La comunicación del alumnado en situación de discapacidad intelectual profunda y con alteraciones graves de la consciencia asociada a grandes necesidades de apoyo

Resumen

The aim of this work is to provide visibility to students with severe and permanent special educational needs (SEN), specifically those with profound intellectual disabilities and severe alterations of consciousness associated with high support needs. Therefore, the general objective outlined in the Research Plan has been to evaluate the perceptions of teachers specialized in therapeutic pedagogy (TP) and speech and language therapy (SLT) regarding students with severe and permanent SEN, as well as their expectations for these students' progress and potential. The following specific objectives have been established: 1. To identify the experiences of teachers specialized in TP and SLT in relation to students with severe and permanent SEN, including their communication and interactions with families. 2. To verify the training possessed by teachers specialized in TP and SLT in relation to students with severe and permanent SEN, as well as their ability to communicate and interact with families. 3. To explore the attitudes of teachers specialized in TP and SLT in relation to students with severe and permanent SEN, as well as towards their families. This work is divided into two main sections. The first section, referred to as the theoretical framework, consists of three chapters. The second section, referred to as the empirical study, also consists of three chapters. The first chapter, titled Students with profound intellectual disabilities and severe alterations of consciousness associated with high support needs, examines the most commonly used terminologies to describe this student population, outlining three characteristics they may present: profound intellectual disability, severe alterations of consciousness, and high support needs. Additionally, this chapter discusses the concept of educability as an inherent trait of these students, along with their most frequent SEN, psycho-pedagogical assessment processes, the schooling process and, finally, the experiences with the families of these students. The second chapter, titled Communication in students with profound intellectual disabilities and severe alterations of consciousness associated with high support needs, analyzes the concept of communication as synonymous with behaviour, the different types of communication accessible to these students, the evolution of Augmentative Communication, and related terminologies. The chapter also clarifies three key statements: there are no prerequisites for communication, the principle of presumption of competence, and natural gestures, facial expressions and idiosyncratic signs as components of Augmentative Communication. The third chapter, titled Teaching competencies for supporting students with profound intellectual disabilities and severe alterations of consciousness associated with high support needs, details the competencies required to effectively support these students. This includes professional competencies, such as teacher training in Augmentative Communication and mastery of various strategies, as well as the necessary personal competencies. The fourth chapter, titled Research design and methodology, presents the research objectives as proposed in the Research Plan and provides an in-depth analysis of the methodology employed, the research design, the validation process of the data collection instrument, statistical results, variables, the procedure followed, and data analysis. The fifth chapter, titled Research findings, presents the results of the study through both descriptive and inferential analysis, structured according to each specific objective, dimensions and sub-dimensions. The sixth chapter, titled Discussion, conclusion, limitations and recommendations for improvement, discusses the findings after contrasting them with existing scientific literature. It also presents the most significant conclusions for each specific objective, addresses the limitations of the study, and proposed potential improvements. Finally, the references cited throughout the research and the appendices are provided.