Teaching Your Peers: The inclusion of an autistic student in mathematics classes

Abstract

This project demonstrates the result of a research, which aimed at analysing the mathematics practices of a 14 year-old student, with special needs due to the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), included in a ninth grade regular classroom. In this text, we bring reflections about autism and its history, in addition to some theoretical considerations that give support to the study and the methodological procedures applied in ten individual sittings, two collective ones and the observations made by the teacher in the mathematics classes, in which the mathematics concept, Notable Products and Quadratic equations, were discussed. The analyses highlight the importance and the influence of the mediating instruments (materials and semiotics) in the student's mathematical practices and for their effective inclusion in Mathematics classes.

Keywords:
Autistic Spectrum Disorder; Elementary School; Mediation; Mathematical Practices