TITLE:
Assessment, Intervention and Consulting in School Psychology in Children with Autism: LAPITEA Laboratory in Brazil
AUTHORS:
Daniel Carvalho de Matos, Pollianna Galvão Soares de Matos
KEYWORDS:
Autism, LAPITEA, Assessment and Intervention in Psychology, School Psychology
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.8 No.11,
September
13,
2017
ABSTRACT: This paper presents an experience report on the implementation of the Assessment, Research and Intervention in Autism Spectrum Disorder Laboratory—LAPITEA—in a Brazilian University. The Laboratory aims to develop assessment and intervention methods for children with autism in order to establish social skills such as language, communication, imitation, motor and school repertoires, such as reading and writing, based on a multi-methodological proposal that integrates three different dimensions coming from the science of Psychology: Psychological Evaluation; Applied Behavior Analysis; and consulting and collaboration in School Psychology. The implementation of LAPITEA went through four major steps: 1) selection of children referred by NGOs from parents of individuals with autism; 2) psychological assessment for mapping children’s impaired skills; 3) psychological interventions in Applied Behavior Analysis for the teaching of language and related skills; and 4) monitoring of school inclusion of children with autism through counseling in school psychology to Brazilian elementary and middle schools. It is the focus of this article to describe the characteristics that integrate each one of the stages, including the theoretical-methodological foundation and the operationalization of the dimensions of action. Currently, eleven children are attended in the Laboratory and all show evolution with the proposal of teaching and educational accompaniment offered. The current configuration of advances in school inclusion policies in Brazil encourages the accessibility of the autistic student to the formal education system, from elementary to higher education. These aspects stimulate initiatives by Universities to create teaching, research and extension spaces that seek to corroborate with treatment and follow-up actions in school inclusion with the individual with autism and offer support to teachers of educational institutions with practices of school inclusion.