Ensino de relações numéricas no sistema remoto para duas alunas com com síndrome de Down

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate, through systematic replication, the use of teaching procedure in the acquisition of numerical relationships, based on the stimulus equivalence paradigm, in children with Down Syndrome, in remote teaching system. Two students from the initial years of Elementary School, from public and private schools, aged 8 and 9 years old participated in this research. A multiple-probe design was used between stimulus groups, that is, performance measures were collected before and after teaching each stimulus group. Before and after the application of the procedure, an assessment for naming numerical figures and corresponding quantities was conducted. An instrument was also applied at the beginning and at the end of the research in order to verify if there was a change in performance in other mathematical skills after the teaching procedure, for example, skills related to counting, sequence production and recognition of geometric figures. Three groups of stimuli were used, presented in visual or auditory modalities, composed of elements representing 1 to 9 units. The general procedure consisted of an initial contact with the family and also with the participant; application of a mathematical skills instrument and pre-training to familiarize the participant with the experimental task and also with the remote environment. The experimental tasks started with the assessment of AB/AC/BC/CB relationships (with the three stimulus groups). After this initial assessment, a pre-test of naming Arabic numerals and quantity was conducted. Then, the teaching procedure was conducted with the first group of stimuli: teaching AB and AC relationships and evaluation of emergence of BC and CB relationships. If the participant reached the established criterion, they would perform the evaluation again with the three groups of stimuli. If they showed lower performance, they would perform the teaching and testing of this group of stimuli again. The teaching and evaluation stages were carried out with the three stimulus groups. After completing teaching the three groups, the post-test of naming numerical digits and quantity, reapplication of the mathematical skills assessment instrument and assessment for naming generalization were carried out. Finally, the maintenance assessment of the four relationships was carried out for the three teaching groups. The results showed that one of the participants learned the AB and AC relationships, developed the BC and CB emerging relationships for the three groups of stimuli, obtained 100% of correct answers in the post-test of naming numerical digits and quantities and had a performance superior to 70% in naming generalization assessment. The other participant, who had the teaching procedure interrupted due to family demands, presented a performance higher than 50% of correct answers for taught and emerging relationships for the first and second groups of stimuli and obtained a performance equal to or less than 50% for these relationships in the third stimulus group. This study replicated and expanded the results of a teaching program of elementary numerical relationships based on stimulus equivalence, for students with Down Syndrome, in the remote teaching system.