Síndrome de Asperger

: no caminho da inclusão

Abstract

In the recent years it has emerged some literature about the characteristics of children with Asperger Syndrome (AS), their special needs and strategies to implement at school in order to promote their learning and the development of skills in favor of their school’s inclusion. However, the generality of this literature is Anglo-Saxon and leaves some questions on how does the inclusion of children with such characteristics is achieved in Portuguese schools. This study aims to contribute to the knowledge of how is the school inclusion of a child diagnosed with SA in Portugal, through a case study. The specific objectives are to identify the personal and psychosocial characteristics of the child related to the diagnosis of AS, and how they manifest themselves in school context, and educational intervention’s strategies implemented to promote inclusion and educational success of children. The method includes a content analysis of two interviews with teachers (class and holder of Special Education) and the documents contained in the student's educational process. The results suggest that, in general, the child shows the characteristics expressed by children with this diagnosis in the school context, as referred by the literature, and show a diversity of educational strategies implemented by teachers. The results are discussed as well as limitations of the study.

Date of Award	12 Jun 2013
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Maria João Carapeto (Supervisor)