Comunicação, colaboração e desenvolvimento: profissionais e famílias de alunos com necessidades educativas especiais

Family’s involvement in their pupils’ life is crucial, especially if we consider disabledadolescents. During the school year 2010/11, the increase of the number of young peopleregistered in the high school of Oliveira do Douro and sheltered by Portuguese special needs’legislation led to the reorganization of the school’s specialized services in order to accomplishthe emerged needs. Those services are guided by a biopsicosocial approach, which highlightsan holistic and comprehensive perspective of the individuals, considering their physic,psychological and social dimensions. The collaboration with families is a central strategy thatenables the application of such theoretical model. This study presents the contactsimplemented by the special education’s teacher and the school psychologist with the families ofdisabled students. Using frequency analysis, it’s considered the evolution of these contactsduring the school year, with and without specifying the type of service. The results’ discussionprovides guidelines for future practice and research.