ANALYSIS OF TEACHING PRACTICES OF TEACHERS IN THE INCLUSION PROCESS OF STUDENTS WITH AUTISTIC SPECTRUM DISORDER IN THE FINAL YEARS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Autism Spectrum Disorder. Elementary Education. Teaching practices. Pedagogical support teacher. Teacher training.
In recent decades, Brazilian public policies and educational legislation, in accordance with international declarations, have established education as a fundamental right, ensuring that the target audience of special education has access, permanence, participation and learning in regular classes in regular schools. Considering this context, this research aimed to analyze how the inclusion of students with ASD enrolled in the 6th grade of Elementary School in a state public school located in the city of Sinop - MT, occurs based on the perception and practices of teachers. The study was guided by a qualitative approach, in the form of a case study. To this end, data collection was carried out through non-participant observations in two 6th grade classes in which there are students with autism enrolled, in addition to semi-structured interviews with eight teachers who teach these classes. The data were analyzed using the content analysis method described by Bardin (1997), with theoretical support on inclusive education and literature on ASD. The results of this investigation indicate that teachers recognize the importance of inclusive education and contribute to the inclusion processes according to the conditions offered by the school and their perceptions. Thus, they point out challenges, mainly related to effective strategies for working with autistic students who do not follow the learning flow planned for the class. It was also found that the work of the pedagogical support teacher, together with the teacher in the regular classroom, contributes to the development of more effective teaching practices for the schooling and inclusion process of students with autism, considering the possibility of pedagogical actions being more individualized. The educational resource resulting from this study consists of a pedagogical notebook with suggestions for adapted activities so that teachers in the final years of Elementary School can use it as a reference when developing activities for their students with ASD who are in the process of learning to read and write.