i-PLAY Transition Year Pilot Program (i-PLAY_TY) – Dr Daniel tindall, brigitte moody & dr Seán Healy.

Research suggests that children with disabilities are less active than children without disabilities and have fewer opportunities to participate in sport and other recreation activities.

Recognizing this, through the UL Engage Citizen’s Assembly initiative, a group consisting of researchers, parents of children with disabilities, and community stakeholders, including physical education teachers, developed a new pilot program called the Inclusive Play & Leisure Activities for Youth program run by Transition Years (i-PLAY_TY) program.

This program is modelled after the current i-PLAY program currently offered within the department of Physical Education & Sports Science (PESS) here at the University of Limerick. First established in the Autumn of 2011, i-PLAY (or Imrím) is a weekly physical activity program designed for children, youth, and young people (ages 5-21) with disabilities and special needs.  The program is led by faculty members Daniel Tindall, Brigitte Moody, and Seán Healy, and delivered by 3rd and 4th year Physical Education and Exercise & Health Fitness Management students as part of their respective courses. The main goal of this weekly program is to engage participants in various physical activities (dance, games, health-related activities, fundamental movement skills, etc.) throughout the term. As part of this service-learning experience, each participant is paired with one of our students receiving individual attention, support, and encouragement. The focus of the program is on promoting physical activity for young people, incorporating it into their daily lives (i.e., in school, after school, and at home).

The i-PLAY_TY program seeks to enable transition year students to implement an adapted physical activity program with children with disabilities from local primary schools, thus providing a sustainable and scalable model to promote physical activity for children with disabilities, while providing an educational experience for the TY students. Ultimately, the main goals of the i-PLAY_TY program are similar to the PESS i-PLAY program providing children and young people with special needs the opportunity to play and interact socially with peers, providing TY students with the opportunity to gain experience in planning and assisting youth with special needs as it relates to the physical activity setting, and to provide teachers an opportunity to further engage and support their students with and without disabilities and special needs.

Under the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the i-PLAY_TY program is designed to meet the following:

• Goal 3 – Good Health and Wellbeing 
• Goal 4 – Quality Education
• Goal 10 – Reduced Inequalities