The Future of Education

This communication aims to verify the transformative impact of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder within his/her intervention nucleus (18 members, between 37 months and 42 years old), in a bidirectional logic of learning and personal and social development, thinking about education as a multilateral process in a learning community. It aims to understand this nucleus (parents, child, fourteen volunteers), as an ecosystem based on the egalitarian dialogue concept, settled in the definition of a common project of home intervention, unlocking opportunities and promoting the potential of all intervenients. An interactionist practice is studied, based on the collective belief that a systemic evolution necessarily results from the capacity for individual transformation, in a dynamic of mutual influence, in a continuum in which every one will be subject and object of transformation and learning. It intends to find convergences between the Sciences of Education and the Neurosciences, in a triangulation of emotions, learning and brain, contributing to better understand and operationalize the results obtained by this learning community. The intervention method is described, focusing on the constitution of this community, the refinement of their internal process of learning and monitoring, in a collaborative performance of sharing of knowledge, skills and objectives, capable of promoting effective learning and transforming the course of personal and collective development. Vygotsky and Bruner’s social constructivism and Brufenbrenner’s ecological vision are adopted, defending knowledge as a social construction. Autism is assumed as a sociorelational dysfunction and the intervention plan was based on the principles of The Son-Rise Program, mainly the belief in the child and volunteers’ unlimited potential. A qualitative methodology was used, contextualizing the work field, describing and responding to the intervenients’ particularities, beliefs and perceptions. We resorted to semi-structured interviews and focus groups, trying to understand how the creation of a learning community around a different child allowed us to make an entire intervention plan, realizing that the feelings of shared responsibility, belonging and unity have given birth to a new idea of a learning community, where the child with ASD is one of the most valuable members as an irreplaceable promoter of collective transformation.

Keywords: Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Son-Rise Program, Learning Communities, Social Constructivism, Scaffolding, Affective Neuroscience;