Students with "Different" Abilities

During my EDU 356 class today, I worked with my student, Nicholas, who has autism. Nicholas is a 9 year old boy in the fourth grade. When I first met Nicholas he was very shy, but I did my best to be enthusiastic and plan activities I knew he liked such as, baseball. I have only met with Nicholas one time, but he seemed to warm up to me by the end of our first class together.  Despite his shyness, he is very social and enjoys doing activities with his other classmates. At times this can de distracting to him and I have to take him away from the situation. Me and Nicholas work in the Rockwall Gym in the back corner, so he is least distracted by others. In our first class together I assessed Nicholas using the TGMD-2. Nicholas is a very skilled mover and I was impressed with his abilities during his first class. His run pattern is very mature, however he does seem to have trouble with his gallop and can only do it with his dominant foot. He doesn’t utilize his arms as much as he should and prefers using his right, dominant foot. Nicholas is a very skilled and enthusiastic mover and learner. Despite his mild problems with communicating, I believe he would have great progress and prove successful in a general physical education class. His motor abilities are greatly developed and he is only getting better. He would have no problem keeping up with the other students in his class. His biggest problem his communication skills and his ability to be distracted easily, but with an effective physical educator he can definitely benefit from being in a general physical education class.