The demands on the adult literacy-rate are very high in Sweden. People with reading and writing difficulties may find it hard to fit into the community and to succeed in school. To accommodate the needs of students with learning disabilities, Swedish schools provide easy-to-understand materials. The purpose of my thesis is to examine how easy-to-read textbooks for high school students are different from regular textbooks. The study was carried out using a content analysis and I examined the books according to criteria specified by the Swedish author Torbjörn Lundgren. The results showed that the adapted books do not follow the requirements for easy-to-read literature. However, there is a big difference between the easy-to-read textbooks and the regular textbooks. The easy-to-read books have been simplified and the content is explained in complete detail. There is also a big difference between the two adapted books that I examined. They seem to be based on different easy-to-read criteria.

The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers’ efforts to teach students with dyslexia in Swedish. The intention with this study is to get the right tools to work with these kinds of students in a more improved and giving way in the future. My questions of issue are: - How can teachers facilitate the learning process for students with dyslexia? - Are pupils with dyslexia included in the teachers’ education in the classroom? - How do the other pupils integrate with the dyslexia pupils in the classroom? - How does the teacher manage the situation to teach the whole class at the same time as he/she helps the pupils with dyslexia? - How do you practice when to assess and rate the students with dyslexia? The method used in this paper is a combination of participant observation and interviews with two teachers and their classes. To be able to construe my results in this paper, I will be using Peder Haugs theory including integration and segregate integration but also a theory based on including or excluding way of working. The main conclusion of this paper is that teachers can work in many different ways with dyslectic pupils. The teachers must try to find a way that is right for themself and their pupils, there is no right and wrong in this work. But what’s most important is to help the dyslectic cope with school.

Syftet med denna studie var att utveckla och normera ett logopediskt stavningstest för vuxna., då det idag saknas ett sådant test. Det framtagna testet bestod till en början av en orddel som innehöll 80 ord i varierande svårighetsgrad, utvalda för att representera svenskans olika stavningskombinationer. Vidare fanns en del med 80 nonord, konstruerade för att följa svenskans ljudmässiga uppbyggnad. 146 deltagare från 18 – 94 år deltog i normeringen av testet. Urvalet stratifierades efter kön, ålder och utbildningsnivå så att inverkan av dessa olika faktorer på stavningsförmågan kunde undersökas. Resultaten visade att utbildningsnivå påverkade stavningsförmågan på så sätt att personer med eftergymnasial utbildning klarade stavning av både ord och nonord bättre än personer med förgymnasial/gymnasial utbildning. Vidare uppvisade kvinnor bättre resultat på stavning av ord jämfört med män, men ingen signifikant skillnad i stavningsförmåga av nonord uppmättes. Vid stavning av ord framkom ingen skillnad i förhållande till ålder, men vid stavning av nonord uppvisade äldre personer ett sämre resultat, troligen p.g.a. nedsatt hörsel. De vanligaste typerna av stavfel bland deltagarna var på orddelen enkel-/dubbelteckning och på nonorddelen utbyte av bokstav. Stavfelens placering förekom främst medialt i orden, medan de i nonorden fanns både initialt och medialt. Studien utmynnade i STAVUX, ett test med 45 ord och 45 nonord, utvalda från det ursprungliga testet. STAVUX deltest har en hög intern reliabilitet. Testet har normerats och är tänkt att användas vid utredning av vuxna med stavningssvårigheter. / Because a comprehensive clinical spelling test for adults does not exist today, the aim of this study was to develop and standardize such a test. The originally developed test consisted of one part containing 80 words of varying difficulty, chosen to represent the different spelling combinations of the Swedish language. Furthermore, the test had a part containing 80 pseudo-words, constructed to follow the Swedish sound system. 146 participants between the age of 18 to 94 participated in the standardization of the test. The selection was stratified by sex, age and level of education, in order to examine the influence of these variables on spelling ability. The results indicated that the level of education affected the spelling ability, so that participants with high education spelled both words and pseudo-words better than participants with low education. Moreover women had better results on the spelling of words than men, whereas no significant sex differences was found on pseudo-word spelling. Age did not influence word spelling, but elderly participants had significantly lower results on the pseudo-words, likely because of impaired hearing. The most common type of word misspelling was single/double spelling of consonants. On pseudo-words, grapheme substitutions were the most common error. Misspellings were most frequent medially in words and initially and medially in pseudo-words. The study resulted in STAVUX, a test consisting of 45 words and 45 pseudo words, selected from the original version. The different parts of STAVUX thus have high internal reliability. The test has been standardized and is intended to be a part of the assessment of adults with spelling difficulties.

Syftet med denna studie var att ta reda på om STAVUX (stavningstest för vuxna) och Kasttranskription är lämpliga test att använda vid dyslexiutredningar av vuxna, då det idag saknas sådana test som är normerade på personer över 18 år. STAVUX är ett stavningstest som framtogs av Nilsson och Pettersson (2009) och som består av 45 ord och 45 nonord av varierande svårighetsgrad. Orden är utvalda för att representera svenskans olika stavningskombinationer och nonorden är konstruerade för att följa svenskans ljudmässiga uppbyggnad. En mellangruppsdesign användes för att ta reda på om STAVUX är ett lämpligt test att använda vid utredning av stavningssvårigheter i samband med dyslexiutredningar. Testet validerades på 23 personer med dyslexi i åldrarna 18-64 år. Dyslexigruppens resultat testades mot en kontrollgrupp på 23 personer i åldrarna 18-62 år. I denna studie undersöktes även om det fanns något samband mellan stavningsförmåga och allografisk. Deltagarna fick utföra en kasttranskriptionsuppgift, som innebar att de, på tid, skulle konvertera gemener till versaler och versaler till gemener. Testet heter Kasttranskription och utformades av Hansson och Häägg (2008). Resultaten av denna studie visar att framförallt orddelen i STAVUX kan bidra till prediktionen av dyslexi. Dyslexigruppen presterade signifikant sämre än kontrollgruppen på båda deltesten (orddelen och nonorddelen). Båda grupper följde samma mönster vad gäller typ av stavfel. Flertalet deltagare i respektive grupp utförde Kasttranskription korrekt. Det fanns däremot en signifikant skillnad mellan grupperna i hur lång tid det tog att utföra Kasttranskription. Dyslexigruppen presterade signifikant sämre tidsmässigt jämfört med kontrollgruppen. Deltesten i STAVUX och Kasttranskription var starkt korrelerade med varandra. / The aim of this study was to determine if STAVUX (spelling test for adults) and Kasttranskription are suitable tests to use in the assessment of adults with spelling difficulties. At present, there are no such tests with norms for people older than 18 years. STAVUX was developed by Nilsson and Pettersson (2009) and consists of 45 words and 45 pseudo words of varying difficulty. The words are chosen to represent the different spelling patterns of the Swedish language and the pseudo words to represent the Swedish phonetic structure. A between group’s design was used to find out if STAVUX is a suitable test to use in the assessment of spelling difficulties. STAVUX was validated on 23 persons with dyslexia, aged 18-64 years, and the results were compared to a control group of 23 persons, aged 18-62 years. In this study it was also investigated if there was any correlation between spelling ability and allographic ability. The participants performed a case transcription task, where the participants were supposed to convert lower to upper case letters and upper to lower case letters, while time was measured. The test is named Kasttranskription and was designed by Hansson and Häägg (2008). The results of this study show that particularly the word part of STAVUX, contributes to the prediction of dyslexia. The dyslexic group performed significantly lower than the control group on both subtests (words and pseudo words). Both groups followed the same pattern in type of spelling errors. The majority of the participants in each group managed to perform Kasttranskription correctly. There was a significant difference in time of performance of Kasttranskription. The dyslexic group performed significantly worse in terms of time compared to the control group. The subtests of STAXUX and Kasttranskription were highly correlated with each other.

Studien handlar om läs- och skrivsvårigheter och syftet med detta arbete var att få kunskap om hur några pedagoger med hjälp av en speciallärare utformar den dagliga undervisningen för elever som har läs- och skrivsvårigheter i år tre – fem i en Montessoriskola. Intervjuer användes som datainsamlingsmetod för att få kunskap och djupare förståelse. Då det endast var tre pedagoger som ställde upp med sin kunskap och tid kan inga generella slutsatser dras av denna studie. Resultatet visar att pedagogerna i den mån det är möjligt arbetar utifrån elevernas behov och att de anpassar material och övningar efter elevens förutsättningar. Pedagogerna är mycket medvetna om de brister som finns när det gäller användandet av kompensatoriska hjälpmedel då eleverna för närvarande endast har talböcker att tillgå.

The development of five individual pupils’ writing abilities, as reported by six of their teachers, is analysed. The thoughts and reflexions inspired by the everyday interaction between the teacher and the pupil suffering from some kind of reading and writing disability are presented. The purpose is to capture what was unique and characteristic in the measures that triggered a positive response in the pupils. Some of the questions answered in this study are: How does the phenomenon of reading and writing disabilities manifest itself in the classroom, and what are the consequences for the individual pupil of the various pedagogical measures available? One conclusion that may be drawn from this study is that there is no cut-and dried method for working with pupils suffering from reading and writing disabilities. Nor is there any such thing as a standard pupil with this disability. Instead, both the type and the extent of the problem vary greatly, and individual pupils develop their own personal strategies to cope with them and take in new knowledge. Also the skills of the individual pupils vary widely, and the possibility to use and develop them is dependent on the pedagogical context he/she is part of, on the actions of the individual teacher and several other interacting environmental factors. It also becomes clear that the ’capacity’ of the individual pupil, rather than being a fixed constant, is entirely dependent on the context. There is a strong correlation between the successful development of the pupil and the sensitivity, empathy, imagination, competence and ability of the teacher to capture opportunities as they arise. Some common features of the teachers involved in this study were that they helped their pupils to structure their thinking and involved them in their own acquisition of knowledge, and that their education was focused on the process rather than the goal. The methods they used were based on both theoretical knowledge and practical experience. They were well versed in many different theories and methods, and prepared to try different things till they found the best solution for the individual pupil. The communication between teacher and pupil was the cornerstone of their tuition. The classroom situation was characterised by a mixed group of pupils where individual measures constituted a natural component. The borderline between ‘ordinary’ and remedial teachers was deliberately blurred. Instead a spirit of constructive co-operation prevailed where all available resources were used in the work with the pupils. Events that promoted progress in the individual pupil were episodes where he experienced success and stood out in a positive sense among his class-mates. On these occasions the teacher had succeeded in identifying some specific skill possessed by the pupil, and made it visible also to the pupil himself and the people surrounding him. It was also a matter of identifying and challenging the individual weaknesses of the pupil, and of making him conscious of the progress he made. The social context surrounding the pupil did, of course, play a vital part in these positive events. This study demonstrates that a thorough linguistic diagnose followed by carefully tailored tuition is far superior to other kinds of remedial tuition in enhancing the reading-and writing abilities of the individual pupil. The common method of lumping together a group of pupils with widely varying types of reading and writing disabilities into a ’remedial class’ did, by contrast, appear to be an unfortunate strategy.

The purpose of this report is to contribute with knowledge about the views within special education. I want to explore and compare the way students with special needs are approached within two different pedagogies in Sweden: Waldorf pedagogy and Montessori pedagogy. I have closely studied these pedagogies, read the literature from existing research and also by conducting two interviews with a representative from each pedagogy Both pedagogies claim that their teaching methods are most suitable for children with reading and writing difficulties.. The Waldorf pedagogy was founded in 1919 in Germany by Rudolf Steiner. The pedagogy believes in the development of the students into independent children who can use their bodies as a tool for the learning of knowledge. The Montessori pedagogy was also founded in the beginning of the nineteenth century and stands for developing the students into independent individuals. However, the pedagogical approach to reading, writing and dyslexia is different. The Waldorf teachers avoid the term dyslexia because many of them have the opinion that these children are being diagnosed too easily.  The method of teaching is relatively relaxed and to be able to read and write is not necessary during the first years in school. On the other hand, the Montessori teachers are planning their students education so that they learn how to read and write during the first year, when they are only six years old. They believe that all students have different backgrounds and that a child who is attending a Montessori school is no different than the children who are studying within the traditional school system in Sweden. / Syftet med detta examensarbete är att bidra med kunskap inom synen på specialpedagogik. Jag vill se och jämföra bemötandet av elever med speciella behov inom två pedagogiker i Sverige; Waldorfpedagogik och Montessoripedagogik. Jag har studerat dessa pedagogiker närmare, gjort en litteraturstudie av den tidigare forskningen och även genomfört två intervjuer med en representant från vardera pedagogik. Båda pedagogikerna hävdar att deras undervisningssätt är mest lämpat för elever med läs- och skrivsvårigheter, detta trots de stora skillnaderna i deras sätt att undervisa. Waldorfpedagogiken grundades 1919 i Tyskland av Rudolf Steiner. Pedagogiken står för att utveckla eleverna till själständiga människor som kan använda sin kropp som ett verktyg för kunskapsinlärning. Montessoripedagogiken uppkom även den i början av 1900-talet och står också den för att utveckla eleverna till självständiga individer. Dock skiljer sig synsättet på läs- och skrivinlärning samt dyslexi betydligt. Waldorfpedagogerna drar sig för att använda begreppet dyslexi i skolan då många anser att eleverna diagnostiseras allt för lätt. Undervisningssättet har ett relativt lugnt tempo och att kunna bruka läsning och skrivning är inget som krävs under de första åren i skolan. Montessoripedagogerna å andra sidan lägger upp arbetssättet så att eleverna lär sig läsa och skriva redan i förskoleklassen och arbetar utefter det. De menar att alla har olika bagage med sig och att det inte är någon skillnad på eleverna som läser enligt Montessoripedagogik jämfört med den traditionella skolgången.

In schools today, we expect student performances and achievements to be exceptional. Having good reading and writing skills are essential if students want to excel at their school assignments. Students with reading and writing difficulties have to work much harder than their other classmates. Their having to work harder coupled with being teenagers and facing all the uncertainties which are present at that age, these students face the difficult task of trying to find out who they are and who they want to be. In other words, they try to create their own individual identities. This study investigates the experiences of students with reading and writing difficulties in their interactions with other students and school personnel, in different situations. The collection of data has been done through group interviews. Thirteen, 15 year old students participated in these interviews. Some of the factors which characterise a hermeneutic approach have helped to form the basis on which the study lies. A hermeneutic approach suggests that the data collected is sorted and analysed to enable the identification of differences and patterns. These patterns are arranged to give results that are subjective and which also show an interpretation of the data collected. The results show that students are more comfortable with their identities, when they are diagnosed or made aware that their performances in school are directly affected by their reading and writing difficulties. The study also shows that having reading and writing difficulties tells the students who they are but, at the same time, plays an important role in their interactions with other classmates and adults. The outcomes of these interactions greatly affect the formation of their identities. The way in which school personnel treat students is also shown to be of great importance.

One of the most important goals of school is to teach children how to read and write. But there are also children with great problems in reading and writing/dyslexia at school. In the Swedish School Plan you can, for example, read that one of the school’s most important goals is to give these children with special needs the help that they need. This study will investigate how six young people with reading and writing problems/dyslexia experienced the first nine years at school. There has been very little research regarding students´ experiences of having reading and writing problems/dyslexia early in school, which is strange because school is a place where children spend most of their time. This study will raise the questions about how young people were treated by their teachers, what they think of having a diagnosis, what kind of individualization they received and how they think about continuing their education. To fulfil the study’s purpose I did six qualitative interviews with young people between the ages of 18 and 24 years. The primary theoretical basis in this study was identity formation, inclusion, exclusion and integration. The results show, for example, that five out of the six young people sometimes experienced that their teachers didn’t understand their writing and reading problems and that resulted in inappropriate treatment from the teachers. The young people could feel anxiety which often led to low self-confidence. The diagnosis was difficult for three of them, but none of the interviewed felt that the diagnosis had affected them. The results also show that a good individualization was difficult for the teachers to accomplish in practice, and it also showed that previous experiences in school perhaps influenced whether they chose to continue their studies or not. One of the conclusions is that it is very important to discover a child’s reading and writing problem at an early age and to give the child a lot of help. Otherwise the child can develop a low self-esteem, and it is negative for a child’s identity formation.

This research focus on key groups; students with dyslexia, librarians and teachers, and interaction between these two professional groups regarding students with dyslexia. In searching for the exchange of knowledge and experience to meet dyslexic students needs, I have in this study turned the attention to librarians and their experiences with students with dyslexia.The purpose of the research has been through semi-structured qualitative interviews with four librarians, to explore and describe how they experience their work, in working with pupils with severe reading and writing problems, dyslexia, and interaction with teachers on this user group. The qualitative approach in the gathering of the empirical evidence is based on a desire to have an indepth and thoroughly understanding of the librarians experience.All informants in this study indicate that they see it as a natural part of their duty to keep themselves updated about dyslexia and what materials to suit the dyslexic user group. The informants have knowledge of dyslexia and have great knowledge and keep abreast on the latest technology of compensatory aids - alternative tools.The informants have primary a consulting and supply function for teachers and dyslexic students, where they are consulted on  suitable material in both fiction and facts in various disciplines. The informants highlights the importance of planning and preparation time to find suitable material, as audio books or easy read, so students who have a need for this also can be provided. They also have a major role in seeking information, then todays school is very demanding on the students to seek information themselves. The informants experience is that this requirement pose serious difficulties for dyslexic students.There is some discrepancy in the informants role depending on the library that they are employed at, where assignments and resources are of importance. Interaction between teacher and librarian occurred in a greater proportion with the secondary scool librarians than with the municipal and city librarian. Secondary school libraries are direct target at school activities and assignments and secondary school librarians are situated in school. They have transparency and participation in school activities, facilitating the work to catch up and assist the dyslexic students needs, as well as interaction with teachers and school staff.The informants desire greater interaction and requested guidance to specify their work both on their own behalf, but above all to be clear externally. Since their experience is that teachers have little knowledge of what the library and the librarian may contribute with as resource in general and in particular for students with dyslexia and compensatory aids. This was particular the teachers who are referred to the municipal and city library, ie. those teachers who do not have the librarian in their immediate vicinity. The informants request more knowledge from the teachers regarding librarian skills to utilise the libraries potential as a collaboration partner.