ABSTRACT
RESUMO no contexto escolar, o parque infantil é um local importante para as crianças participarem de atividades lúdicas. Por meio das brincadeiras, as crianças adquirem conhecimentos, desenvolvem habilidades e capacidades, conseguem ter prazer e expressar seus sentimentos. Entretanto, para que o parque infantil possa favorecer o desenvolvimento das crianças, ele precisa estar acessível e seguro para todas as crianças, inclusive para aquelas com deficiência. O objetivo deste estudo foi o de avaliar a acessibilidade de um parque de uma escola de Educação Infantil e analisar a participação dos alunos com paralisia cerebral nas atividades lúdicas desenvolvidas nele. Participaram três crianças com paralisia cerebral, de quatro a seis anos, de uma escola de Educação Infantil de um município do interior do estado de São Paulo. A coleta de dados foi dividida em duas etapas: 1) avaliação da acessibilidade do parque infantil utilizando o Protocolo para avaliação da acessibilidade física em escolas de Educação Infantil; 2) observação das crianças com paralisia cerebral nas atividades lúdicas do parque infantil. Notou-se que o parque escolar não se encontra acessível para as crianças com paralisia cerebral; no entanto, estas participaram das atividades com o auxílio de professores e cuidadores. A falta de adequação nos equipamentos recreativos pode ter dificultado o melhor desempenho das crianças nas atividades do parque da escola. Há necessidade de formação dos profissionais para ampliar a participação da criança durante as atividades lúdicas e a adequação do parque, tornando acessível e seguro a todas as crianças, assim como é proposto pelo Desenho Universal.
ABSTRACT: In the school context, the playground is an important place for children to participate in recreational activities. Through play, children acquire knowledge, they develop skills and abilities, they can feel pleasure and express their feelings. However, for the playground to promote the development of children, it must be accessible and safe for all children, including those with disabilities. The aim of this research was to evaluate the accessibility of a school playground of Early Childhood Education and also to analyse the participation of children with cerebral palsy in recreational activities developed in it. The participants were three children with cerebral palsy, from four to six years old, from a school of Early Childhood Education in a municipality of São Paulo - Brazil. Data collection was divided into two stages: 1) evaluation of the accessibility of the playground using the Protocol for evaluation of physical accessibility in Early Childhood Education schools; 2) observation of children with cerebral palsy during play activities in the playground. It was noted that the playground is not accessible for children with cerebral palsy. However, they participated in activities with the help of teachers and caregivers. The lack of adequate recreational equipment may have hindered the best performance of the children in school playground activities. It is necessary to educate professionals to increase the participation of children during play activities and to adequate the playground, making it accessible and safe for all children, as it is proposed by the Universal Design.
ABSTRACT
Vocabulary learning reflects the language experiences of the child, both in typical and atypical development, although the vocabulary development of children who use aided communication may differ from children who use natural speech. This study compared the performance of children using aided communication with that of peers using natural speech on two measures of vocabulary knowledge: comprehension of graphic symbols and labeling of common objects. There were 92 participants not considered intellectually disabled in the aided group. The reference group consisted of 60 participants without known disorders. The comprehension task consisted of 63 items presented individually in each participant's graphic system, together with four colored line drawings. Participants were required to indicate which drawing corresponded to the symbol. In the expressive labelling task, 20 common objects presented in drawings had to be named. Both groups indicated the correct drawing for most of the items in the comprehension tasks, with a small advantage for the reference group. The reference group named most objects quickly and accurately, demonstrating that the objects were common and easily named. The aided language group named the majority correctly and in addition used a variety of naming strategies; they required more time than the reference group. The results give insights into lexical processing in aided communication and may have implications for aided language intervention.
Subject(s)
Communication Aids for Disabled , Communication Disorders/rehabilitation , Comprehension , Vocabulary , Adolescent , Case-Control Studies , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
Children with severe motor impairments are restricted in their manipulation and exploration of objects, but little is known about how such limitations influence cognitive development. This study investigated visual-constructional abilities in 75 children and adolescents, aged 5;0-15;11 (years;months), with severe speech impairments and no intellectual disabilities (aided group) and in 56 children and adolescents with typical development (reference group). Verbal comprehension, non-verbal reasoning, and visual-spatial perception were assessed with standardized tests. The task of the participants was to verbally instruct communication partners to make physical constructions identical to models that the partner could not see. In the aided group, 55.7% of the constructions were identical to the models participants described, compared to 91.3% in the reference group. In the aided group, test results explained 51.4% of the variance in construction errors. The results indicate that the participants' language skills were decisive for construction success. Visual-perceptual challenges were common among the aided communicators, and their instructions included little information about size and spatial relations. This may reflect less experience with object manipulation and construction than children with typical development, and using aided communication to instruct others to make three-dimensional constructions. The results imply a need for interventions that compensate for the lack of relevant experience.
Subject(s)
Communication Aids for Disabled , Communication Disorders/rehabilitation , Spatial Processing , Adolescent , Cerebral Palsy/physiopathology , Child , Child, Preschool , Communication Disorders/physiopathology , Female , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
A fundamental requirement of a supportive language development for young children who need aided communication is that an aided communication system is made available and its use is supported. There is limited information about the age at which children are typically provided with a communication aid or about how aided communication is used in everyday situations. Using questionnaire-based interview data, this study investigated (a) the pattern of provision of communication aids to 84 children and adolescents, (b) parents' and professionals' evaluation of the quality of communication across contexts, and (c) availability and use of aided communication in these contexts. The age at which the participants received their first aided system varied considerably across the group; however, most were considerably older than the age at which children with typical development usually begin to speak. Parents and professionals rated most everyday situations as good communication situations but reported that the participants did not have their main form of expressive language available in many of these situations, or did not use it much. Parents rated their child's education in relation to aided language positively, but many professionals indicated that they had limited knowledge about the participant's use of aided communication outside of the school environment, or about the parents' attitudes. The study gives insights into the language learning situation of children and adolescents who develop aided communication.
Subject(s)
Communication Aids for Disabled , Communication Disorders/rehabilitation , Language Development , Adolescent , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Internationality , Male , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
RESUMO: este estudo teve como objetivo analisar as estratégias utilizadas pelos comunicadores auxiliados e comunicadores naturalmente falantes ao instruir um parceiro de comunicação para a construção de modelos físicos. Os participantes foram 18 comunicadores auxiliados e 18 comunicadores naturalmente falantes de um grupo de comparação, com idade entre 5-15 anos, do Brasil e da Noruega. Além disso, três diferentes grupos de parceiros de comunicação naturalmente falantes participaram da pesquisa: pais, colegas e profissional. Em um primeiro momento, as crianças comunicadores auxiliados foram avaliadas. Em seguida, as tarefas de construção foram administradas. Nessa tarefa, os comunicadores auxiliados e as crianças do grupo de comparação tiveram que instruir o parceiro de comunicação para construir modelos físicos. Os participantes foram filmados ao fazer a construção e as gravações foram transcritas. Foi realizada a análise de conteúdo, de que resultou no delineamento de categorias, e os resultados foram analisados qualitativa e quantitativamente. Este estudo sugere que existem diferenças entre as estratégias utilizadas nas construções. Comunicadores auxiliados e seu parceiro de comunicação usam mais tempo para concluir as construções. No entanto, ambos os grupos usaram a linguagem para instruir o parceiro de comunicação e finalizar as construções.
ABSTRACT: This study aimed to analyze the strategies used by aided communicators and of naturally speaking communicators to instruct a communication partner for the construction of physical models. Participants were 18 aided communicators and 18 naturally speaking communicators of a comparison group, aged 5-15 years, from Brazil and Norway. In addition, three different groups of naturally speaking communication partners participated in the research: parents, peers and one professional. At first, the aided communicator children were evaluated. Next, the construction tasks were administered. In this task, aided communicators and comparison group had to instruct the communication partner to build physical models. Participants were filmed during the building and the recordings were transcribed. Content analysis was performed, which resulted in the delineation of categories, and the results were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. This study suggests that there are differences between the strategies used in the constructions. Aided communicators and their communication partners spent more time to complete the construction. However, both groups used the language to instruct the communication partners and finish the constructions.
