Representações de brinquedos, relevos e descrição oral por crianças com deficiência visual
Resumen
The research objective was to analyze the repertory of representations of means of
transportation also called “vehicles” (Aircraft, bicycle, car, sail boat, train and helicopter)
expressed in modeling clay, drawing and oral description of children with visual deficiency
with the use of models like toys, or reliefs or the reading of the description of a mean of
transportation made by the child itself. Participating in the study were two boys with
congenital blindness (A and N) and two girls with low vision (G and K) with visual
deficiency without any other deficiency associated, with ages between six and nine years old.
The research was developed in two institutions frequented by the participants. One of them
non-governmental and the other municipal, both specialized in the caring of people with
visual deficiency, and localized in two midsize cities in the intern of São Paulo State, where
the participants were receiving caring. A period of familiarization between researcher and
participant preceded the data collect. The procedure of data collect was made in the following
sequence of steps: Repertoire Survey, Intervention, Replication of the repertoire survey and
creation of a mean of transportation. The Intervention consisted in presenting the participants
the models: toy, relief and orally reading the oral description made by the child itself. In front
of each model the children were requested to say the name of the object presented, play the
model on a sequence of activities in which they used the modeling clay, pencil and paper to
do a drawing and the oral production of the model which was worked on both previous
conditions (modeling and drawing). During the confection of the representations the children
answered questions about the characteristics and functions of the object presented. The data
analysis guided itself by: 1- The component elements featured by the children and the
characteristics attributed by them to the mean of transportation in the representations by
modeling, drawing and oral description; 2- the type of model used during the intervention:
toy, relief and reading of the oral description; 3- the creation of a vehicle using modeling clay,
drawing and description. The results showed that, in the absence of models, in dealing with
the component elements, the participants with low vision highlighted the external in their
productions, for example, wheel, door, while the blind highlighted the internal, like, seat,
steering wheel. However, when toys or reliefs were presented, the blind participants also
highlighted in their productions the external elements. In the oral description, it was noted that
all the children described above all the component elements and the aspects of the function
played by them or the vehicles. However, in the oral descriptions of toy models or relief, they
referred proportionally more times to the component elements. In reference to the used
models in the intervention, the results indicated modifications in the drawing representations,
modeling and oral description of the participants, if compared to the productions in the
absence of the models. When there was the presentation of the toys to the blind participant,
his productions in modeling clay were made on the same representation pattern of the toy,
while that the drawing was made in a superior point of view, that is an object seen from the
top. When there was the presentation of a relief model, the productions in drawing and
modeling clay of the blind participant followed the flat point of view of the relief
representation. When the reading of the oral description happened, the representations of the
blind participant didn’t change. As to participant K, with low vision, the representations
remained adopting the flat point of view for the three types of model. About the vehicle
creation step, highlight itself that participant K, with low vision, created a new mean of
transportation. The other participants (A, N and G) made means of transportation that had
been worked during the intervention. The results empirically proved that the productions of
the children with visual deficiency are different from the ones produced by children that can
see, seen that they organize the world the notice by other sensorial channels other than the
vision. This results were deep-set with the findings about the differences of production
between children with visual deficiency. The representations of the blind children and of the
ones with low vision considered different points of view; this results contribute to the
discussion about the comparing between psychic children, children with visual
deficiency/blindness and children with visual deficiency/low vision. It is believed that the
results obtained in this work contribute to the discussions, even sparse, about the
representations of children with visual deficiency.