This study aimed to determine the actual status of recreational sports implementation among children and students attending special needs schools in Japan. The survey method involved distributing questionnaires to parents in ten public special needs schools. The survey included items related to the attributes of the respondents, their children, and the content of recreational sports. Data from 459 valid responses were analyzed.

Mothers were the most frequent respondents (90.4%), and their average age was 44.7 ± 6.0 years old. Their children, students attending special-needs schools, were equally divided between “boys” (49.3%) and “girls” (50.7%). The most common educational programs were “kindergarten and elementary school” (43.0%), followed by “upper secondary school” (34.9%), and “middle school” (22.1%), with an average age of 12.74 ± 3.9 years. The disability characteristics of the schools attended were “physical (36.2%), “intellectual (41.8%), “visual (15.3%), and “hearing disability” (6.8%).

The results of this study showed that 53.8% of children did not have the opportunities to implement recreational sports in the community compared to 46.2% of those who did. Behind this low implementation rate were the family burden (13.9%) and lack of a support system suited to the disability characteristics (18.7%).

In particular, even though 78.1% of the subjects who answered that they “did not have opportunities” to participate in recreational sports in the community indicated that they “would like to participate,” the high rate of non-practice of sports in Japan, compared to other countries, is an issue. To address it, we conducted a model sports class in a school setting tailored to the disability characteristics and found that participants showed a high degree of satisfaction with the class. In the future, it is desirable to train teachers to provide sports programs tailored to the physical conditions of children in educational settings and build a support system that links schools as hubs to programs in which children can participate in the community.

Keywords: Education, Sport, Special needs school.