Speech has been regarded as a social communicative modality required for building relationships in different contexts and cultures. Nevertheless, this is not always a readily available resource, especially for those who have developmental disorders. In this sense, Augmentative and Alternative Communication resources and strategies have been used by nonspeaking students with disabilities as useful tools to achieve greater social participation in different environments. Therefore, the present study examined the interaction between teachers and a student with cerebral palsy before and after the use of Alternative Communication strategies in the classroom. The study had a quantitative and qualitative nature and was designed as an intervention study. There were four main stages: 1) filming before the introduction of the resources in the classroom, 2) training the school teachers 3) providing technical assistance regarding the use of alternative communication to the child's teacher 4) filming teacher-student interactions using these technological resources. The interactions were transcribed and grouped into links. In this research, a link means the initiator's behavior directed to the exchange partner and the response in sequence from the interlocutor back to the initiator. It was found that the established interactions presented a maximum of four links, with greater frequency for episodes of 1st and 2nd links. After the intervention, there were different contexts with the presence of interactions up to the 6th link, often greater frequency for episodes of 1st, 2nd and 3rd links. In addition, the teacher showed a tendency to use symbols only as a tool for evaluating and teaching concepts. This perception changed as the teacher became familiarized with the Augmentative and Alternative Communication technology resources.
Special education; Student-teacher Interaction; Communication System; Cerebral Palsy
