Vygotsky and defectology

contributions to the education of students with disabilities today

Abstract

Lev Vygotsky’s learning theory about Defectology is invaluable in the field of teaching students with disabilities. In the mid-twentieth century, the theorist promoted a revolution in the educational care of these students, as he criticized the negative concepts and coercive methods to which many of them were previously subjected, thus causing changes in the ways of thinking, treating and educating children with disabilities at school. From the study of this fact, the objectives of this theoretical essay were outlined, in an attempt to investigate Vygotsky’s contributions to the education of people with disabilities nowadays, to present the different historical contexts, in which we understand that the theoretical assumptions of the author still needs today to be recommended in the pedagogical practice of teachers working in this area, to describe the process of social compensation and to analyze the alternative and educational paths he points out to help overcome the child’s limitations. Thus, we conclude that Vygotsky’s perspective is empowering, as it places the teacher as a social mediator and the school as responsible for organizing the necessary adaptations to include the student. Furthermore, the author describes culture as fundamental for the creation of paths with alternation, and adequate teaching as a means of compensation that constantly  challenges these students. By basing their pedagogical practice on these principles, the teacher finds many subsidies to provide quality education to children with disabilities and allow their social inclusion.