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Description

Children with disabilities experience barriers that limit meaningful participation and social interaction during school playground play. Despite ADA standards, many playgrounds lack inclusive features that support participation for students of all abilities. YISD identified the need for a comprehensive resource to evaluate playground Accessiblity and inclusivity beyond ADA compliance.

Project Purpose: Develop an Inclusive School Playground Assessment Toolkit (ISPAT), an evaluation criteria and guidelines to assess the Accessiblity and inclusivity of elementary school playgrounds.

Implementation: Evaluate five YISD school playgrounds using ISPAT

Outcomes: Using IPSAT and its scoring system, only one playground achieved a Mostly Inclusive rating (70-85%), one achieved a Moderately Inclusive rating (50-69%). All remaining playgrounds were classified as Minimally Inclusive (25-49%), highlighting opportunities to improve accessibility, participation, and inclusive play features across school playgrounds.

Significance: ISPAT effectively identified the strengths and opportunities for improving playground inclusivity, demonstrating its usefulness as an assessment tool that can be adapted for other school settings. Occupational therapist play an improtant role in addressing this gap through advocacy, environmental analysis, and collaboration with community partners to promote inclusive playgrounds.

Publication Date

2026

Keywords

Inclusive school playgrounds, Students with disabilities, Toolkit, Advocacy

Disciplines

Occupational Therapy

Comments

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Stevens 

Capstone Site: YISD 

Every Child Deserves to Play: Inclusive Playgrounds in School Settings

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