Inclusion in Physical Education
Pattie Rouse, EdS, is an adapted physical educator in Cherokee County Schools in Georgia, where she co-created the first adapted physical education program in the school system. She has been working with people with disabilities since 1982. In addition to her physical education teaching, she has been educating teachers and paraeducators on inclusion for many years through informal consultations as well as through staff development and professional workshops.A co-coordinator of Special Olympics in Cherokee County, she has coached Special Olympics basketball. Throughout her career she has included students with disabilities in her programs. She is the author of Adapted Games and Activities, geared toward students with intellectual disabilities. In her leisure time, Ms. Rouse enjoys mountain and road biking, hiking with her dogs, and reading. Her newest means of reaching out to the community is through an adapted recreational and fitness program for elderly people in a nursing home.