As another artistic
layer for self-expression we believe on the holistic development of the
individual in these contexts, where special needs students can exceed their own obstacles, exploring and
taking advantage of them. The project
allowed different experiences with the self, which we consider extremely
important, mainly for special needs students who, for different reasons, do not
have access to all kinds of inclusion opportunities. We observed different
students, on very different situations, in different immersive audio-visual
contexts,
so we acknowledge the subjectivity of this study. Nevertheless
we saw these people express themselves freely and having fun. Their motivation
and participation was rewarding, especially when we used positive reinforcement to convince
them to explore the environments,
especially after seeing those young adolescents exceed themselves, identifying their skills through those environments. Communication opportunities were also of great benefit.
We were connecting and knowing each other. At the end, the students
truly appreciated keeping their sessions recordings, sharing them proudly with
colleagues, tutors, friends and family.
About prototypes implementation, Special SOUND and Special MOVEMENT environments offered interaction with multimedia
events, like images, 3D or 2D graphics and sounds, prepared by us. In the
future, with technical resources and an appropriate time line, it should be very
interesting to engage students in the design process of these prototypes — feeling the experience of photographing, recording sounds, and even
programming for some of them. The enthusiasm with Special Me environments is probably connected with the major role
of the participants in those environments. Nowadays, interactive technologies symbolize
a lot of enthusiasm for young people. Working with this group, in a poetic way
with abstract goals, showed us that we can use interactive technologies as a
way of promoting free self-expression, self-knowledge and
help work on a positive idea of the self. If we promote society confidence on the
abilities of these students, they will feel that what they do is valuable and,
consequently, included through their expressive abilities.