What is Therapeutic Recreation

Individuals with disabilities have a long history of exclusion from both education and recreation settings. Until the 1970s, parents caring for their child with a disability was a private, isolated activity and an extreme hardship. Today, children with disabilities are usually included in general education classrooms with their typically developing peers. For inclusive education to be successful, the IEP team must focus on the collaborative aspects and possible community-wide solutions for the child's best interests by looking outside the classroom to examine the array of community supports that interconnect with the child's education and long-term transition outcomes over multiple seasons, including summer months. This chapter provides background on inclusive recreation services, including suggestions for how a multidisciplinary IEP team can incorporate existing recreation services and community programs as extended supports within a child's IEP or transition plan, using Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems framework.