playground and field. Check to see if the class stays in one small area with a paraprofessional or mingles inclusively with the whole student body. Depending on your particular child and your degree of worry, you may be happy to hear there's a sheltered option with a fair degree of supervision and protection. On the other hand, if you are pushing for inclusion and/or your child has friends among the mainstream, you'll want to make sure that recess isn't restrictive.

You may have fought for an accessible classroom for your child, but does that accessibility extend out the back door and onto the playground? If most playing takes place on an uneven and bumpy field of grass, or there are steps to get from the building to the blacktop, or every game offers involves hopping or kicking or running that your child can't do, chances are your child is spending recess sitting in a corner somewhere with a paraprofessional. Time to confer with school personnel, including the PT, OT, and adapted gym teacher, for some more acceptable options.

Recess as an unstructured time of free play sounds great, unless your child hates unstructured time, or free play includes bullying and exclusion, or every game on offer is one your child can't play. Find out what kind of options your child has for that recess time. Can a child who just needs down time sit off to the side with a book? Can a child who just needs to move run around the perimeter of the play yard? Can a paraprofessional organize a game for those who need a little direction? What are the odds your child will get nailed by a dodgeball?

Students with special needs often benefit from an adult on call to implement behavior management techniques, monitor health problems, assist with mobility issues, and facilitate peer interaction. Find out if such a person is available to your child, and what that individual's particular role, instructions, and qualifications might be. The things you expect that grown-up to do -- whether administering an Epipen, handling an inhaler, dealing with a seizure, redirecting problem behavior, or providing support for physical activities -- needs to be specifically in his or her job description.

Assuming recess is a scheduled part of the school day, it's worth asking what substitutes for it when kids can't go outdoors. If they spend that time in the classroom, are some movement activities planned or is more academic work crammed in? If they go to the gym, is it so packed and noisy that it becomes overwhelming to your child? Make sure all the strategies you've developed for outdoor recess get carried over to its indoor equivalent.

Unfortunately, a punishment often given to kids who can't sit still at their desks is to make them stay there during the time they should be able to do all that moving around. Make sure that when behavior-management options are being outlined in your child's IEP, this isn't one of them. It may also happen that a child who hates recess will act up specifically to get it taken away, so either way -- not the best idea.

Though you don't want recess taken away as a punishment, there may be kids for whom recess is not the best way to use that particular block of time. If recess is stressful for your child, or causes behavior problems, or is physically difficult to participate in, ask whether your child's pull-outs -- such as speech, physical therapy, and occupational therapy -- could be scheduled for that time period. As a side benefit, your child will lose less learning time.