What special education is

Special education is the field of knowledge that contributes to guaranteeing the right to education of the group it serves. By law, it runs across everything and does not replace education in the mainstream classroom.

Resolution CNE/CEB no. 04/2010 established the National Curriculum Guidelines for Basic Education and states in article 29 that school systems must enroll students with disabilities, global developmental disorders and giftedness in mainstream classes and, in a complementary or supplementary capacity to their schooling, in specialized educational support (AEE, in Brazil).

The AEE was described for the first time in the Brazilian Constitution of 1988. In 2008, however, with decree 6571, later incorporated into decree 7611/2011, it took on the character of a service provided outside regular class hours, in multifunctional resource rooms or specialized educational support centers.

In this way, the AEE in resource rooms or support centers is considered a service backing school inclusion. It is worth stressing that putting this service in place as the only route of support for the student served by special education (PAEE) signals a simplification of the diversity of these students and of the AEE itself, one not grounded in any literature in the field. This system creates challenges for the special education teacher, because there are few hours to address what their students require.

There is also the fact that this backing is paired with an education without support in the mainstream classroom, in a mainstream school that has one of the worst performances on the planet (MENDES; CIA; TANNÚS-VALADÃO, 2015).

References:
BRASIL. Ministério da Educação. Conselho Nacional de Educação. Resolução nº 4, de 13 de julho de 2010. Brasília. 2010. Available at http://portal.mec.gov.br/dmdocuments/rceb004_10.pdf accessed 19 September 2020.

BRASIL Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil. 1988. Available at <http://legis.senado.gov.br/legislacao/ListaPublicacoes.action?id=102408> Accessed January 2010

BRASIL. Decreto 7611, de 17 de novembro de 2011. Dispõe sobre o atendimento educacional especializado. Presidência da República/Casa Civil/Subchefia para Assuntos Jurídicos. Brasília. 2011.

MENDES, E. CIA, F.; TANNÚS-VALADÃO, G. Inclusão escolar em foco: organização e funcionamento do atendimento educacional especializado. Marília: ABPEE. v.4. 2015.