Resumo:
Introduction: during the period corresponding to Early Childhood Education and Elementary
School I, difficulties in acquiring writing or aspects related to behavior in the classroom can
constitute warning signs for children's development. Investigations and evaluations constitute
the establishment of a process that can be conducted by professionals from areas increasingly
specialized in human development. At this moment, a direction driven by immediacy along
with the centralization of medical discourse can result in the process known as medicalization.
Objectives: this study had the general objective of analyzing the indication and use of
psychotropic drugs by a child with school complaints attended at the Specialized Educational
Assistance Center (CAEE) in the city of Itaparica – BA. More specifically, we aimed to: a)
analyze school complaints regarding children who used psychotropic drugs; b) investigate
their diagnosis and prescription process for psychotropic drugs; and c) understand the effects
of using psychotropic drugs on the schooling process. Materials and Methods: this is a case
study of a 10-year-old child, enrolled in the AEE, who was taking various medications. The
study was conducted through semi-structured interviews carried out with the child, their
guardian, their teacher, the psychology and psychopedagogy professionals who accompanied
them, in addition to the doctor responsible for prescribing the medications. The information
produced through the interviews was analyzed and interpreted from a discursive perspective,
with the theoretical framework on school failure and medicalization, proposed mainly by
Maria Helena Souza Patto and Maria Aparecida Affonso Moysés, in addition to the studies
produced by the Forum on Medicalization of Education and Society. Results and
Discussion: Vitor's main complaints referred to agitation and difficulty concentrating. Since
he was 6 years old, Vitor has been prescribed medications such as “Ritalin”, “Risperidone”
and “Neuleptil” to improve his behavior and learning, which did not happen. In an attempt to
contain his behaviors, Vitor changed medications and dosages, behaviors such as agitation
were replaced by others (tics). From the case, we perceive the responsibility of children and
families for school failure based on organicist and medicalizing discourses and theories,
detached from subjective and historical aspects. Conclusion: Vitor's case allowed us to
observe that the main function of the use of drugs was to stop tensioning the imposed order
and control undesirable bodies in the school environment. This study allowed us to observe
that diagnoses and psychotropic drugs can, in our view, represent justification for the lack of
political responsibility for school failure.
