Programa informativo sobre deficiência mental e inclusão: efeitos nas atitudes e concepções de crianças não-deficientes.

Abstract

In order to realize a real inclusion, besides politics, structural and educational aspects, it is also essential to consider the subjective and relational aspects involved in the process. The lack of information and daily contact among people without disabilities with people with disabilities can contribute to the construction of preconception and difficulties in the social interactions between both. The present research describes conceptions and social attitudes of children without disabilities concerning mental retardation and inclusion, and analyzes the effects of an informative program about these aspects. The participants of this research were forty children from two the first grade classrooms in one public elementary school localized in Marília, State of São Paulo. One of the classrooms participated as a control group. Every child was submitted to a pre and a post-test in the form of individual interviews about the issue. They also participated in the application of childish scale on social attitudes in respect to the inclusion. The experimental group participated in the informative program, composed of thirteen weekly meetings of one hour and thirty minutes duration each in which it were discussed limitations and possibilities of people with mental retardation, specialized assistance, their scholarization and familiar and social aspects, utilizing a variety of ludic and educational strategies. The data collected during the interviews were categorized and analyzed in its content. From the scale, it was obtained individual scores. Statistics calculations were realized to verify the significance of the differences among groups. The results indicated that the informative program favored a higher understanding of the mental retardation, including a more realistic view of the possible limitations and abilities of people with disabilities as well as their needs of support and the environment transformation. Moreover, the perception of similarities among people with and without disabilities, social acceptance and favorable attitudes towards inclusion increased. The results also indicated the necessity to develop research and intervention about this issue along with the community, which leads to the construction of more appropriate conceptions, attitudes, positive feelings and inclusion facilitators since the childhood.