Sistema de Suporte Multicamada aliado à consultoria colaborativa escolar para promover inclusão na Educação Infantil

Abstract

The break with the idea of homogeneity—always utopian but previously prevalent in politics, discourse, and classrooms—still poses challenges in schools. Due to the increased enrollment of Special Education students (PEE) in regular schools, heterogeneity in classrooms has become even more evident. This study originated from a request for assistance from a preschool in a municipality in the interior of São Paulo, which faced difficulties in dealing with students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Considering that universal strategies, which aim to benefit all students indiscriminately, have been increasingly emphasized in the special education literature as a way to better address the diversity of classroom demands, this study proposed exploring the combination of two frameworks: the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) and Collaborative. MTSS has been identified as a framework for addressing the specific needs of Special Education students, primarily through universal strategies that enhance the quality and effectiveness of classroom proposals for all students. These can be combined with more intensive levels of support when universal strategies prove insufficient. CSC involves partnerships between multidisciplinary professionals—in this case, a psychologist as the researcher—and educators to a collaborative action research project was proposed with the goal of developing and implementing intervention proposals in preschool classrooms using a hybrid CSC model based on the MTSS framework. The research was conducted in three preschool classrooms, involving three head teachers, one specialized education teacher, and the school’s pedagogical coordinator, encompassing 50 students aged four to five. Ten instruments were used for data collection by both the participating teachers. The implementation of MTSS, through collaborative consultation, identified and addressed 12 demands: seven were managed through universal strategies (Tier 1), while five were individualized (Tier 3), targeting a student with ASD and another child without a diagnosis, both requiring more intensive support. Despite the short intervention period of one trimester, the results showed behavioral changes among students, with improvements in social-emotional and behavioral skills, both in the student with ASD and in the other students. Improvements were also observed in teachers' skills related to classroom management and mediating interactions with students requiring more. The tiered approach to support was considered promising by teachers in classrooms with and without PEE students. It highlighted that increasing support levels may be necessary even in classrooms without students with disabilities or ASD. Aligning with the literature, the study concluded that, in the Brazilian context, combining the MTSS and CSC frameworks also proved effective in enhancing preschools' capacity to meet the needs of all students. Therefore, these frameworks should be incorporated into training programs for all professionals working in schools.