CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY IN THE PROCESS OF THE QUALIFICATION OF EDUCATORS OF BABIES IN DAY-CARE CENTERS

Occupational therapists have been searching throughout the last years to contribute with the formation of educators of daycare centers, debating the infantile development, and the activities of daily and practical life of the children that accomplish in this context of development. Faced with the importance to document as it has been occurring such practice, the present study aimed at identifying and describing the forms of intervention used by occupational therapists/professors in the qualification process of educators of children (0 - 1 year) that frequent daycare centers. The present study had the participation of occupational therapists and professors who act in public and private Instituicoes de Ensino Superior (IES) in Brazil. A questionnaire previously prepared was used as main instrument of collection of data. The analysis of the data demanded the use of methodologic procedures of qualitative nature for dissertative/"open" questions and quantitative treatment for the questions of multiple choice. The answers of the 11 filled questionnaires had revealed the presence of seven experiences of qualification of educators of daycare center in the thematic ones: tricks, cognitive development and socio-emotional development of the children. The majority of the experiences of qualification of daycare center educators were based on the Piagetian approach. All the interviewed ones (100%) consider that the occupational therapist must act on the education in partnership with the day-care center educator, mainly for the Activities of Daily Life (AVDs). The developed study showed that the occupational therapist has an important contribution in the formation of the children's educators in daycare centers, especially in the dialogue on the strategies of interaction by means of the daily activities.