Continuing Education and "Minor Inclusion":

In the gaps, we experience playfulness with children with autism.

Abstract

This text aims to present the pedagogical knowledge and practices developed by educators and caregivers in Early Childhood Education working with children with autism, highlighting inclusive practices developed in the daily school routine based on a continuing education process guided by playfulness and the perspective of "minor inclusion." This is a qualitative field research study, guided by the socio-interactionist perspective and collaborative-critical action research. The study was conducted in a municipal Early Childhood Education school in the city of Pombal, Paraíba, with the participation of three teachers and three caregivers. Data collection occurred through dialogic interviews, group discussions, research diary entries, planning meetings, and the creation of play materials. The data were analyzed using Content Analysis, organized into the axes of conceptions, challenges, potentialities, and strategies. The results show that play, combined with resources such as visual routines and sensory materials, constitutes an important strategy for pedagogical mediation and children's participation. As a product of the training process, the proposal "Knowing, Mediating, Interacting, Playing and Including" (CMIBI) was systematized and presented in a Pedagogical Notebook that brings together strategies and reflections produced collectively. Thus, the findings show that minor inclusion materializes in the daily practices of listening, mediation, and pedagogical creation, in which educators and caregivers reinvent inclusion within the gaps of the school, producing experiences of participation, belonging, and recognition of the children's uniqueness.