Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: GABRIELA DIAS DE MENEZES HEREDIA

Teacher mediation in storytelling for children with ASD in early childhood education

Autism Spectrum Disorder, Complex communication needs, Pedagogical Mediation, Storytelling, Early childhood education.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has as diagnostic criteria the presence of deficits in social interaction and communication, in addition to restricted interests and repetitive movements. The challenges for these students in the regular education system are diverse, especially for those with Complex Communication Needs (NCC). In recent years, there has been an increasing number of children with ASD enrolled in early childhood education in regular schools, meaning that teachers need to seek knowledge, strategies and resources, so that their pedagogical practice becomes more inclusive. Using stories as a pedagogical strategy in the learning process helps in the child's linguistic development and, consequently, in access to information and in their interaction with their interlocutors, at this moment, the teacher can act as a mediator intervening between the child and the story presented, causing it to be perceived in a different way than if it were simply exposed to the child, without this intervention. AAC can be used by teachers in their mediation practice to help children with ASD in this process, so that they are not only present in the classroom, but effectively participate at all times. This research aims to analyze the mediation strategies used by teachers when telling and retelling stories for children with ASD and NCC inserted in the regular classroom in the last phase of early childhood education. Regarding methodological aspects, this is a case study, as it allows the researcher to understand a phenomenon from its real context, it is qualitative research. Two teachers and two children diagnosed with ASD and NCC from two schools participated in the study. Filming took place in the children's classroom every fortnight. The videos are being transcribed and to respond to the research objectives, we will carry out two interrelated analyses, using Bardin's Content Analysis and a Likert-type Scale called the Mediated Learning Experience Assessment Scale (EAM). The initial results of the research indicate that the teacher at School 1 increased from 53 mediations in the first session to 57 in the third. This number directly reflects the mediation carried out with the child with ASD, who initially did not participate in the story and retelling, even though they were in the classroom. The teacher at School 2 also increased from 44 mediations in the first session to 50 in the third, this number mainly reflects the behavior of the child with ASD, who really enjoys the story time, and participates by saying the name of the images in the book several times, waiting for feedback from the teacher, which sometimes does not occur. Based on the results found, a digital manual will be developed aimed at teachers with the aim of presenting practices favorable to mediation when telling and retelling stories for early childhood education classes that have students with ASD and NCC.