Master’s Thesis in Dance / the Art of Movement for the Hard of Hearing

Developed by Maria Renata de Macedo Soares Neves – 1987.

Thesis presented to the Judging Commission of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, under the orientation of Professor Dr. Maria Cecília Bevilacqua, as a partial requirement for obtaining a Master’s Degree in Communication Disorders.

With a new perspective within the area of Communication Disorders, the research sought to understand the hard of hearing as a whole.

A dance/art of movement project was developed at DERDIC (Education and Rehabilitation Division for Communication Disorders), for a class of eight hard of hearing children at the age of seven. The program was based on the concepts of Rudolf Laban. The classes were taught twice a week over a period of one year, during the second half of 1983 and the first half of 1984. The results obtained revealed that the students developed self-awareness and a positive self-image, inspiring the desire to contact and communicate with others.

When revealing their potential to express themselves, the children were able to express their enthusiasm, boundaries, and interests accurately. Their own voices became looser and more intense. Their individual creativity flourished, and, through the process of collective creation, they learned to work in groups.

In addition to the importance of including dance/art of movement in the school curriculum of hard of hearing children, the most meaningful result was the possibility of exceeding the limitations of special schools, through integration between children with and without hearing impairment who participated in the Dance/Art of Movement Program at Libraries for Children and Youth, coordinated by Maria Duschenes at a time when these actions were still very rare.

DERDIC – special school for the hard of hearing

BIJ Anne Frank, integrating the hard of hearing and listeners