The deaf child’s primary handicap is his inability to hear human speech. The whole functioning of the deaf child is hampered by his hearing loss. This implicates that deafness can cause secondary problems such as: -- language problems; -- speech problems; -- thinking problems; -- social problems; -- emotional problems; -- educational problems; -- occupational problems; and -- family problems. These problems impose a special challenge to people who intervene with deaf children. The deaf child cannot communicate intelligibly. The therapist has to pay special attention to this problem and to the way in which communication will commence and continue. Pedotherapeutic intervention implicates effective communication. The use of language plays an important role in the Educational-psychological practice. Diagnostic tests and therapeutic techniques require an average language capability. The therapist must seek alternative concrete ways in which to assess the deaf child and to solve the child’s problems. The creation of a work of art is a concrete sensory act. A variety of authors state that, most children can project their deepest inner feelings through a work of art without fear and pain. The instructions given for art therapy are simple and most children feel safe to create. A child’s work of art has diagnostic as well as therapeutic value. It is important that the therapist will recognize and interpret the projected symbols and that he will use it to change and expand the deaf child’s world of meaning. During the assessment of a child’s drawing the therapist must take aspects of the art work, such as colour, form, line, art material, the content of the drawing, the perceptual and motor development of the child, the child’s age, non-verbal communication and verbal communication during the creative process, into consideration. The therapist must not use above-mentioned directions at random. Every individual’s work of art must be assessed in a phenomenological way, before any conclusions can be made. A private, well equipped art therapy room is necessary for the child in order to feel safe to explore and create. The therapist who intervenes with deaf children has to be well trained. He must have knowledge and experience of deafness, know sign language and should have exceptional language abilities. In this study the therapist applied art therapy with a deaf child. Both the child and his educators were involved in therapy. The therapy was successful. Most of the therapeutic goals were achieved. The therapist needed to adapt the way of communication in order to enhance the level of communication between her and the deaf child. Art therapy can be successfully used with the deaf child because adequate communication is possible, the deaf child can identify with the therapeutic content and transcendence is possible. Some deaf children do not respond well to art therapy. The uniqueness of each deaf child should be taken into consideration before a therapeutic technique can be chosen. / Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Orthopaedic Surgery / unrestricted

A educação física relaciona-se com a promoção de saúde no âmbito escolar. Foi verificado que ainda faltam estudos que visam o levantamento dos sentidos atribuídos pelos alunos com deficiência e professores de Educação Física às aulas de EFE, principalmente a partir das políticas de inclusão de crianças com deficiência em escolas regulares. Trata-se de um estudo qualitativo de caráter exploratório, com o objetivo de analisar como as aulas de educação física em que participam alunos com deficiência são significadas pelos professores de Educação física e pelos alunos com deficiência destes professores. O estudo foi realizado em cinco escolas públicas municipais em uma cidade do interior de São Paulo, por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas, com oito professores de Educação Física e dez alunos com deficiência. Os resultados evidenciaram que os professores gostam de desenvolver aulas com crianças com deficiência, pois para eles isto se torna muito compensador ao ver estes alunos com deficiência estão conseguindo realizar as atividades. Por outro lado, poucos professores tiveram acesso aos conteúdos sobre o trabalho com a criança com deficiência na sua formação inicial ou tiveram oportunidades de formação continuada. Assim, o sentido da realização do trabalho desenvolvido pelo professor de Educação Física na escola com crianças com deficiência acaba sendo predominantemente o de falta: falta de formação, falta de recursos educacionais adaptados, falta de auxiliares. Em relação às condições de trabalho, ainda faltam melhorias que poderiam facilitar o trabalho do professor de educação física em vários aspectos, sendo eles, espaço físico, materiais, uma maior parceria com as famílias, maior apoio da rede de ensino, principalmente na oferta de uma formação direcionada ao trabalho com crianças com deficiência. Um aspecto fragilizador no trabalho destes professores se refere ao planejamento, visto que os professores participantes não trazem muitos detalhes deste planejamento ou fazem um planejamento geral que pode não estar indo ao encontro das reais necessidades destes alunos com deficiência, com uma intencionalidade de tornar sua aula mais inclusiva e trabalhando com a zona de desenvolvimento proximal dos alunos com deficiência. Para as crianças com deficiência entrevistadas, os sentidos da aula de educação física estão ligados ao bem estar, possibilidade de jogar e de brincar, o que evidencia também que os sentidos para as crianças com deficiência podem ser diferentes dos sentidos para os professores / Physical Education is related to the promotion of health in the school environment. In addition, studies aiming at surveying the meanings impaired students and teachers confer to Physical Education classes are scarce, especially with the implementation of inclusion policies for impaired children in regular schools. This is a qualitative exploratory study which aimed at analyzing how Physical Education classes in which participate impaired students are meant by Physical Education teachers and by their impaired students. This study was conducted in five public municipal schools in the countryside of São Paulo, by means of semistructured interviews, with eight Physical Education teachers and ten impaired students. Results showed that the teachers like to develop classes with impaired children, because it is very rewarding for them to realize that these students are able to perform the proposed activities. In contrast, few teachers had access to contents regarding the work with impaired children during their initial formation, or continuous training opportunity. Thus, the meaning of the work developed by these teachers is, predominantly, the lack of formation, lack of adapted educational resources, lack of helpers. Regarding the work conditions, some improvement which could facilitate the theachers\' work is still missing concerning physical space, materials, a better partnership with families, better support of the educational network, mainly by offering a formation directed to working with impaired children. A debilitating aspect regarding the work of these teachers is related to planning, since the participant teachers do not provide details of this planning, or conduct a general planning which may not meet the real needs of these impaired students, aiming at making their classes more including and also working with the zone of proximal development of the impaired students. For the interviewed impaired children, the meanings of the Physical Education classes are linked to the well-being and the possibility of playing, which also highlights that the meanings for impaired children may be different from the teachers\'

The topic of this thesis is spatial orientation and navigation in children with combined visual impairment. This study introduces different theoretical stages and compares different attitudes of families, teachers and counselors. Furthermore this study is to identify various levels of parents' awareness of this problem. Qualitative research based on interviews has been used for this observation. The objective of this thesis is to create an information brochure which should then serve as an aid and support for parents with visually impaired children. Such brochure should include basic information about spatial orientation and navigation, as well as it should share personal experience and relevant advice useful in daily life. Recent research suggests that parents of visually impaired children learn about these issues mainly from special education centers or Early Care. Materials obtained at said institutions were, according to research, insufficient. However the availability of these materials was satisfactory. Children with impairment need specific and individual approach and teachers, parents and counselors, when working with children with visual impairment, seem to often focus on different subjects.

The diploma thesis is focused on the support of early intervention in the inclusion of a visually impaired child into kindergarten. The work describes the development of a child with visual impairment at an early age. It also focuses on early care providing support to families with children with visual or combined disabilities, pre-school education and the support from a special education center. The aim of the work was to find out what is important for the parents of a visually impaired child when choosing a kindergarten, whether the inclusion is in accordance with the legislation and whether a multidisciplinary team participates in the support. As part of the research survey, qualitative research, aimed at monitoring family support for the inclusion of a visually impaired child in kindergarten by early care, was carried out. The results show that for families when choosing a kindergarten, it is most important to obtain information about the possibilities of including a child. Early intervention provides families with important information not only about the possibilities of inclusion, but also about the use of counseling services of a special pedagogical center. The choice of kindergarten is up to the parents, who take into account different aspects when choosing. An important indicator is the...