The importance of playing in the clinical practice of speech therapy sessions in ASD
Autor(es): Cibelle Albuquerque de la Higuera Amato, Cristina de Andrade Varanda, ThaÃs HelenaFerreira Santos, Ingrid Ya I Sun, Milene Rossi Pereira Barbosa, Dominique Janoszka Miani, Gabrielle Sauini, Ana Carolina Carvalho do Nascimento, Fernanda Dreux Miranda Fernandes
The guidelines of the World Health Organization for the diagnosis of the ASD describe as symptoms “lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play (...) a relative absence of creativity and fantasy in the processes of thought. Playing becomes and important focus of intervention which has a strong relation with the social, cognitive, symbolic and linguistic development.
Objective: To verify the relation between the grade/level of academic education in Speech Therapy and the ability of proposing plays.
Method: Three groups of students of Speech Therapy were selected; in the beginning of their graduation course; at the end of their graduation and post graduation students.
G1 –10 students attending the first 4 semesters, without clinical experience.
G2 – 10 students attending the last 4 semesters with clinical experience.
G3 – 10 post graduation students, speech therapists and with clinical experience in the Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Four toys were selected, and presented to the subjects individually. A protocol of answers was handed out and an orientation for registering for five minutes all the possibilities for playing with each one of the toys presented was given.
The answers obtained were organized and categorized among the groups. Pertinent statistical analysis was made.
Results: The average data indicate that the more the play is structured bigger is the access to alternative plays with the respective toy. Regarding the domino game, the average of the suggested plays was bigger compared to the other toys. G1 suggested an average of 2.7 possible plays, G2 suggested an average of 3.1 plays and G3 an average of 4.0 possible plays with the domino game being statistically significant related to the other two groups (p = 0.03). Regarding the logic units, G1 suggested an average of 2.7 possible plays, G2, 3.4 e G3 3.6, despite the fact of not being significant, stressed an important difference among the groups. Regarding the soapbubble,G1 suggested an average of 2.1plays,G2,2.6 and G3,3.4,this datum presented significant difference (p=0.04). Regarding the dolls, g1 suggested an average of 1.9, G2 suggested an average of 3.2 plays, and G3, 3.5 plays, the data of G2 and G3 were statistically significant related to G1 (p=0.04). These data stress that, as the professional experience increases, the number of suggestions of alternative proposals gets bigger. Analyzing the post graduation group, we can divide it into three: Specialization, Master degree e Doctorate degree or superior. For the domino game the average data were: 6.0; 3.6 and 3.3 respectively, for the logic units: 6.0; 3.2 and 2.6, for the soap bubble: 6.5; 3.2 and 1.6 and for the dolls: 6.5; 2.6 and 3. Considering the conventional game, 73% of the subjects proposed it, being 65% of G1, 80% of G2 and 80% of G3.
Conclusion: The data indicate that, the more the clinical experience the bigger is the proposal of plays, regardless of the type of toy, more structured, abstract or symbolic. This fact seems to indicate an even bigger relation as the level of academic education increases.
