Comunicação alternativa em caso de esclerose lateral amiotrófica (ELA): uma experiencia educacional de mediação para a humanização.

Current analysis is a study on alternative and assisted communication to understand the care specifications of people wi th amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The study results from a teaching project Olhar que fala [Eyes that speak], supported by the State University of Maringá (April - October 2010) funded by Historical and Cultural Psychology. The latter considers language as an essential condition for humanization and current study aims at finding alternatives for the expression of thought by people disease-hindered to establish effective oral, verbal, written and sign communication. Methodology used was the register of letters printed on a frame so that the diseased person might indicate the letters by eye movements with a subsequent composition of words and phrases by a mediating researcher. Mediation was undertaken by undergraduates of the Pedagogy Course of the State University of Maringá. Results show that the appropriation activities of contents by the diseased persons could be maintained since they were not deprived of consciousness, hearing and sight. The process also allowed the objectivization of contents and the testing of a low-tech alternative communication for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]