Implementação e avaliação empírica de programas com duas crianças surdocegas, suas famílias e a professora.

Abstract

This paper had the objective of analyze intervention procedures with deafblind children, their families and their classroom teacher, based on the van Dijk co-active approach and on the socio-historical perspective. The study was carried out for nine months, in the Federal District, at a special education public school and at the students residences. It is a case study with two female deafblind students, one of whom chronologically a 7-year old and the other 9-year old, their families and their classroom teacher. The students did not evidence any damages other than deafblindness. The research was divided into three studies: study A, with the teacher; study B, with the families; and study C, with the students. Three data gathering stages were carried out for each of the studies: initial assessment, intervention and final evaluation. The results obtained were analyzed according to the qualitative (content analysis) and quantitative (frequency and percentage) approach. The data from the three studies (A, B, and C) were analyzed and compared in relation to the behavior achieved by the teacher, families and students, in three distinct periods. The results of these studies indicated relevant progress for all the participants. Although this paper does not intend to show how all the construction of alternative communication occurs with deafblind children, based on the data obtained, it was evident that there was development in the gesture mode of receptive and expressive communication on the grounds of the set of communication alternative resources made available during the intervention. The results suggest that the strategies proposed by van Dijk in the 60s have proved effective when associated to classroom practices that favored the simultaneous use of several communication resources (sign language, gestures, coordinated body movement, speech, Tadoma, writing, etc.). The students, who initially presented elementary expressive communication (tantrums, crying, strident sounds, etc.), began to evidence new communicative competences at the end of the research, based on the use of signs, writing, dactylology, speech, gestures, etc. In addition, the performance of the students improved in terms of their participation in carrying out tasks, concentration, and communication, their having started to demand more information from their environment. It was observed in study B that it was common for the families to watch and emphasize the deficiency of their deaf-blind daughters; during the intervention, the parents started to verbalize the girls efficiency and potentialities. The data have shown that, at first, the parents and the teacher s reports on the students behavior and performance were inherent to their biological condition; later, parents and teacher began to consider their development as a result of the relation between the physical and socio-cultural conditions present in the interactions. Increased responsibility of the parents and the teacher with the children s development and performance, as well as their need to learn the necessary skills and techniques to ensure that the children will have access to information was observed. The process of in-service training (the teacher s training) demonstrated more efficiency when it involved theoretical aspects, demonstration of skills and opportunities for the teacher to observe, practice and reflect on her own teaching practice.