Ambiente sócio físico e crianças com Transtorno do Espectro Autista em contexto de pandemia: uma reflexão sobre lives do Youtube

Abstract

Facing the COVID-19 Pandemic required social isolation and has induced changes in the use of housing., causing issues about the residential environment to be widely debated, including on social media. In this field, lives broadcast on the internet become popular, coming to be a communication channel between professionals and several audiences. Supported in this context, this thesis took as its object of study the socio-physical environment for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) - a neurodevelopmental disorder with manifestations that cover a wide spectrum of possibilities, whose specificities need to be understood (and worked through) in order for the person in question to develop skills and improve well-being. Guided by an understanding of autism based on Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs), the general objective of this investigation was to understand strategies for adjusting the socio-physical environment to autistic children during the pandemic, which were broadcast by lives made available on YouTube. The specific objectives were as follows: (a) to identify the characteristics of the physical environment that are disseminated as suitable for autistic children; (b) to understand the recommended strategies as appropriate for activities with these children and that require environmental specificities; (c) to analyze the difficulties pointed out in this field. The study was theoretically supported by Environmental Psychology and resorted to a qualitative methodological strategy with: (1) a survey of lives on autism available on YouTube between March and August of 2020; (2) the selection of those that discuss the autistic child/environment relationship; and (3) the choice of five lives for in-depth analysis. The results show that several concepts from Environmental Psychology can help to understand the behavior of people with ASD, notably socio-spatial behavior, affordances and behavior settings. From this perspective, the analyzed lives indicated different types of environmental adjustments usable with people with ASD, highlighting strategies to minimize communication and sensory barriers, and to facilitate the maintenance/development of their skills and autonomy.