Grupo de estudos e apoio a profissionais e pais de pessoas com TEA: desafios da extensão universitária em atividades remotas

Abstract

This dissertation has aimed to understand the historical and practical path of the Study and Support Group for Professionals and Parents of People with ASD (Grupo de Estudos e Apoio a Profissionais e Pais de pessoas com TEA - GEAPPA), since its creation. Because GEAPPA is a university extension project of the Education College of Universdade Federal da Grande Dourados - UFGD, since 2008, it has been developing emotional support, counseling and continuing education activities for family members, health professionals (Psychology, Physiotherapy, among others) and education professionals who work in the Municipal, State and Private Education Networks in Dourados-MS and region, relevant to the theme: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). For that, we used a qualitative approach research based on Case Study Procedures. To this end, the following methodological procedures were used: a primary collection, that is, a documentary survey of the history of GEAPPA and a semi-structured interview with four participants of the group, to understand the memories and experiences that occurred in the first five years of its foundation. Subsequently, a secondary assembly carried out in two stages: the first stage of a qualitative approach, which aimed to monitor the activities promoted by GEAPPA during the period of execution of remote activities due to the pandemic context, caused by the COVID-19 virus, in the period from April to December 2021. And the second stage, through the application of a semi-structured online questionnaire to 87 GEAPPA members. The answers indicate that: due to the activities being carried out remotely, it made it possible for other people from Dourados and region to participate in the group, thus expanding knowledge about ASD. Finally, it was observed that GEAPPA throughout its history, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic period has presented itself as a space for study, continuing education, exchange of experiences and pedagogical practices from the perspective of school inclusion for students with ASD, in this way, allowing the transmission, to its target audience, of quality information and with security, an action that is so difficult to find on the educational network nowadays. Therefore, it is understood that GEAPPA fulfills the function of university extension as an interdisciplinary process of interaction between university and society.