Caracterização da comunicação entre professor e alunos com e sem Transtorno do Espectro do Autismo

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by losses in the social and behavioral areas. Difficulties in the communication of autistic students occur to varying degrees, both in verbal and nonverbal ability. The objective of this study was to compare the communicative profile between teacher and students with and without Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Twenty-two students participated, eleven with diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (CTEA), eleven neurotypics (STEA) and their respective teachers. The students attended the 4th and 5th elementary year of public schools. 30-minute footage of a teacher-taught lesson was made as interactive in a regular classroom setting. For the analysis of the communicative profile of the students, the Protocol for Pragmatic Analysis (ABFW) was used, which consists in the characterization of the communicative acts presented by the individual in a situation of interaction with his teacher. The results showed that, in general, the number of communicative acts per minute was higher for STEA students. As for the communicative means, both CTEA and STEA groups used verbal means. As far as communicative functions were concerned, both groups had a predominance in the most interactive function. It was also observed that the teachers presented a greater number of communicative acts than their students and there was a positive correlation between the communicative acts of students and teachers, especially the CTEA students. It is concluded that the data confirm the hypothesis that CTEA students are able to establish communication with the teacher, but present unsatisfactory performances regarding the language repertoire when compared to STEA students. It should be noted that teachers have a very important role to play in functional communication. In this way, this study constitutes a relevant contribution to the scarce literature on the subject and provides data for educational interventions that help the communication of these students in the classroom.