Evaluación y planificación de la intervención en educación especialun estudio realizado en Algarve

Abstract

The main purpose of this research was to understand the Special Education Teachers’ perceptions, while carrying out their educational functions in the district of Faro, on the use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF-CY) in the specialised evaluation of students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and also on the way in which they pass from the evaluation results to the Intervention Planning. The publication of DL no. 3/2008, in which the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) appears as the theoretical frame for the evaluation of students with Special Educational Needs (SEN), and in the following year, the Decree No. 281/2009, which states that the Individual Early Intervention Plan (IEIP) should be delineated by reference to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for Children and Youth version (ICF-CY), have introduced substantive changes in the comprehension and the response to students with disabilities. This context has aroused interest in understanding this phenomenon and we have therefore carried out three independent studies, of a different nature, in order to clarify it. The results of the three studies showed that teachers feel prepared to apply the ICF-CY and that they consider it useful. Among others, the following advantages were identified: the identification of the target group of Special Education; distinction between learning difficulties resulting from environmental problems and learning difficulties resulting from functional or structural deficits; collaboration between the various actors and services; standardization of the language used by the various stakeholders in the evaluation process (present in the functional profiles); improvement in the articulation between professionals and services and between the school and the family; team work; more active participation of parents/guardians in the school life of their learners. Some differences were detected between teachers' perceptions, especially regarding the length of service in Special Education. In summary, we concluded that the ICFCY, as a technical and theoretical support, can be a very useful tool in the description of human functioning, operating as a valid alternative to the classifications based on etiological or diagnostic aspects, as it allows us to document the functionality, placing the emphasis on what the individual is capable of doing (potentialities).