THE WEIGHT OF ATTITUDINAL BARRIERS ON SCHOOL DROPOUT AMONG NEURODIVERGENT STUDENTS

Abstract

School dropout among neurodivergent students reveals the persistent inability of Brazilian educational systems to guarantee meaningful participation, continuity, and full development. This study examines how attitudinal barriers—understood as subjective dispositions that shape expectations, judgments, and pedagogical decisions—constitute the structural core of progressive disengagement from school. Based on a qualitative approach supported by recent literature and institutional documents, the analysis indicates that difference, when framed through normative standards, becomes a source of silencing, infantilization, and invisibility. The findings show that inclusive policies, although indispensable, become ineffective when not accompanied by substantial transformations in school culture. Student permanence depends on restoring conceptions that associate neurodiversity with deficit, reorganizing teaching methodologies, and strengthening partnerships among schools, families, and support services. The results suggest that addressing dropout requires ethical and pedagogical shifts capable of producing educational environments that are sensitive, democratic, and responsive to human plurality.