Coaching Athletes with Learning Disabilities: Three Effective Strategies

Abstract

Despite the prevalence of students with learning disabilities (LD), athletic coaches face challenges in recognizing and effectively supporting the needs of athletes with LD due to lack of professional development in this area. Sometimes referred to as a “hidden disability”, LD is not easily perceived by teachers and coaches. Students with LD have average level intelligence and often demonstrate both strengths and weaknesses in academics. What coaches may not realize, however, is that athletes with LD can have the same challenges in learning aspects of the sport that they have in learning academics. They can have difficulties with understanding and following multi-step directions, remembering sequences of information (Gargiulo & Bouck, 2018), problems with processing skills and self- monitoring their behavior (Watson et al., 2016). Therefore, addressing the needs of athletes with LD requires a set of specialized instructional strategies that helps athletes focus and increase performance. This article describes three evidence-based instructional strategies which support the needs of athletes with LD: behavior specific praise, explicit instruction, and self-talk. Guidelines for using the strategies are provided and emphasize the importance of modeling of the desired behaviors and providing sufficient opportunities for athletes to rehearse and process the new behaviors. Use of these strategies can enhance the coaching experience for all athletes and promote inclusiveness while at the same time, improving athletic performance.