A natação terapêutica para crianças autistas: um relato de experiência

Abstract

This study sought to analyze the importance of therapeutic swimming for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) based on the FluTEAr Project at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte and is a descriptive exploratory study with a qualitative approach. The actions that led to this report were carried out with a 3-year-old male participant, diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder level 2 support, who took part in the project. Data was collected through observation and a questionnaire. The observation analyzed the child's behavior with the environment, the teachers and the other children, the level of adaptation to the water, whether there were moments of dysregulation of emotions and senses, whether he showed stereotypes, whether he was able to understand what was proposed or requested. In the questionnaire carried out using Google Forms, the perception of the student's parents or guardians was assessed in relation to the motivation for participating in the project, whether there had been a medical indication, whether improvements had been observed in any aspects, whether there had been any difficulty in finding specialized professionals to accompany the child and whether the parents or guardians would recommend the project to other children with ASD. Both the teacher and the parents noticed significant differences in the development of the child with ASD.