Identificação e avaliação funcional de crianças indígenas Kaiowá e Guarani com deficiência visual e paralisia cerebral de 0 a 5 anos

Abstract

The identification of visual impairment during the first infancy among indigenous population is still an unprecedented and preponderant thematic for the intervention during the first years of life, considering the better possibilities of learning and development of such children. Thus, this research aimed to evaluate the functional vision and the global development of some indigenous children from Kaiowá and Guarani ethnicities from the indigenous village from Dourados/MS, both with cerebral palsy in an average of age from zero to five years old. The specific aims were: (a) to present a literary review related to indigenous handicapped children; (b) to map up the indigenous children from Kaiwoá and Guarani ethnicities, those born with any deficiency from 2099 to 2014 aiming to identify the frequency of visual impairment and cerebral palsy; (c) to adequate the protocols and instruments for the functional assessment of the vision and of the global development based on the peculiarities of the Kaiwoa and Guarani indigenous culture (d)to assess the functional vision and the global development through the ludic diagnosis adapted to the indigenous context and (e) to perform a case study with a preschool indigenous student under the plan for pedagogical orientation for meeting the specific needs inside both - the common classroom and the specialized educational center. This study is based on the social-ecological perspective of Bronfenbrenner, in a ethnographic characteristic, and counted with the active participation of the children´s families in the evaluation process. The evaluation of the only pre-school child counted with the participation of teachers and parents. The methodological cycle of this study encompassed a bibliographic study about the theme, initial mapping of the indigenous children with any suspect of deficiency born between 2009 and 2014, adaptation of the functional evaluation protocols, application of a survey for the perspective evaluation of the parents, functional evaluation of the vision and global development, case study and pedagogical guidelines for the pre-school child. The results showed that (a) the indigenous children with visual deficiency do not go under any ophthalmologic evaluation nor visual system evaluation; (b) there is a lack of a Precocious Intervention Program in both fields – indigenous health and special education and (c) the protocols translated to the parents’ language and the resources/materials adapted to the children’s context enabled the researchers to identify the specific needs from the situation of deficiency, also for the reflection about the dos and the specific difficulties and needs of the student. It also brought to light some suggestions related to activities, adaptation of the resources and pedagogical materials and, mainly, strategies of interaction, communication and language and the functional use of the vision for optimizing the global development for better opportunities of learning.