Análise dos efeitos de um plano educacional individualizado no desenvolvimento acadêmico e funcional de um aluno com transtorno do espectro do autismo

Given the paradigm of inclusive education, the presence of students with autism spectrum disorder in regular schools has become more significant in recent years. Studies have revealed, however, deficits in academic participation of these students in these settings. Among the factors contributing to this phenomenon include poor teacher training and the lack of strategies to promote curriculum access. The aim of this study was to develop an instrument that would promote academic inclusion of a student with autism through procedures that could simultaneously empower the teacher. In this perspective, the study aimed to analyze the effects of an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP), developed collaboratively with teachers, on the academic and functional development of a student with autism in an early childhood education setting. Data were collected in a private school located in the city of Natal in Rio Grande do Norte, in the course of the academic year 2012. In addition to the student with autism, one teacher, a specialized educator, and four teacher aides participated in the study. The research used a single subject quasi-experimental design (AB) as well as qualitative methods of data analysis. The study was conducted in three phases: characterization, baseline and intervention. The first comprised interviews with the child´s parents and teachers, as well as the identification of two routines focus of intervention. In the second phase, the amount of time the student spent engaged in the selected routines during baseline was analyzed. In the third phase, the researcher prepared, collaboratively with the teachers, an individualized educational plan (IEP) for the student. Finally, the IEP was implemented by the teachers. The results indicated qualitative and quantitative changes in student´s participation in academic and functional tasks after the intervention program

A Naturalistic Assessment of the Organization of Children’s Memories Predicts Cognitive Functioning and Reading Ability

To explore the relationship between memory and early school performance, we used graph theory to investigate memory reports from 76 children aged 6–8 years. The reports comprised autobiographical memories of events days to years past, and memories of novel images reported immediately after encoding. We also measured intelligence quotient (IQ) and theory of mind (ToM). Reading and Mathematics were assessed before classes began (December 2013), around the time of report collection (June 2014), and at the end of the academic year (December 2014). IQ and ToM correlated positively with word diversity and word-to-word connectivity, and negatively with word recurrence. Connectivity correlated positively with Reading in June 2014 as well as December 2014, even after adjusting for IQ and ToM. To our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating a link between the structure of children’s memories and their cognitive or academic performance.

A Naturalistic Assessment of the Organization of Children’s Memories Predicts Cognitive Functioning and Reading Ability

To explore the relationship between memory and early school performance, we used graph theory to investigate memory reports from 76 children aged 6–8 years. The reports comprised autobiographical memories of events days to years past, and memories of novel images reported immediately after encoding. We also measured intelligence quotient (IQ) and theory of mind (ToM). Reading and Mathematics were assessed before classes began (December 2013), around the time of report collection (June 2014), and at the end of the academic year (December 2014). IQ and ToM correlated positively with word diversity and word-to-word connectivity, and negatively with word recurrence. Connectivity correlated positively with Reading in June 2014 as well as December 2014, even after adjusting for IQ and ToM. To our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating a link between the structure of children’s memories and their cognitive or academic performance.

Acesso e permanência na universidade federal do rio grande do Norte sob o ponto de vista do docente e do estudante com deficiência Natal-RN

Inclusion of students with disabilities is a recent case that has been discussed in school contexts, but the current policy of inclusion for access and retention of students in higher education is still a problem face there is much to do, therefore, are incipient studies in which this student body is involved. Accordingly, what is happening is that the most studies deal with on these students and little is said about them. For inclusive education thus the institution should prepare to receive students, having as one of its premises their point of views about what actually experience aiming at promoting education for all. Therefore, this study deals with the process of inclusion of students with disabilities regularly enrolled in undergraduate courses at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte - UFRN.They were used the assumptions of qualitative research enabled by the case study method and semi-structured interviews. It has been analyzed by guiding actions and teaching practices, under the views of disabled students and teachers, the conditions of access and permanence offered by UFRN. Twelve students with physical, visual, hearing disabilities participated and five teachers from the acedemic centers that in academic year 2008 taught to these students. For data analysis it was used the technique of content analysis. It was extracted two themes: access and retention of students with disabilities in UFRN, in which emerged the categories described and analyzed in the course of this work. The results show the difficulties of access and retention of students with disabilities within the UFRN, such as attitudinal, pedagogical and architectural barriers. However, as it has also turned out, initial advances in the quest for achieving more effective actions to guarantee access and permanence of these students in UFRN. It has concluded that the scope for the exercise of citizenship in the pupils with disabilities who need this Higher Education Institution has an inclusive education Project, wide and consolidated, for the actions undertaken by the Ministry of Education - MEC, by itself, are not guaranteed to all students due to mobility, autonomy and security. It has hoped this work will bring benefits for new studies to develop features that were located, but were not our focus, because then the UFRN may advance the inclusive process of disabled students

Educação inclusiva: práticas de professores frente à deficiência intelectual

The present work is a survey of pedagogical practices of teachers who experience the daily school with students with Intellectual Disability (ID) in their classrooms, considered inclusive. The study was conducted in academic year 2010 in a municipal school in Natal-RN, aimed at investigating the pedagogical practices developed by the participating teachers as well as its view of the front of Intellectual Disabilities students who are inserted in the initial years of Elementary School. In methodological choice, considering the nature of the phenomenon, we chose the qualitative approach and the case study method. The observation and semi-structured interview were used as procedures, which contributed to a significant collection of data in an attempt to answer the objectives. The study subjects were selected by convenience and were formed into two teachers from Elementary School I, linked to the public educational system, which volunteered to collaborate in this research. The analysis of the observations and of the speeches made possible build pedagogical considerations on the action with students with Intellectual Disabilities in a regular school. The results point to a practice covered with a traditional pedagogy, with a few adjustments, although there is an initial process of change, what we observe in the classroom and captured in the words, because, at various times, we saw an interest in developing a pedagogy of Freire. One aspect that caught our attention refers to the formative action at school for these teachers. We found its incipiency, because this does not happen in a systematic way at school. Throughout the years investigated, the teachers had no access to any form of training neither to any form of specialized monitoring. We realize that there is still a concept of Intellectual Disability that makes difficult to "see" this student as a human being having learning opportunities. The aspects that interfere in the formation hinder the development of a pedagogical practice that meets the uniqueness of its customers and promotes a truly effective school inclusion, consistent with social rights proclaimed in this century. We believe in the irreversibility of the inclusive process initiated a few decades ago and that obstacles to the practice of teaching students with ID are visible and possible to overcome if they are turned into challenges for all those who compose the school, the municipal education system and those who build public policies for inclusive education

No cotidiano da escola: o pensar e agir de jovens e adultos

The necessity of the view of the Youth and Adults Education (EJA) subjects beyond of their academic failures becomes imperative for a reconfiguration of this teaching modality. Thus, the compromise of this study is to go into these subjects‘ universe, give them a voice and, therefore, understand, in general, the web of relationships between these subjects and the school. It is understood that it is not possible to figure out the means attributed by the subjects without consideration, as an essential element, the social context in which such means has been built. For the development of this study, the methodology adopted was the ethnographic research. The procedures used for the data construction were the participative observation, the semi-structured interviews with a focal group, and the individualized semi-structured interviews. For the understanding of the data constructed in the field, the content analysis technique was used, which reach the expectations of an interpretative analysis. The observation occurred mainly in the classrooms, on a public school, located in a City of Natal/RN. The interviews were taken with a sample of eight students, males and females, with 25 to 60 year-olds. Such interviews highlight that for the young adult students, the school is much more than a place to learn. They realize such space as enabler of social interaction, as well as the possibility of rising through new professional horizons and, therefore achieve a social mobility. For the older students, mainly among women, the return to the school benches brings into the learning discourse, the desire of making new friends, having moments of meeting, chatting and relaxation, finally, to forget the problems of the day by day. The school quotidian observation allows a better understanding of the action of the subjects in relationship with the school practices. Finally, it can be affirmed that seeking for the school has not only the intention to recover the time lost in the childhood. Learning remains as a secondary goal. It does not matter whether they will be retained or promoted to the next level at the end of the academic year, what really matters is to be in school.