ABSTRACT
Navajo Middle and High School is located near Indian Wells, Arizona. The school has a small population of students and is composed mostly of Native American children from the Navajo Indian Reservation. Na Ah’ is a dance instructor and physical education (PE) teacher at the school. She began dancing and choreographing dance routines when she was only 13 years old. In recent years, Na Ah’ has worked at summer sport camps for children ages 12 to 16, where she teaches dance and basic sports skills. Her classes range in size from 13 to 22 students with an average class size of 17, including 1 to 3 students with disabilities per class. Na Ah’ believes that dance programs (i.e., adapted dance and dance therapy) and physical activity are beneficial for her students with disabilities. She therefore regularly integrates her knowledge of physical activity, sports, and dance into her lessons. In this case, we discuss the benefits and application of adapted dance and dance therapy for use in PE with students with disabilities.
