Living and Learning with Down Syndrome

Lilian Marques Silva, Maria Lucia Pereira da Silva, Eik Tenorio, Volney Mattos de Oliveira

Abstract: Inclusion, an intensively studied descriptor, is still a very sensitive subject. Nonetheless, including a child with Down syndrome in the classroom is not impossible. Children with such a syndrome present rapid adaptation to the classroom as long as the infrastructure and pedagogical resources are adequate to their needs; therefore, this work aims at the classroom observation of a student's cognitive development, regarding the Portuguese and Mathematics syllabuses, after the application of pedagogical activities. The classroom observed was a 6th Grade in a public school, Middle School, State of Sao Paulo (Brazil). The methodology used was a single case study and the research has a bibliographic and exploratory approach. The results were sorted according to Piaget's stages of cognitive development. The data collected showed that a child with Down syndrome, properly inserted and stimulated in the classroom, can develop his/her intellectual capacity more quickly.

Keywords: Classroom, Teaching, Down Syndrome