Estratégias pedagógicas empregadas por professores de educação especial aos seus alunos com deficiência intelectual severa: Um estudo descritivo da prática docente

Abstract

This research addresses the thematic of education for individuals with severe intellectual disabilities from the pedagogical strategies used by Special Education teachers. The study is justified as it addresses the educational process of a scarcely investigated population, as well as because it combines two axes of discussion in an innovative way: Theory of Structural Cognitive Modifiability (SCM) developed by Reuven Feuerstein, and the education of severely impaired students. According this theory, the teacher acts as a mediator between the stimuli of the environment and the student. The objective is based on the description and analysis of educational process implementation of students with severe intellectual disabilities, focusing on the pedagogical strategies used by Special Education teachers in the city of Araraquara. The initial procedures included establishing the teachers’ profiles, mapping and location. Once the participants were defined, data collection was carried out using three instruments: semi-structured interviews with teachers, observation recorded in protocol and in a daily logbook. Data analysis was performed qualitatively in order to allow the extraction of details from the observed routine. Results provide a description of the four participating teachers’ work, revealing their views on their own practices, in addition to identifying their pedagogical strategies. As conclusion, we identify, among their actions, which ones may be related to the criteria of mediation. This study shows that associating Feuerstein’s ideas to teaching practices used with students with severe intellectual disabilities is possible, as certain procedures used by the observed teachers, bring essential requirements for mediation.