Atuação de profissionais de apoio escolar na educação infantil com crianças com necessidades complexas de comunicação

Abstract

Currently, children with disabilities and complex communication needs have the right to enroll in Early Childhood Education, but little is known about the development of these children, as well as the support they are receiving in institutions, although they are the target audience for this type of education and as determined by legal documents, they have the right to education and the services and equipment necessary for their development. One of the services that must be offered by the Special Education modality to these children is school support professionals. Given this, the following questions arose: how has the process of including children with disabilities and complex communication needs in Early Childhood Education been occurring? More specifically, how has the school support professional service been offered for the development of children with disabilities and complex communication needs in Early Childhood Education? To answer these questions it was established as a general objective; analyze the service of school support professionals for the development of children with disabilities and complex communication needs in Early Childhood Education in the João Pessoa municipal education network, and as specific objectives; outline the profile of school support professionals in Early Childhood Education based on their work with children with disabilities and complex communication needs; identify the educational actions of school support professionals with children with disabilities and complex communication needs; and investigate their articulation with other professionals who make up Early Childhood Education institutions. This research is of a qualitative nature, field research type and is characterized as descriptive. The data collection instruments were the questionnaire, the interview and the observations, the latter recorded in a field diary. The research subjects were eight school support professionals who worked in three Early Childhood Education institutions. The collected data was analyzed using Bardin's thematic content analysis technique. The data was organized into two analysis categories, which in turn were divided into subcategories. The first category, Profile of School Support Professionals, was made up of the subcategories: Age and gender of School Support Professionals; Training, professional experiences and choice of profession; Length of experience and entry into the profession. The second category, Performance of school support professionals in the routine of Early Childhood Education institutions, was organized into the subcategories: Feeding Time; Moment of Rest; Personal Hygiene Activities; Directed activities and free activities; Communication; Coordination of actions between the School Support Professional and professionals from the researched institutions. The results indicated that school support professionals were primarily female, with the most varied ages, academic backgrounds and professional experiences. Among the common points is the motivation for choosing the role, which was mostly determined by financial need. In the institutions researched, their work took place in aspects related to child care and to a lesser extent on pedagogical issues. The articulations of actions between this professional and other professionals at the institutions were most notable with the classroom assistant and the teacher in the reference classroom. The results also highlighted the need for articulated actions aimed at children with disabilities and complex communication needs who, in terms of communication, received little assistance in these spaces. It is hoped that this research can contribute to future discussions about school support professionals in Early Childhood Education and especially in the care of children with disabilities and complex communication needs, topics that require further study.