Adapted Physical Education Specialists
In short: today's best AI models could do about 16% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 84% of the time, stays with people.
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.
$76,580 a year (for the broader BLS group this job sits in).
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on7 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people33 h
Adapted Physical Education Specialists, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 7 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 33 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Prepare lesson plans in accordance with individualized education plans (IEPs) and the functional abilities or needs of students (about 2 h); Write or modify individualized education plans (IEPs) for students with intellectual or physical disabilities (about 1 h); Maintain thorough student records to document attendance, participation, or progress, ensuring confidentiality of all records (about 1 h).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 16%
- 7%
- 77%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 14%. Today's estimate: 16%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, 0.011% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 345th largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 1 of its 20 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.065% to 0.018% (released February and March 2025); 0.028% to 0.025% (August 2025 to February 2026); none to 0.011% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.065% | 236 of 708 | 3 of 20 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.018% | 433 of 703 | 3 of 20 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.028% | 320 of 655 | 1 of 20 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.037% | 287 of 672 | 2 of 20 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.025% | 366 of 677 | 2 of 20 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 20 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.011% | 345 of 447 | 1 of 20 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 50% of this job's working time as physical work. For 1% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 1% in a purpose-built cell. 0.01 of 3, the 647th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 50%
- No robot shown 49%
- In a purpose-built cell 1%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 20 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instruct students, using adapted physical education techniques, to improve physical fitness, gross motor skills, perceptual motor skills, or sports and game achievement.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 19% | 42 min25 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Provide adapted physical education services to students with intellectual disabilities, autism, traumatic brain injury, orthopedic impairments, or other disabling condition.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 16% | 50 min25 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Provide individual or small groups of students with adapted physical education instruction that meets desired physical needs or goals.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 38 min25 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Adapt instructional techniques to the age and skill levels of students.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Assess students' physical progress or needs.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Establish and maintain standards of behavior to create safe, orderly, and effective environments for learning.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Prepare lesson plans in accordance with individualized education plans (IEPs) and the functional abilities or needs of students.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 50 min25 min to 2.1 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Collaborate with other educational personnel to provide inclusive activities or programs for children with disabilities.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Provide students positive feedback to encourage them and help them develop an appreciation for physical education.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Evaluate the motor needs of individual students to determine their need for adapted physical education services.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 1.7 h38 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Write or modify individualized education plans (IEPs) for students with intellectual or physical disabilities.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 3% | 2.1 h50 min to 3.3 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Maintain thorough student records to document attendance, participation, or progress, ensuring confidentiality of all records.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten34% now, 34% by 2028
- Special Education Teachers, Secondary School36% now, 36% by 2028
- Special Education Teachers, Elementary School40% now, 40% by 2028
- Special Education Teachers, Preschool25% now, 26% by 2028
- Special Education Teachers, Middle School40% now, 40% by 2028
- Instructional Coordinators39% now, 68% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Adapted Physical Education Specialists is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 16% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 16% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Adapted Physical Education Specialists come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Prepare lesson plans in accordance with individualized education plans (IEPs) and the functional abilities or needs of students (100% of the task's time now); Write or modify individualized education plans (IEPs) for students with intellectual or physical disabilities (100% of the task's time now); and Maintain thorough student records to document attendance, participation, or progress, ensuring confidentiality of all records (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Adapted Physical Education Specialists stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Instruct students, using adapted physical education techniques, to improve physical fitness, gross motor skills, perceptual motor skills, or sports and game achievement; Provide adapted physical education services to students with intellectual disabilities, autism, traumatic brain injury, orthopedic impairments, or other disabling condition; and Provide individual or small groups of students with adapted physical education instruction that meets desired physical needs or goals. Together such tasks are about 84% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Adapted Physical Education Specialists?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.011% went to this job's tasks, the 345th largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 1 of its 20 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 3%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Adapted Physical Education Specialists?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 50% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 1% of the working time. Its index is 0.01 of 3. One example: Tally (Simbe Robotics) for "maintain inventory of instructional equipment, materials, or aids". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 20 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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