Participation of students with physical disabilities in mainstream schools - literature review

Abstract

The inclusive education is a current reality, which is not only for socialization of children with disabilities, but also for the creation of opportunities to enable the participation in different school contexts. Therefore, it is essential to prepare professionals involved in this process so that the child may have the necessary and appropriate support. From this perspective, the objective of the study is to analyze, by means of a literature review, the evidence available about participation of children with physical disabilities in the context of regular school. Searches were performed in electronics databases and in educational journals. The key words used were: cerebral palsy or physical disabilities, school inclusion and school participation and the respective translated terms to portuguese. Eight articles were included in the study. The synthesis of the evidence showed that the main factors that contributed to the participation of children with physical disabilities in the school environment were motor skills, specifically mobility and communication, level of motor impairment and age. Barriers that restricted participation, such as lack of access and inadequate of physical space at schools were also identified.