Autonomy, Emotions, and Learning: Family in Inclusive Education
Transform your home into an environment of growth and support, fostering autonomy, managing emotions, and boosting learning.
Amidst the pandemic's challenges, Turma do Jiló and experts discuss how families can strengthen inclusive education. Discover strategies to foster autonomy, manage emotions, and stimulate home learning. An essential guide for parents and educators.
In the challenging scenario of the pandemic, the Educational Turn project by Turma do Jiló, an organization dedicated to inclusive education in Brazil, gathered experts to guide parents and educators. Moderated by Carolina Videira, president of Turma do Jiló, and featuring Letícia Laila from Camino School and Chloe, this first segment focuses on the early years of basic education, exploring crucial themes: autonomy, emotions, and learning, in addition to an important focus on caring for caregivers.
Autonomy and the Power of Routine: Developing Independent Children
Autonomy is the ability to do things for oneself, make decisions, and seek solutions responsibly. Cintia Momesso, an educational psychologist, highlights that it is practiced and taught, requiring parents to provide life experiences. It begins with simple tasks, like putting away toys, and evolves into home collaboration, taking care of belongings.
Arlete Citadino, an occupational therapist, emphasizes that the family is the primary tool for developing autonomy. Daily activities such as eating independently, washing hands, getting dressed, caring for plants, setting the table, and helping in the kitchen offer rich opportunities. For example, handwashing can be taught with games (using paint to see the dirt wash off), songs, and even a step-by-step guide. These activities develop neuropsychomotor skills and are essential prerequisites for writing.
Educator Marina Basques emphasizes the fundamental role of routine in bringing calm, tranquility, and organization to daily life. Building a routine in partnership with children at home – balancing individual, family, play, and relaxation times – is crucial. Visual tools like picture cards or charts with clothespins help children understand and follow the day's flow, promoting active participation and adaptability.
Communication and Emotions: The Alphabet of Feelings
Speech therapist Daniele Voellim explains that the development of oral language is a great achievement, giving children autonomy and forming the basis for written language. Playtime and routine are powerful allies. It is crucial to name objects and actions naturally, in context, rather than just asking the child to repeat. It's also important to provide a correct speech model, without imitating childish speech patterns, so that the child progressively corrects their sounds.
A vital point: children need a reason to communicate. Avoid anticipating all their needs; create opportunities for them to ask for help or express desires, such as placing favored objects slightly out of reach.
Dealing with emotions, especially during an uncertain period like the pandemic, is challenging for both adults and children. Cintia, Daniele, and Marina emphasize the importance of validating feelings and naming them for children. The children's book “The Color Monster” is an excellent tool to help children identify and separate joy (yellow), sadness (blue), anger (red), fear (gray), and calm (green), building the capacity to manage them more adaptively. Activities like drawing the monsters or using colored paper rolls to indicate what they feel are great for promoting emotional expression.
Learning Beyond School Walls: Connecting with Knowledge
Cintia Momesso and Marina Basques highlight that learning is a relationship. To connect children with school during remote learning, it is fundamental to strengthen the bond with learning. This involves discussing parents' own school experiences and, most importantly, avoiding disparaging comments about the school or teachers in front of children. The family should not take on the role of the teacher, but rather be a facilitator, creating an environment of curiosity at home. Simple activities like cooking, looking at old photos, or caring for plants transform the home into a laboratory of discovery, integrating various fields of knowledge.
Daniela Voellim adds insights on the ideal study environment: fewer distractions, good posture, adequate lighting, and satisfaction of basic needs (sleep, hunger). She suggests games that stimulate specific skills, such as “Simon Says” for comprehension, reading books for vocabulary and imagination, word games for expression, and hangman or treasure hunts for reading and writing. Therapist Arlete Citadino reinforces that daily tasks like recycling trash, making the bed, folding clothes, or caring for pets are practical lessons in science, math, organization, and responsibility, teaching about teamwork and the importance of maintaining a harmonious environment.
For students with disabilities, Deputy Secretary Marinalva Cruz, from the Municipal Secretariat for Persons with Disabilities of São Paulo, highlights the importance of a support network. Parents should seek information and resources from schools, education secretariats, and the SMPED, ensuring that no student is left behind and that their potential is valued.
Caring for Caregivers: The Importance of Self-Care and Open Conversation
Daniela Schwartz, a clinical and school psychologist, asks: “Why is it so important to care for caregivers?” She uses the metaphor of the oxygen mask on an airplane: put it on yourself first to be able to help others. Self-care is not selfishness but a way to recharge energy. Small actions, such as listening to music while cooking or calmly drinking coffee for five minutes, can make a difference. This allows parents and caregivers to nourish themselves to continue dedicating affection and patience to their children, and even improves their ability to negotiate with them.
Letícia Laila adds that during the pandemic, parents faced unprecedented challenges, making an inclusive perspective essential for them too. Schools should welcome parents' emotions, offering a safe space for conversations and support, recognizing that learning something new is painful and that “you can't do it yet” doesn't mean “you'll never be able to.” Marcela Simões shares positive lessons from the period, such as family mealtime, board games, picnics, and observing children's strengths and weaknesses in learning. These moments strengthen bonds and allow parents to become more actively involved in their children's education.
Carol Sandler, from Finanças Femininas, brings the perspective of financial health. She advises on budget organization, especially with the Emergency Aid, and the importance of talking to children about money. Explaining changes and involving the family in household economics, such as turning off lights or saving internet, teaches responsibility and unites the family. It is vital, however, to reassure children, ensuring that parents have the situation under control.
Psychologist Daniela Schwartz and Debastos, from Projeto Criando Crianças Pretas, emphasize that talking openly about feelings is crucial. Children are sensitive and perceive when something is not right. Omitting information can generate fantasies and anxiety. Sharing that adults also feel anger or sadness normalizes these emotions. Sônia Rosa's story “The Beautiful Boy,” about a boy who learned to "un-cry" his swallowed tears, perfectly illustrates how all pains are legitimate and that expressing them is fundamental for emotional healing.
In summary, this Educational Turn reminds us that inclusive education is built on multiple pillars: autonomy, emotional support, and continuous learning, all anchored in strengthening family bonds and mutual care. May these reflections inspire a more just and welcoming future where no one is left behind.