What does a Adapted Physical Education Specialist do?

Provide individualized physical education instruction or services to children, youth, or adults with exceptional physical needs due to gross motor developmental delays or other impairments. Day to day that includes work like adapt instructional techniques to the age and skill levels of students and Instruct students, using adapted physical education techniques, to improve physical fitness, gross motor skills, perceptual motor skills, or sports and game achievement.

What skills should a Adapted Physical Education Specialist put on a resume?

O*NET rates Instructing, Active Learning, Active Listening, Social Perceptiveness, and Speaking among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Adapted Physical Education Specialist list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Database software, Email software, Facebook, Individualized Educational Program IEP software, and Microsoft Excel. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Adapted Physical Education Specialist work?

O*NET records 19 titles for this occupation, including APE Specialist, Adapted Physical Education Teacher, Adapted PE Teacher, and Adapted Physical Educator. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Adapted Physical Education Specialist need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 38% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Adapted Physical Education Specialist role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Adapted Physical Education Specialist resume example

A resume for a Adapted Physical Education Specialist needs to show the work itself: provide individualized physical education instruction or services to children, youth, or adults with exceptional physical needs due to gross motor developmental delays or other impairments. Day to day that means work like this: adapt instructional techniques to the age and skill levels of students; instruct students, using adapted physical education techniques, to improve physical fitness, gross motor skills, perceptual motor skills, or sports and game achievement. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

APE Specialist
Adapted Physical Education Teacher
Adapted PE Teacher
Adapted Physical Educator
DAPE Specialist
Adapted Physical Activity Specialist
Certified Adapted Physical Educator
DAPE Teacher
Adaptive PE Specialist
Adaptive PE Teacher
Adapted Fitness Professional
Adaptive Physical Education Specialist
Adaptive Physical Education Teacher
Adaptive Physical Educator
Adaptive Skills Educator
Autism Motor Specialist
Certified Adaptive Physical Educator
Developmental Physical Educator

O*NET records 19 titles for this occupation in total.

What people in this job call themselves

Titles reported by people actually doing this work, which is often not the title on the job posting.

Adapted Physical Education Specialist (APE Specialist)
Adapted Physical Education Teacher (Adapted PE Teacher)
DAPE Specialist (Developmental Adapted Physical Education Specialist)
DAPE Teacher (Developmental Adapted Physical Education Teacher)

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Adapt instructional techniques to the age and skill levels of students.
Instruct students, using adapted physical education techniques, to improve physical fitness, gross motor skills, perceptual motor skills, or sports and game achievement.
Provide individual or small groups of students with adapted physical education instruction that meets desired physical needs or goals.
Provide students positive feedback to encourage them and help them develop an appreciation for physical education.
Establish and maintain standards of behavior to create safe, orderly, and effective environments for learning.
Provide adapted physical education services to students with intellectual disabilities, autism, traumatic brain injury, orthopedic impairments, or other disabling condition.
Assess students' physical progress or needs.
Assist in screening or placement of students in adapted physical education programs.
Evaluate the motor needs of individual students to determine their need for adapted physical education services.
Collaborate with other educational personnel to provide inclusive activities or programs for children with disabilities.
Maintain thorough student records to document attendance, participation, or progress, ensuring confidentiality of all records.
Advise education professionals of students' physical abilities or disabilities and the accommodations required to enhance their school performance.

20 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Adapt instructional techniques to the age and skill levels of students, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Instruct students, using adapted physical education techniques, to improve physical fitness, gross motor skills, perceptual motor skills, or sports and game achievement, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Provide individual or small groups of students with adapted physical education instruction that meets desired physical needs or goals, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Provide students positive feedback to encourage them and help them develop an appreciation for physical education, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Database software
Email software
Facebook
Individualized Educational Program IEP software
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Word
Student record software
Web browser software

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Archery targets
Badminton sets
Balance beams
Balance boards
Basketball hoops
Basketballs
Beeper balls
Bowling sets
Compact disk CD players
Computer laser printers
Croquet sets
Dart board equipment

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

encourage students

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Instructing
02Active Learning
03Active Listening
04Social Perceptiveness
05Speaking
06Critical Thinking
07Judgment and Decision Making
08Learning Strategies
09Monitoring
10Reading Comprehension

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Education and Training
Psychology
English Language
Therapy and Counseling
Customer and Personal Service

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

38%Bachelor's Degree
33%Post-Baccalaureate Certificate, awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.
29%Master's Degree

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Extensive Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

Common questions

What does a Adapted Physical Education Specialist do?: Provide individualized physical education instruction or services to children, youth, or adults with exceptional physical needs due to gross motor developmental delays or other impairments. Day to day that includes work like adapt instructional techniques to the age and skill levels of students and Instruct students, using adapted physical education techniques, to improve physical fitness, gross motor skills, perceptual motor skills, or sports and game achievement.
What skills should a Adapted Physical Education Specialist put on a resume?: O*NET rates Instructing, Active Learning, Active Listening, Social Perceptiveness, and Speaking among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Adapted Physical Education Specialist list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Database software, Email software, Facebook, Individualized Educational Program IEP software, and Microsoft Excel. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Adapted Physical Education Specialist work?: O*NET records 19 titles for this occupation, including APE Specialist, Adapted Physical Education Teacher, Adapted PE Teacher, and Adapted Physical Educator. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Adapted Physical Education Specialist need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 38% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Adapted Physical Education Specialist role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.