Gelson Vanderlei Weschenfelder

The pre-cloak superhero: a tool for superhero play and intervention

Abstract Since the early 1940s, superheroes have been used by educators and clinicians to instill community and confidence; resiliency and courage; tolerance and sharing among children. Through superhero play, the early childhood classroom has become a laboratory filled with capes and costumes. In the therapist’s milieu, the empowered superhero provides a model for children to aspire to. But both of these environments – the classroom and the counselor’s office – use the fully powered superhero. While the literature attests to health benefits provided through use of the empowered superhero, this article draws attention to a resource often overlooked: the pre-empowered, pre-cloak superhero. As many popular superheroes (~86%) were orphaned or abandoned, prior to acquiring superpowers, the article focuses on the adversities they share with these two specific groups of vulnerable children. With orphaned and abandoned children as the treatment group of focus, the article proposes environments for pre-cloak interventions. In addition, the article proposes a dual-stage program, which would combine pre-cloak interventions with superhero play. For the educator and clinician, possibility awaits through this expansion of the superhero palette.

Intervenções psicoeducacionais positivas para promoção de resiliência: o profissional da educação como tutor de desenvolvimento

This article intends to contribute with reflections on the role of educators in initiatives of positive psychoeducational interventions in situations characterized by psychosocial risks. Thus, the concept of positive interventions will be presented, based on the assumptions of Positive Psychology and the phenomenon of resilience. It will be argued that the appreciative and optimistic view of the professional educator in contexts of vulnerability requires good practices and resilience mentoring that set up standards of respectful and supportive professional relationships. These can be preventive of socially toxic environments and help in protecting and preventing the innumerable threats to the human development of children, adolescents and their families. Two examples of positive intervention practices in the school context and their results will be presented.