Representações sociais de pais sobre o transtorno do espectro do autismo e inclusão escolar

Abstract

In order to investigate the school inclusion of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), this doctoral thesis aimed to analyze the parents’ Social Representations regarding the ASD and school inclusion, also identify the influence of these social representations in the process of school inclusion of these children who study in preschool until the third year of elementary school in the municipal school system of Dourados-MS. The specific objectives were: to map children with ASD enrolled in Municipal Early Childhood Education Centers and municipal schools of Dourados-MS; to learn about the parents’ social representations concerning the ASD and school inclusion; to describe how the process of school inclusion of children with ASD occurs from the parents’ perspective; to identify the facilitating and impending factors of the school inclusion process of children with ASD according to the parents’ perception. Therefore, Serge Moscovici’s Theory of Social Representations (TSR) was selected as theoretical framework. The project was submitted and approved by the Ethic Committee in Research Involving Human Beings (ECR), of the Federal University of Grande Dourados Foundation (FUGD). The locus of the research was the city of Dourados-MS and data collection was carried out at the Specialized Service for Multiprofessional Autism Care (SSMAC). This examination was characterized as a qualitative research of the descriptive type and the thematic analysis portrayed how the data analysis would be implemented. Fifteen people participated in the research, who were nine moms and six fathers of nine children with ASD enrolled in classes of preschool until the third year of Elementary School in schools in the municipal school system of Dourados-MS and who are submitted to therapeutic follow-up at SSMAC. The data collection techniques include: application of a questionnaire and conduction of a semi-structured interview. The results showed that the parents’ social representations about ASD before their children’s diagnosis were that autism was always manifested in a severe way and that the person would have many behavioral and cognitive impairments. Parents’ social representations of ASD after their children’s diagnosis are still in the process of being elaborated. Regarding the social representations of parents about school inclusion, the results pointed out to the presence of the support teacher and the quality of the children’s socialization as indicative of school inclusion.