Entre a vivência com educadores e a proposta com alunos com Transtorno do Espectro Autista (TEA)

Abstract

Artistic practices can contribute to the development of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in specialized schools. However, the subject of TEA with arts still demands studies and teacher training in order to spread its use. This work aims to study the process of in-service training of a group of educators who works with students with ASD -moderate and severe level -, focusing on artistic practices with materials that enable sensory exploration. It is a qualitative study, an action research, based on historical and cultural theory. It was developed in an educational institution working with students with ASD in São Paulo, SP. Meetings and art workshops were held with educators, and some materials were used. At a second stage, educators performed the same activities with students. It investigated the process of contact, exploration, selection and acquisition of educators, the new experiences with the materials as a way to promote the approach and engagement in the activity with TEA students. The students focused on the study presented significant language limitations, restricted behaviors and little interest in educational proposals, hence the importance of seeking and providing sensory experiences that were exciting for them. Both workshops of educators and the students' experiences were recorded, photographed, and registered on a field diary. The data were analyzed in order to understand consonance and discrepancies, to better understand how the expansion of educators' repertoire reflected on the experiences they proposed while working with students with ASD. We hope this work contributes to the research on education for ASD, focusing on how educators can work with materials that allow different forms of sensory exploration in a playful way with students with ASD, moderate and severe level, considering the importance of establishing significant contacts with the world.