A presente pesquisa teve por objetivo compreender de que forma o Atendimento Educacional Especializado/Sala de Integração e Recursos Visual colabora no processo de escolarização das pessoas com deficiência visual. A análise privilegiou os possíveis elos existentes entre o atendimento educacional especializado com o ensino regular. As questões que instigaram a autoria do presente estudo foram as seguintes: como realizar tarefas para alunos com deficiência visual num currículo que valora a escrita em detrimento de outras formas de aprendizagens? Como vem sendo realizado o trabalho da Sala de Integração e Recursos – SIR Visual, no contexto da Rede Municipal de Ensino de Porto Alegre? A pesquisa empírica ocorreu em uma escola da Rede Municipal de Ensino de Porto Alegre, a qual tem priorizado às políticas de inclusão escolar referentes ao Atendimento Educacional Especializado, considerando a forma que este serviço foi sendo realizado ao longo dos anos, identificando aspectos a partir das reflexões do pensamento sistêmico de Gregory Bateson e da teoria histórico-cultural de Lev Vigotsky. A pesquisa optou pela abordagem qualitativa, utilizando os seguintes instrumentos metodológicos: entrevista semiestruturada, observação participante e o diário de campo. A análise dos dados constatou a importância do atendimento educacional especializado, mais especificamente a Sala de Integração e Recursos – Visual no processo de inclusão escolar dos alunos com deficiência visual, orientando, supervisionando e possibilitando um trabalho adequado às necessidades de pais, alunos e, principalmente, ao professor da sala de aula regular. Também ficou evidenciada a dificuldade de interlocução entre os professores coordenadores da Sala de Integração e Recursos com os professores da sala de aula regular. / This research aimed to understand how the Educational Service Specialist / Integration Room and Visual Resources collaborates in the schooling process of visually impaired people. The analysis favored potential existing links between specialized education with mainstream education. The issues that prompted the authors of this study were: how to perform tasks for students with visual impairment in a curriculum that values the writing over other forms of learning? As has been done the work of the Integration and Resource Room - SIR Visual, within the Municipal School of Porto Alegre? The empirical research took place in a school of the Municipal System of Porto Alegre Education, which has prioritized the school inclusion policies for the Educational Service Specialist, considering the way that this service was being held over the years, identifying aspects from reflections of systems thinking of Gregory Bateson and cultural-historical theory of Lev Vygotsky. The research opted for a qualitative approach using the following methodological tools: semi-structured interviews, participant observation and the field diary. Data analysis found the importance of specialized educational services, specifically the Integration and Resource Room - Visual in the process of school inclusion of students with visual impairment, guiding, supervising and providing an adequate job to the needs of parents, students, and especially , the teacher of the regular classroom. It was also demonstrated the difficulty of communication between the coordinating teachers of the Integration and Resource Room with teachers from the regular classroom.

Background: Worldwide one in twelve people are living with diabetes and one in two people do not know they have diabetes. Currently large numbers of the older people live in residential care homes in the UK, and up to one in four older people living in residential care homes present with diabetes. Low vision is one of the complications associated with diabetes in older people. In those aged 75 and over, one in five, and in those aged over 90, one in two people are affected by low vision and they are at an increased risk of developing other eye diseases. Within 20 years of diagnosis nearly all people with Type 1 and almost two thirds of people with Type 2 diabetes (60%) have some degree of diabetic retinopathy. Aims and Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the issues and problems faced by older people living in residential care homes with low vision and diabetes; to evaluate health professionals’ knowledge and understanding of the impact of low vision associated with diabetes in older people living in residential care homes; and to develop an educational toolkit which aimed to educate health care assistants about low vision and diabetes. Methods: This study is an exploratory investigation of older people living in residential care homes with low vision and diabetes. Adopting an open-ended qualitative approach using focus groups, interviews and a health professional’s survey, 116 participants were involved. These included GPs, ophthalmologists, nurses, optometrists, health care assistants and older people with low vision and diabetes. The data was analysed thematically. The educational toolkit was developed in the second part of this study, and 20 healthcare assistants were trained using this toolkit. Their knowledge was tested before the training, immediately after the training and one month after the initial training. Following Kirkpatrick’s model, the skills and practical use of the educational toolkit was assessed using an open-ended qualitative approach. Results: The results found that many older people and the health care assistants had the perception that low vision was a normal ageing process and could not be rectified. The study found that there was evidence to suggest that eye health was not considered to be a priority; instead, it was considered to be a natural part of the ageing process. The results found that 82% of the HCAs had not had any training in the area, and more than half of the nurses and GPs did not have sufficient knowledge of low vision and diabetes. After training, however, their knowledge was increased. This suggested that low vision and diabetes toolkit training could be used to educate healthcare assistants on a regular basis. The study also found that knowledge does decline over time, and therefore regular training for HCAs is required in order to maintain eye health and diabetes in older people, as well as improving their quality of life. Conclusion: In the research findings it was found that 50% to 70% of low vision was preventable or treatable if detected in its early stages and could be avoided by simply wearing appropriate spectacles, or possible surgery. However, in order to identify these 50% to 70% with low vision, everyone concerned should be able to recognise the signs and symptoms of preventable low vision, particularly health care assistants, as according to this study, health care assistants spent large amount of time in the residential care homes compared to the other health professionals.

This abstract will provide a brief overview of the following literature review. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, and is a rapidly growing public health concern, as an increasing number of the world’s population is living well beyond 65 years of age. Alzheimer’s Disease is a progressive neurodegenerative condition, first presenting with mild memory impairment, and advancing over the course of years to profound memory loss, complete immobility, lack of speech and facial recognition. Currently, only palliative treatments are available to delay the progression of the disease, and lessen the severity of the cognitive impairment. However, until a cure is available, researchers and physicians have turned their attention to alternate therapies, one of the most important being exercise. Research efforts have now turned to examining the relationship between the positive physiological responses to exercise, and attenuation of the classic neurodegenerative patterns in patients with AD. The current study examined the effects of aerobic exercise, strength training and resistance-based exercise, and multimodal exercise (containing both of the aforementioned exercise modalities) on the physical and mental/cognitive health of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD. Thus far, exercise therapy has proven to be of great potential value as a supplement to pharmacological treatment, as well as a stand-alone prescription for patients with a milder form of cognitive impairment due to the onset of a neurodegenerative condition. The benefits can be grouped into two categories, cognitive and physiological. The effects on cognitive function range from improved memory to increased independence in activities of daily living, and the physiological effects range from improved clearance of amyloid beta plaques in the brain, to reduction of neuroinflammatory processes. The available research on this subject is extensive, covering a variety of exercise modalities at different intensities, and taking into consideration effects on individuals with MCI, early AD, and advanced AD. The general consensus is that continued, long-term adherence to an appropriate exercise routine can delay cognitive decline, and help patients with neurodegenerative diseases to live independently for a longer period of time. The improvements in cognition, memory, immediate recognition, and other related cognitive functions are mostly attributed to the heightened health of the brain tissue and neural circuitry due to exercise. Exercise (mainly aerobic) enhances cerebral blood flow, improves cardiovascular health, reduces the risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus, and has several other important effects that prevent the formation of pathological biomarkers of AD and promote neurogenesis. Atrophy of regions such as the hippocampus, amygdala, and cerebral cortex can be prevented, and reversed to a certain extent, as a result of long-term exercise therapy. The results of current research could assist physicians and caregivers to provide the appropriate type and intensity of exercise to patients with early, intermediate, and advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Proactive exercise therapy for individuals with a known family history of neurodegenerative disease may help to maintain brain volume, specifically in the hippocampus, and reduce the risk of severe cognitive impairment. Future directions for research include examining the combined effects of pharmacological treatment and exercise therapy, and determining the average amount of time by which exercise delays the progression of early stage cognitive impairment to advanced impairment. Key Terms: aerobic exercise, Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid plaque, hippocampus, mild cognitive impairment, neurodegeneration, neurofibrillary tangle

Preterm birth (defined as birth before 37 weeks) is a leading cause of neurocognitive impairment in childhood, including difficulties in social cognition and executive function. Microstructural divergence from typical brain development in the preterm brain can be quantified using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) tractography during the neonatal period. The relationship between dMRI tractography metrics and later cognitive difficulties remains inconclusive. A general measure of white matter microstructure (gWM) offers a neural basis for cognitive processes in adults, however it remains unclear when gWM is first detectable in the developmental trajectory. Eye-tracking is a technique which assesses eye-gaze behaviour in response to visual stimuli, which permits inference about underlying cognitive processes, such as social cognition and executive function in infancy. The primary aims of this thesis were to test the hypotheses: dMRI tractography reveals significant differences in tract-average fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) between preterm and term infants, and variance in tract-average FA and MD is shared across major tracts. Secondly, infants born preterm have altered social cognition and executive function compared to term born peers, assessed by eye-tracking and finally, neonatal MRI gWM is associated with cognitive function in infancy. Preterm (birth weight ≤ 1500g) and term infants (born ≥ 37 weeks’ post-menstrual age [PMA]) were recruited and underwent a MRI scan at term equivalent age (between 38 - 42 weeks’ PMA) and an eye-tracking assessment six to nine months later. Preterm infants were assessed at two years using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition (BSID-III). dMRI tractography metrics were generated using probabilistic neighbourhood tractography (PNT) in eight pre-defined tracts-of-interest. Principal component analyses (PCA) were used to determine the correlations between the eight tracts-of-interest for four tract-averaged water diffusion parameters. dMRI metrics were compared to the eye-tracking performance and two year outcome data. Quantitative microstructural changes were identifiable within the preterm brain when compared to infants born at term. PCA revealed a single variable that accounts for nearly 50% of shared variance between tracts-of-interest, and all tracts showed positive loadings. Eye-tracking revealed group-wise differences in infant social cognition, attributable to preterm birth, but executive functions inferred from eye-tracking did not differ between groups. dMRI tractography metrics within the neonatal period did not relate to later outcome measures. This thesis shows that variance in dMRI parameters is substantially shared across white matter tracts of the developing brain and suggests that anatomical foundations of later intelligence are present by term equivalent age. Social cognition is altered by preterm birth, however social cognitive ability in infancy is independent of gWM.

Deficits in a number of cognitive domains have been associated with core symptoms of schizophrenia, including working memory, attention, motor skills, reaction time, episodic memory and executive function. Bipolar Disorder is also associated with cognitive impairment; however the level of impairment appears to be less severe than that seen in schizophrenia. A translocation (t(1;11)) containing the Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) gene has been found to be highly associated with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. As such, this gene has been the focus of much research and to date DISC1 has been found to be associated with brain development, brain structure and the glutamate system - all key factors in current models of schizophrenia and affective disorders. The aim of this PhD is to identify cognitive domains that are differentially impaired or unimpaired in a large Scottish family, some of whom carry this rare DISC1 variant, a balanced translocation (t (1;11) (q 42; q14.3)), that segregates with schizophrenia and affective disorders, as well as psychiatric patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and healthy control subjects. All participants have undergone standardised cognitive assessments to measure premorbid I.Q. (NART), current I.Q. (WASI) verbal memory, working memory, verbal fluency, processing speed, motor skills, executive function (BACS) and selected CANTAB tasks to assess simple and five-choice reaction time. Polygenic risk profile scores and self-report questionnaire data have also been investigated. Results indicate an impact of the DISC1 t(1;11) translocation on general intelligence and attention and processing speed. Significant differences were also identified between DISC1 t(1;11) carriers and non-carriers on self-report questionnaire data. Mean scores for polygenic risk for bipolar disorder were significantly different between DISC1 t(1;11) carriers and non-carriers and polygenic risk for schizophrenia was significantly associated with symptom severity, as measured by the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS). Within the patient groups, a measure of processing speed (the token motor task) was found to be significantly different between those with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and there was also a trend for attention and processing speed. As expected, I.Q. was significantly different between patients and control participants. Clinical ratings were significantly associated with neuropsychological and self-report measures. Polygenic risk for major depressive disorder was found to be significantly associated with impaired general intelligence (current IQ) and slowed reaction time in patients who were not currently depressed, suggesting there may be genetic risk markers in this population which impact on cognition. This is a novel finding and further suggests the possibility of a biological component related to the genetics of depression. In conclusion, and in line with the literature, psychosis has a negative impact on cognition with reduced performance across several neuropsychological tasks between patient groups, with schizophrenia patients performing worse than patients with bipolar disorder and both patient groups performing worse than healthy control participants. Cognition is markedly more impaired in DISC1 t(1;11) translocation carriers and especially in those with psychosis. The DISC1 t(1;11) translocation and psychosis may therefore confer a “double hit” on cognition - in addition to psychosis itself - which is known to impair cognitive function, significantly increasing the level of cognitive impairment and increasing the risk for psychosis in general.

abstract: Identification of primary language impairment (PLI) in sequential bilingual children is challenging because of the interaction between PLI and second language (L2) proficiency. An important step in improving the accurate diagnosis of PLI in bilingual children is to investigate how differences in L2 performance are affected by a length of L2 exposure and how L2 assessment contributes to differentiation between children with and without PLI at different L2 proficiency levels. Sixty one children with typical language development (TD) ages 5;3-8 years and 12 children with PLI ages 5;5-7;8 years participated. Results revealed that bilingual children with and without PLI, who had between 1 and 3 years of L2 exposure, did not differ in mean length of utterance (MLU), number of different words, percent of maze words, and performance on expressive and receptive grammatical tasks in L2. Performance on a grammaticality judgment task by children with and without PLI demonstrated the largest effect size, indicating that it may potentially contribute to identification of PLI in bilingual populations. In addition, children with PLI did not demonstrate any association between the length of exposure and L2 proficiency, suggesting that they do not develop their L2 proficiency in relation to length of exposure in the same manner as children with TD. Results also indicated that comprehension of grammatical structures and expressive grammatical task in L2 may contribute to differentiation between the language ability groups at the low and intermediate-high proficiency levels. The discriminant analysis with the entire sample of bilingual children with and without PLI revealed that among L2 measures, only MLU contributed to the discrimination between the language ability groups. However, poor classification accuracy suggested that MLU alone is not a sufficient predictor of PLI. There were significant differences among L2 proficiency levels in children with TD in MLU, number of different words, and performance on the expressive and receptive grammatical tasks in L2, indicating that L2 proficiency level may potentially impact the differentiation between language difficulties due to typical L2 acquisition processes and PLI. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Speech and Hearing Science 2012

In the economy intangible assets have become more and more important. Financial standards have evolved in order to capture this change and to be relevant. IFRS are international financial accounting standards with the goal to provide investors relevant information in their investment decision process.  Since 2005, all listed companies in the European Union have to implement the IFRS 3; Forcing companies to write off their goodwill instead of amortizing it. The goal of this measure was to provide investors more information about management’s investment decisions. Beside, companies proceed to firm acquisitions in order to gain a competitive advantage. Such events are important in companies’ life and are impacting the potential value creation. Out of that reason, investors are reacting to acquisition announcements. Moreover, the market reacts to goodwill impairments.   The purpose of this research was to examine to what extent the market reaction of an acquisition announcement can predict goodwill impairment in the two following years. This study was conducted using a quantitative method; focusing on aspects of the financial statements of 43 companies from the Nordic countries that acquired companies in the G20 countries. A Spearman’s correlation, logistic and linear regressions were pursued in order to observe the correlation and the strength of the relationship between goodwill impairment and the market reaction.   The findings imply that the market reaction can predict goodwill impairment in the first year after an acquisition in case of positive market reaction. Additional to that, it can also predict the amount of impairment in the second year, but not whether the impairment is happening. Also, there is a correlation between the first and second year goodwill impairments. However, the results of this research indicate that neither the industry, financial or non-financial, nor the deal value can predict goodwill impairment after an acquisition.

Bakgrund: Goda sociala relationer är i viss mån grundläggande för ungdomars identitetsutveckling. Utveckling av deras sociala förmågor har även positiva effekter på deras psykiska hälsa. För ungdomar med hörselnedsättning kan sociala relationer bli svåra eftersom de lever i ett samhälle där hörande kommunicerar med talad svenska och döva kommunicerar med svenskt teckenspråk. Ungdomar med hörselnedsättning har inte samma förutsättningar som hörande och det kan därför vara svårt för dem att hänga med i sociala samspel och skapa sociala relationer till andra. Om ungdomar med hörselnedsättning inte kan teckenspråk har de inte heller förutsättningar för att hänga med i det sociala samspelet som finns i dövsamhället. Den teoretiska inramningen för studien är James Marcias teori om identitetsutveckling och socialkonstruktionistisk teori. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur ungdomar med hörselnedsättning upplever sin psykosociala hälsa utifrån sina sociala relationer och hur de påverkar deras möjligheter till identitetsutveckling. Metod: Kvalitativ metod användes i studien och data samlades in med nio semistrukturerade intervjuer med ungdomar med hörselnedsättning i åldrarna 12–16 år. Resultatet har analyserats med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat och slutsatser: Under analysen framkom två kategorier; kompisar är viktiga men det är svårt och kommunikation är bra men den fungerar inte alltid. Ungdomarna upplevde att de hade kompisar men att de fanns i skolan och att de inte umgicks med dem på fritiden. De berättade också om hur kommunikationen påverkade deras möjligheter att kunna hänga med i det sociala samspelet. Ungdomarna undvek vissa situationer och höll sig tillbaka på grund av att de inte hörde allt som sades vilket de upplevde som pinsamt, jobbigt eller att de såg dumma ut. På grund av olika kommunikationssätt kan ungdomar med hörselnedsättning bli begränsade och få mindre möjligheter till sociala relationer och på så sätt kan de ges mindre utrymme till utveckling av sin identitet, sina sociala förmågor och att få en bra psykisk hälsa. Resultatet visar att samhällets strukturer begränsar vilka möjligheter till utveckling av identitet och sociala relationer som ungdomar med hörselnedsättning får. / Background: Good social relationships are a fundamental part of adolescents identity development, development of their social skills and have positive effects on their mental health. For adolescents with hearing impairment, social relationships can be difficult because they live in a society where hearing people communicates with spoken Swedish and deaf people communicates with sign language. Adolescents with hearing impairment don´t have the same ability as hearing people and it can for that reason be difficult to keep up in social interaction and create social relationships with others. If adolescents with hearing impairment don´t know sign language they also have no prerequisites for the social interaction that exists in the deaf community. The theoretical framework for the study is James Marcia's theory of identity development and social construction theory. Aim: The aim of the study is to investigate how adolescents with hearing impairment experience their psychosocial health based on their social relationships and how they affect their opportunities for identity development. Method: Qualitative methodology was used in the study and data was collected with nine semi structured interviews with adolescents with hearing impairment aged 12-16 years. The result has been analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Results and conclusions: During the analysis two categories emerged; friends are important, but it is difficult, and communication is good, but it does not always work. The adolescents experienced that they had friends but that they were at school and did not spend time with them in their spare time. They also talked about how communication affected their opportunities to be able to keep up with social interaction. The adolescents avoided certain situations and retreated because they did not hear everything that was said which they felt as embarrassing, difficult or that they looked dumb. Due to different communication needs, adolescents with hearing impairment can be limited and have less opportunities for social relationships, thus providing less space for the development of their identity, social skills and good mental health. The results show that society´s structures limit what opportunities for development of identity and social relationships that adolescents with hearing impairment may have.

Submitted by Claudia Pimenta (claudia.machado@ifmg.edu.br) on 2018-01-04T19:56:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE_COMPLETA_Cláudia M F Machado Pimenta.pdf: 3526496 bytes, checksum: 7af8c0d53e1efc5fe3ab409d440c897d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Auxiliadora da Silva Lopes (silopes@ufba.br) on 2018-01-08T14:46:33Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE_COMPLETA_Cláudia M F Machado Pimenta.pdf: 3526496 bytes, checksum: 7af8c0d53e1efc5fe3ab409d440c897d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-01-08T14:46:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE_COMPLETA_Cláudia M F Machado Pimenta.pdf: 3526496 bytes, checksum: 7af8c0d53e1efc5fe3ab409d440c897d (MD5) / Este trabalho de tese traz como objeto de estudo o acesso e a permanência de estudantes com deficiência visual em uma Instituição de Educação Superior (IES) e tem, como objetivo geral analisar as condições de acesso e de permanência de estudantes com deficiência visual na Educação Superior, a partir da percepção desses estudantes. As questões que permeiam a problemática da investigação são: Como tem se caracterizado o acesso e a permanência de estudantes com deficiência visual nas IES brasileiras? Que fatores vêm interferindo nesse processo? A busca de resposta para essas questões que tratam da inclusão educacional na Educação Superior deu voz aos estudantes, em continuidade da atuação profissional da pesquisadora e culminou neste trabalho de tese. A opção metodológica foi pela pesquisa qualitativa, do tipo estudo de caso, em função da contemporaneidade do tema e por entender que o mergulho profundo e exaustivo proposto por este tipo de metodologia pode ampliar a compreensão da pesquisadora sobre as reais privações, características e concepções dos estudantes com deficiência visual quanto ao seu acesso e permanência na Educação Superior. Os instrumentos de coleta dos dados foram entrevistas semiestruturadas com estudantes com deficiência visual, formulário de caracterização da instituição investigada, roteiro para observações indiretas e registros fotográficos com imagens tiradas pelos estudantes com deficiência e pela pesquisadora. Este trabalho de tese teve, como lócus pesquisado, um Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Minas Gerais e como sujeitos do estudo, os principais atores deste processo, que são os estudantes com deficiência visual. Foi possível averiguar a existência de algumas ações e práticas docentes de forma tímida e isolada que vêm possibilitando a permanência destes estudantes na instituição. No entanto, foi constatada ausência de acessibilidade em prédios da IES, o que pode ser compreendido como descumprimento da legislação e reflexo da falta de prioridade institucional para a inclusão desses estudantes, em relação às ações e práticas necessárias para o seu pleno desenvolvimento e em relação à formação acadêmica deste público. A pesquisa revelou a urgência de maior eficácia e efetividade das ações preconizadas pelas políticas públicas existentes, no sentido de torná-las mais consistentes e estruturantes de ações e de práticas, coerentes e convergentes com as demandas da sociedade contemporânea e com os princípios da educação inclusiva, em direção a uma redescoberta do papel social das instituições educacionais. / ABSTRACT This thesis aims to study the access and permanence of students with visual impairment in a Higher Education Institution (HEI) and has as general goal to analyze the conditions of access and permanence of students with visual impairment in Higher Education, based on the perception of these students. The questions that permeate the research problem are: How has the access and permanence of students with visual impairment been characterized in Brazilian HEIs? Which factors have interfered in this process? The search for answers for these questions regarding to educational inclusion at Higher Education that give voice to these students in continuity of the researcher's professional activity, and culminated in this work of thesis. The methodological option was qualitative research, a study case type, in function of the contemporaneousness of the theme and for understanding that the deep and exhaustive diving proposed by this type of methodology can broaden the researcher's understanding of the real deprivations, characteristics and conceptions of the students with visual impairment regarding their access and stay in Higher Education. Data collection instruments were semi-structured interviews with students with visual impairment, characterization form of the investigated institution, script for indirect observations, and photographic records with images taken by students with disabilities and by the researcher. This work of thesis had, as researched locus, a Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of the state of Minas Gerais - Brazil and also as subjects of the study, the main actors of this process, which are students with visual impairment. It was possible to verify the existence of some actions and teaching practices in a timid and isolated way that have made possible the permanence of these students in the institution. However, it was also verified the absence of accessibility in buildings of the HEI, which can be perceived as understood as non-compliance with the legislation and lack of priority towards these students, regarding to the actions and practices necessary for the full development and in relations to academic formation of this public. The research revealed the urgency of greater efficiency and effectiveness of actions advocated by the existing public policies in order to become actions and practices more consistent and structuring, coherent and convergent with the demands of contemporary society and with the principles of inclusive education, towards a rediscovery of the social role of educational institutions.

A presente pesquisa teve por objetivo compreender de que forma o Atendimento Educacional Especializado/Sala de Integração e Recursos Visual colabora no processo de escolarização das pessoas com deficiência visual. A análise privilegiou os possíveis elos existentes entre o atendimento educacional especializado com o ensino regular. As questões que instigaram a autoria do presente estudo foram as seguintes: como realizar tarefas para alunos com deficiência visual num currículo que valora a escrita em detrimento de outras formas de aprendizagens? Como vem sendo realizado o trabalho da Sala de Integração e Recursos – SIR Visual, no contexto da Rede Municipal de Ensino de Porto Alegre? A pesquisa empírica ocorreu em uma escola da Rede Municipal de Ensino de Porto Alegre, a qual tem priorizado às políticas de inclusão escolar referentes ao Atendimento Educacional Especializado, considerando a forma que este serviço foi sendo realizado ao longo dos anos, identificando aspectos a partir das reflexões do pensamento sistêmico de Gregory Bateson e da teoria histórico-cultural de Lev Vigotsky. A pesquisa optou pela abordagem qualitativa, utilizando os seguintes instrumentos metodológicos: entrevista semiestruturada, observação participante e o diário de campo. A análise dos dados constatou a importância do atendimento educacional especializado, mais especificamente a Sala de Integração e Recursos – Visual no processo de inclusão escolar dos alunos com deficiência visual, orientando, supervisionando e possibilitando um trabalho adequado às necessidades de pais, alunos e, principalmente, ao professor da sala de aula regular. Também ficou evidenciada a dificuldade de interlocução entre os professores coordenadores da Sala de Integração e Recursos com os professores da sala de aula regular. / This research aimed to understand how the Educational Service Specialist / Integration Room and Visual Resources collaborates in the schooling process of visually impaired people. The analysis favored potential existing links between specialized education with mainstream education. The issues that prompted the authors of this study were: how to perform tasks for students with visual impairment in a curriculum that values the writing over other forms of learning? As has been done the work of the Integration and Resource Room - SIR Visual, within the Municipal School of Porto Alegre? The empirical research took place in a school of the Municipal System of Porto Alegre Education, which has prioritized the school inclusion policies for the Educational Service Specialist, considering the way that this service was being held over the years, identifying aspects from reflections of systems thinking of Gregory Bateson and cultural-historical theory of Lev Vygotsky. The research opted for a qualitative approach using the following methodological tools: semi-structured interviews, participant observation and the field diary. Data analysis found the importance of specialized educational services, specifically the Integration and Resource Room - Visual in the process of school inclusion of students with visual impairment, guiding, supervising and providing an adequate job to the needs of parents, students, and especially , the teacher of the regular classroom. It was also demonstrated the difficulty of communication between the coordinating teachers of the Integration and Resource Room with teachers from the regular classroom.