A inclusão de crianças com Transtornos do Espectro do Autismo através de atividades compartilhada com seus pares

http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/1984686X9830Inclusion may be defined as having a full and active part in the life of the mainstream kindergarten or school. There are professional, political and ethical reasons for striving for inclusion and there are different approaches to how inclusive education and training of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) should be organized. The basis for the illustrative case excerpts presented here is a blend of social constructivism, event cognition and ecological psychology. Children with ASD vary widely and intervention has to be based on knowledge about development, learning and autism in general, as well as knowledge about the individual child and his or her proximal environment or ecology. Many children with ASD need some one-to-one education but participation in child-managed activities and events is a core element of true inclusion. The case excerpts illustrate principles for how this may be achieved.   http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/1984686X9830Inclusão pode ser definida como desempenhar um papel pleno e ativo no contexto regular da escola ou da pré-escola. Há razões profissionais, política e ética para lutar pela inclusão e existem diferentes abordagens que versam sobre como a educação inclusiva e o treinamento de crianças com transtornos do espectro do autismo (TEA) devam ser organizados. Os casos ilustrados no presente trabalho fundamentam-se em uma combinação de abordagens incluindo o construtivismo social, a cognição de eventos e a psicologia ecológica. As características de crianças com TEA variam amplamente e a intervenção deve ter como base o conhecimento sobre desenvolvimento, aprendizagem e o autismo em geral, assim como informações sobre a criança e seu ambiente proximal ou ecológico. Muitas crianças com TEA precisam de educação individualizada, mas a participação em atividades e eventos dirigidos pela criança é um elemento essencial da verdadeira inclusão. Os casos ilustram os princípios de como isso pode ser alcançado

The impact of a parenting guidance programme for mothers with an ethnic minority background

The current mixed-method study investigates the effects of a culturally adapted version of the International Child Development Programme (ICDP) with 135 mothers – 29 ethnic Pakistani mothers residing in Norway attending Urdu-language groups and a comparison group of 105 Norwegian mothers attending Norwegian-language groups. All mothers completed questionnaires on parenting and psychosocial health before and after attending the ICDP programme. In-depth interviews with a subgroup of 12 ethnic Pakistani mothers and 8 ethnic Norwegian mothers were analysed using thematic analysis. Before the ICDP programme, the Urdu-speaking mothers spent more time with the child, scored higher on distant child management and reported poorer mental health. Most changes over time were similar but significant for the Norwegian-speaking group only, which might imply that the minority mothers were in the process of change. In the interviews, the Urdu-speaking mothers’ emphasized enhanced communication and regulation, enhanced family relationships and life quality, whereas the Norwegian-speaking group told about increased consciousness and empowerment, and a more positive focus.Funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Children, Equality, and Social Inclusion

Strategies in conveying information about unshared events using aided communication

Describing events may be challenging for any child, but children who use communication aids may face unique linguistic, pragmatic, and strategic challenges in conveying information with the communication means they have available. This study explores strategies used by young, aided communicators when describing the content of a video unknown to their communication partners. The participants of the study were 48 aided communicators (aged 5;3-15;2) from nine countries and seven language groups and their communication partners (parents, professionals, and peers) who used natural speech. Descriptive and statistical analyses were utilized to investigate the relationships between individual characteristics, linguistic and non-linguistic factors, linguistic strategies, and performance in conveying the content of the video event. Analyses of the 48 videotaped interactions revealed the use of a variety of linguistic elements and multimodal strategies, demonstrating both creativity and challenges. Success in relaying messages was significantly related to age, mode of communication, and individual profiles, such as everyday communication functioning and comprehension of grammar. Measures of receptive vocabulary and non-verbal reasoning were not significantly related to communicative success. The use of shared context and negotiation of meaning of potentially ambiguous utterances demonstrate the shared responsibility of disambiguation and meaning construction in interactions involving aided and naturally speaking communicators.Peer reviewe

A tale of transitions: The challenges of integrating speech synthesis in aided communication

Many aided communicators have used low-tech communication boards for extended periods of time when they receive a voice output device. Integrating sophisticated technology into conversational interactions draws on a range of skills for both the aided communicator and their speaking partners. A range of individual and environmental factors influences the transition from low-tech to hi-tech communication aids. This chapter considers the impact of these factors on intervention and the developmental course of two individuals, Niall and Cara. The potential benefits of synthetic speech are clearly illustrated in the stories of Niall and Cara and by the literature. However, the scaffolding needed to support effective use of voice output must be carefully constructed, if these benefits are to be realized in ways that lead to genuine social inclusion and to meaningful, positive changes in the communication experiences of aided communicators. © 2010, IGI Global

Conversation Patterns between Children with Severe Speech Impairment and their Conversation Partners in Dyadic and Multi-person Interactions

Active engagement in interactions is crucial for the development of identity, social competence, and cognitive abilities. For children with severe speech impairment (SSI) who have little or no intelligible speech, active participation in conversations is challenging and can be critical for their social inclusion and participation. The present study investigated the conversational patterns emerging from interactions between children with SSI who use aided communication and typically speaking conversation partners (CPs) and explored whether active participation was different in interactions with different numbers of partners (dyadic versus multi-person interactions). An unusually large multilingual dataset was used (N= 85 conversations). This allowed us to systematically investigate discourse analysis measures indicating participation: the distribution of conversational control (initiations versus responses versus recodes) and summoning power (obliges versus comments). The findings suggest that (i) conversations were characterized by asymmetrical conversational patterns with CPs assuming most of the conversational control and (ii) multi-person interactions were noticeably more symmetric compared to dyadic, as children's active participation in multi-person interactions was significantly increased. Clinical implications and best practice recommendations are discussed.Peer reviewe

Evaluation of Follow-Up Effects of the International Child Development Programme on Caregivers in Mozambique

This is a non-final version of an article published in final form in Infants & Young Children, 27(2), 120-135. doi:10.1097/iyc.0000000000000006.Parenting programs have been used to good effect in many settings, yet few are systematically introduced and evaluated in developing countries. This study explores the relative long-term effect of participation in the International Child Development Programme (ICDP) in a group of caregivers in Mozambique. A quasi-experimental design was used to compare caregivers who had completed an ICDP course (n = 75) with a sociogeographically matched comparison group participants (n = 62) who had not followed any parenting program. Both groups completed a questionnaire about parenting, attitudes toward the child and the child’s behavior, self-efficacy, life quality, and mental health. The ICDP group reported better parenting skills, fewer conduct problems in their children, and better child adjustment than the comparison group, as well as a shift in physical punishment away from hitting. The ICDP group had higher self-efficacy scores, better health and life quality, and lower scores on mental health difficulties. The follow-up differences between caregivers who had and had not attended the ICDP course indicate that course attendance may result in observable benefits in parenting and mental health scores. The data are cross-sectional and the caregivers were interviewed postintervention only, and more research is therefore needed

Mothers and Fathers Attending the International Child Development Programme in Norway

Fathers are understudied in parent training studies. This study investigates whether mothers and fathers benefit equally from participating in the International Child Development Programme (ICDP) implemented as a community-wide programme in Norway in their parenting behaviour, perceived child difficulties and their psychosocial health. The questionnaire study used a pre-post design comparing 105 mothers and 36 fathers who attended a regular ICDP course. Results showed that the mothers and fathers differed on parenting behaviours prior to the course but showed similar changes, including on emotional and regulative aspects of parenting and autonomy supportive behaviours. However, only the mothers perceived a decrease in their child’s difficulties after the course while the fathers showed a greater increase in behaviours assumed to support the child’s meaning-making and in self-efficacy, and a greater decrease in anxiety after the course. ICDP courses appear to be a useful tool for supporting both mothers and fathers in their parenting role

Constructing narratives to describe video events using aided communication

Narratives are a pervasive form of discourse and a rich source for exploring a range of language and cognitive skills. The limited research base to date suggests that narratives generated using aided communication may be structurally simple, and that features of cohesion and reference may be lacking. This study reports on the analysis of narratives generated in interactions involving aided communication in response to short, silent, video vignettes depicting events with unintended or unexpected consequences. Two measures were applied to the data: the Narrative Scoring Scheme and the Narrative Analysis Profile. A total of 15 participants who used aided communication interacted with three different communication partners (peers, parents, professionals) relaying narratives about three video events. Their narratives were evaluated with reference to narratives of 15 peers with typical development in response to the same short videos and to the narratives that were interpreted by their communication partners. Overall, the narratives generated using aided communication were shorter and less complete than those of the speaking peers, but they incorporated many similar elements. Topic maintenance and inclusion of scene-setting elements were consistent strengths. Communication partners offered rich interpretations of aided narratives. Relative to the aided narratives, these interpreted narratives were typically structurally more complete and cohesive and many incorporated more elaborated semantic content. The data reinforce the robust value of narratives in interaction and their potential for showcasing language and communication achievements in aided communication.Peer reviewe

Evaluation of the International Child Development Programme (ICDP) as a community-wide parenting programme

Background: Many parenting programmes lack proper evaluation, especially under community-wide implementation. Objective: Examining the effectiveness of the eight-week International Child Development Programme (ICDP), implemented as a general programme. Methodology: Non-clinical caregivers attending ICDP (N = 141) and a non-attending community comparison group (N = 79) completed questionnaires on parenting, psychosocial functioning, and child difficulties before and after ICDP course. Analyses compare changes in scores for both groups over time. Results: The ICDP group showed more positive attitudes towards child management and reported better child management, improved parental strategies and less impact of child difficulties. Caregivers with low initial scores benefited most. The comparison group showed little change with a significant decrease in scores on the caregiver–child activity scale. Discussion: The results suggest that caregivers in the community who do not show clinical signs or have children with behaviour or other disorders, may benefit from participating in parent training based on ICDP