Análise pedagógica crítica do trabalho da terapia ocupacional na educação inclusiva

Abstract

The present work sought to understand the extent to which Freire's pedagogy can contribute to the praxis of occupational therapy to overcome limits and difficulties experienced in the educational practice of a critical inclusion in the society of students target audience of special education. For this, a qualitative research was carried out through document analysis and critical discourse analysis. The theoretical framework of Paulo Freire and Latin American occupational therapists such as Galheigo stands out. Two documents were selected, a WFOT positioning statement called “Occupational Therapy Services in School Practice for Children and Youth” and the “Latin American Manifesto of Occupational Therapy and Occupation”, and their relationship with the Freireano concept of authentic praxis. The WFOT document, in spite of covering concepts from the biopsychosocial perspective and promoting practice based on occupation tends to be hegemonic, where it is up to the occupational therapist to contribute so that the student can perform and participate in the activities of the school routine. The manifesto, on the other hand, despite not mentioning issues related to education directly, proposes a call to occupational therapists to rethink their practices in a critical perspective, where inclusion does not mean adapting individuals so that they fit into specific occupations for the maintenance of the status quo and that end up contributing to exclusion even if unintentionally. We conclude that Freire's pedagogy contributes significantly to occupational therapy, helping for a critical reflection of professional performance. Southern occupational therapy was born in the field of social occupational therapy and it is more in touch with it. The field of education, however, still lacks publications on the subject.