Research shows that preschool teachers lack knowledge about how the goals for an inclusive education of children with special needs are to be achieved in practice. The aim of this study is to show how preschool teachers work with the inclusion of children with special needs, despite the lack of specific guidelines regarding how the preschool should work with inclusion. To answer the study's purpose and questions, a qualitative thematic analysis method has been used. We have analyzed the collected material from six interviews with preschool teachers from different preschools and municipalities in Sweden. The result shows that the preschool teachers support and include children with special needs by using different tools such as visual aids (for example, signs with pictures and text), as well as learning tablets. The interview shows that all preschool teachers agree that the concept of inclusion means adapting activities to create opportunities for all children to be able to participate. It also emerged that all preschool teachers agree that children with special needs generally require more support than children without special needs.

Children with special needs are often considered as a vulnerable group, who faces double risk  than general peer groups to be bullied. Bullying interventions are a useful method that can be used to help children enhance their self-esteem and coping skills. The aim of this systematic review is to explore anti-bullying interventions programs for children with special needs, and intervention outcomes. A search for scholarly articles has been carried out in four databases,739 articles were identified and six articles included in the analysis after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. The anti-bullying interventions were beneficial for children with special needs to reduce risk of bullying , while the results were varied. This study combined  Bronfenbrenner's ecological model with various anti-bullying intervention designs to discuss the results. This study make up a lttle gap in the area of anti-bullying intervention for children with special needs, and provide an overview of  these program. Limitations of the study and further research will be discussed. / 有特殊需要的儿童通常被视为弱势群体， 并且面临着两倍于同龄人的被霸凌风险。欺凌干预作为一种有效手段，可以用来帮助儿童增强自尊和应对能力。本系统综述的目的是探讨针对有特殊需要的儿童的反欺凌干预方案和干预效果。在四个数据库中搜索了学术文章，得到738个结果，并最终得到满足条件的六篇文章。反欺凌干预措施对于有特殊需要的儿童有利于减少欺凌的风险，但干预结果却各不相同。这项研究结合了Bronfenbrenner的生态模型与各种反欺凌干预设计来讨论干预结果， 弥补了对有特殊需要的儿童的反欺凌干预方面的一点空白，并提供了这些计划的概述。研究的局限性和进一步的研究将讨论。

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / The harsh economic environment, lack of adequate caregiving resources, lack of psychosocial support structures poses as some of the challenge’s families caring for the children with special needs face. In exploring the experiences, perceptions and coping strategies applied by families caring for children with special needs care, the study sought to explore the (physical, social, psychological, emotional, financial) experiences of caring for a child with special needs and their experiences of access to services (healthcare, education, social). The caregiver’s perceptions of family, service providers and community member’s reactions towards their children with special needs and the coping strategies applied by families when caring for their child with special needs were also included in this study.

Background: The transition from pre-school to kindergarten can be complex for children who need special assistance due to mental or physical disabilities (children with “special needs”). We used a longitudinal mixed-methods approach to explore parents’ experiences with service provision as their children transitioned to school. Methods: Parents (including one grandparent) of 37 children aged 4 to 6 years completed measures assessing their perceptions of and satisfaction with services, as well as their perceptions of the children’s behaviour. Teachers completed measures indicating children’s school readiness and school adjustment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents to understand their experiences with services. Findings: Post-transition, parents reported lower perceptions of services and decreased satisfaction than pre-transition. Pre-transition perceptions of services and satisfaction with services were associated with some of the children’s outcomes important for school success. Socio-economic characteristics of parents did not predict change in their perceptions of services or satisfaction with services post-transition. The following themes emerged from the qualitative data: qualities of services and service providers, communication and information transfer, parent advocacy, uncertainty about services, and contrasts and contradictions in satisfaction. The qualitative findings indicate parents were both satisfied and concerned with aspects of the post-transition service provision. Conclusions: While the quantitative results suggested that parents’ experience with services became less positive after their children entered school, the qualitative findings illustrated the variability in parents’ experiences and components of service provision that require improvements to facilitate a successful school entry. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

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The purpose of the study is to examine the ways in which the Children’s rights convention is used to develop early childhood education for children with special needs. We want to examine how preschool teachers and municipalities relate to the Children’s rights convention when decisionmaking concerning children with special needs, and the resources that will be relevant for these children. In order to answer our questions, we conducted interviews with preschool teachers and officials in two municipalities in Sweden. This in order to identify any differences between theory and practice; does this correspond with what is said in the Children’s rights convention, the Education Act, various policy documents that are in and around the preschool or is there a need to develop this work further, so that the guidelines are followed to a greater extent? We have used a qualitative method with phenomenological and phenomenographic basis. We describe the ecological systems theory of child development, individual, and relational perspective, which we use to analyze our collected material. We also shed light on previous research in the Children’s rights convention and children's right to education, the incorporation of the Children’s rights convention, special education and resources, children's perspective and inclusion and exclusion. We have concluded that the need for an education initiative for the Convention should be used to strengthen children's rights, but also the need for a more active work to actualize what is said in the Children’s rights convention.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to asses the oral health quality of life of children with special health care needs. This study examined the effects of oral health conditions on general well-being and family life of these children. A secondary aim of the study was to investigate correlations between specific health care conditions, gender, and age of these children and their global ratings of oral health and well-being.Methods: This study was a cross-sectional design with subjects who are members of the Virginia Care Connection for Children program, based at Virginia Commonwealth University. The oral health quality of life was measured using a shortened version of the Parental – Caregiver Perceptions Questionnaire (P-CPQ). The questionnaire includes measures of global ratings of oral health and well-being as well as effects of oral health on domains of oral symptoms, functional limitations, emotional well-being, and family well-being/parental distress. The parents/caregivers were asked to report on these domains as they related to their child's oral health within the past 3 months. Additional survey items included questions regarding demographic factors of the child (age, sex, special health care conditions) and parent (i.e. mother, father, or other). Results: The survey was sent out to 429 individuals and 137 usable surveys were returned for a response rate of 32%. Special health care conditions of the children were categorized and reported as follows: 1) Neurodevelopmental/Genetic/Neuro-muscular disorders, N=69 (59.13%); 2) Respiratory disorders, N=12 (10.43%); 3) Cardiac disorders, N=5 (4.35%); 4) Craniofacial disorders, N=12 (10.43%); 5) Metabolic disorders, N=15 (13.04%); 6) Psychological disorders, N=3 (2.61%). In general, caregivers reported the children to have a fair to good oral health quality of life in each domain. It was determined that two of the domains, functional limitations and emotional well-being, were not correlated with the child's oral health or well-being. However, the oral symptoms and family well-being/parental distress domains did have a positive correlation (p = 0.0340 and p = 0.0420, respectively). Conclusions: In a population of children with special health care needs it appears that oral symptoms and family well-being outweighed functional limitations and emotional well-being.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to analyze the integration of children with disabilities into a general kindergarten within the regions of Nymburk and Kolin, to describe appropriate auxiliary measures, and to use the analysis to form efficient strategies or a series of auxiliary measures. This study is focused on the process of integration at preschool institutions. It builds upon structural descriptions of particular cases in order to showcase efficient and beneficial cases, describe risks and specifics of this level of education. This thesis aims to map particular cases of integration of children with disabilities, characterize the current developments of integration at general kindergartens.

Although all families in the United States experience stress, families of children with special needs frequently experience prolonged periods of stress. Prolonged exposure to stressful circumstances increases their vulnerability to financial, physical, and social strain. With the continuing increase in the prevalence of children who have special needs, it is vital to examine the efficacy of different educational approaches on parental stress. It is unclear whether there are differences in stress levels for families of homeschooled versus public-schooled children with special needs. Using the family adjustment and adaptation response model, the purpose of this quantitative, ex post facto study was to investigate the degree to which parental stress reported by parents of a school-aged child with special needs could be predicted by school approach and severity of learning disability. Seventy parents of children participating in either public special education or homeschooling completed self-administered questionnaires, including the Family Impact of Childhood Disability Scale, the Educational Stress Survey, the Cognitive Processing Inventory, and demographic questions. Results from the descriptive analysis and multiple regression analyses indicated that the severity of the learning disability significantly predicted both overall parental stress as well as stress contributed by schooling. However, the type of special education setting did not significantly predict parental stress. The results from this study can promote positive social change by increasing parental awareness so that parents can make informed decisions about schooling for their children with special needs. It can also provide valuable information about additional stress related to special education programming services based on the severity of the child's learning disability.