Avaliação dos procedimentos de ensino informatizado e em papel na aquisição de leitura em crianças com autismo

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder whose aspects can have negative impacts on the academic success of individuals with autism, and it is common for them to have specific difficulties in arithmetic, reading and writing. The objective of the research was to evaluate the effects of teaching words on recombinative reading, using a computerized resource for teaching a set of words and paper for teaching another set of words. The research was carried out in a municipal public school in a medium-sized city located in the interior of the state of São Paulo. Four students with autism enrolled in the second year (P1) and third year (P2, P3 and P4) of elementary school participated in the research. Parents and/or guardians authorized participation in the research and the children agreed to participate. To evaluate the effects of the teaching procedure considering the use of different resources (computerized and paper), an alternating treatment design was used. The general procedure consisted of the following steps: 1) familiarization between participant and researcher; 2) application of standardized academic and behavioral repertoire assessment instruments; 3) general assessment of word reading and picture naming (pre-test); 4) teaching sets of words; 5) tests of emerging relationships 6) general assessment of word reading and picture naming (post-test); 7) application of assessment instruments. The results showed that the four participants learned the relationships between dictated words and pictures (AB) and between dictated words and written words (AC) and formed equivalent stimulus classes (relations between picture and written word BC and between written word and picture, BC). In the word reading probes, in the pre-test, participants P1, P3 and P4 presented intermediate or high percentages (from 50% to 100%) of correct answers in naming the words from the first set (“mala” suitcase, “cama” bed and “boca” mouth), and low or intermediate (from 0% to 66.7%) in the second set of words (“mago” mage, “bolo” cake and “lago” lake). Participant P2 correctly named 83.3% of the words in the two pre-test attempts of the second set. In relation to the low performances obtained in reading the words from the second set, it can be inferred about the type of stimulus used, the spelling of the words, which had the letter “g”, as well as the attribution of meaning of these words, which have not yet had emerged to the participants. After teaching, it was verified that, in the naming probes of words from the first set, all participants presented intermediate or high percentages (from 66.7% to 100%). In the second set, participants P1, P2 and P4 showed intermediate or high performance (from 66.7% to 100%) in reading the words, while participant P3 named 16.7% of the words correctly. There were no differences in performance between the two forms of teaching presentation. Based on the data obtained, it is suggested that studies be developed that use procedures that favor recombinative reading.