Emergência das relações de equivalência de numerais arábicos em cegos: Braille, E.V.A Braille, E.V.A. e alfabeto romano em alto relevo

Abstract

The paradigm of equivalence of stimuli has provided theoretical and methodological foundation to studies that have contributed to the development of teaching technologies which can be promising and beneficial to people of "typical" and "atypical" development. We aimed to verify the emergence of equivalence relationships between arabic numerals, from 1 to 9, printed in Braille, E.V.A. and in embossed roman alphabet (RA), as well as the corresponding names to those numers after the teaching of conditional discriminations between the dictated numerals and their tactile counterparts. We conducted three studies, with two participants each, all visually impaired and enrolled in series of Middle School at Escola de Cegos do Maranhão (ESCEMA), aged between 14 and 31 years. We used numerals and their corresponding names from 1 to 9, printed in Braille, E.V.A. and embossed RA, in fonts Aria and Times New Roman, sizes 24, 22 and 20, with and without spacing between letters. Studies were divided into stages: pre-test stage; the teaching of the discriminations in uninodal training arrangements with an auditory model for different stimuli of tactile comparison; and test of the equivalence and naming relationships. The established percentages used as criteria for moving to a diferente stage were 100% in the training and 90% in the tests. At the end of the test stage we conducted an interview regarding the relevance of the study. Our main results have shown emerging performances for all participants, except for P2, even if the remaining participants were also reexposed to the tests so they could reach the minimum established criterium for some stages of teaching and tests. We did not find visible diferences in the order of presentation of stimuli sets, nor did we find diferences between fonts Arial and Times New Roman, or between their sizes. The most recorded difficulty was regarding the parameter without spacing between letters. New studies may advance towards teaching of mathematics, developing technologies that constitute na alternative to Braille symbology. We understand that this direction should be a safe way to prevent and reverse scholar failure for people with “atypical” development, and it could directly benefit those with a "typical" development.