Aplicação do Proleca junto a um aluno com TEA no contexto escolar: estudo de caso

Abstract

The development of reading is considered a fundamental skill in the school environment because the acquisition of reading allows the construction of functional, social, and academic learning. While many students with typical development acquire these skills with relative ease, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often demonstrate difficulties in learning oral reading comprehension. Scientific literature has indicated that the practice of storytelling combined with dialogic reading and shared reading techniques has yielded positive results in this population, particularly in the use of shared attention, task engagement, and inference- making. Based on this, the present study aims to investigate the effects of the Reading and Communication Program for Children with Autism (Proleca) in the intervention of a student with autism in the school environment. The Proleca consists of a set of strategies from Reading to Engage Children with Autism in Language and Learning - Recall, combined with storytelling practices. The study involved a 10-year-old child with autism, attending the 5th grade of Elementary School I, and the researcher. In addition, regular education and special education teachers, as well as the student's family, participated by providing information about the child's reading competence. A quasi-experimental within-subject design of the A-B-A type was employed.The results indicate that with the intervention of the Proleca, the child significantly increased engagement time in the task and interacted more during storytelling. Similarly, there was an increase in correct spontaneous responses to the questions in the script developed for each book read. The findings also show higher scores in receptive and expressive vocabulary with the post-study assessment instruments. Finally, the child began to retell stories after the reading sessions. In light of the above, further investigations of Proleca in regular teaching contexts and with more participants, applied by teachers, are suggested to ensure an expressive use of intervention strategies within classrooms that can benefit all students.