Thesis (M Social Work(Social Work))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / An exploratory research design together with a qualitative research approach was chosen in order to obtain knowledge, insight and understanding regarding the socio-emotional experience of older persons with visual impairments. The motivation for this study resulted from a lack of recent research related to the socio-emotional experience of older persons with visual impairments. The researcher became aware of this lack of recent literature during a preliminary literature investigation. The need for updated research in this field was confirmed by the Department of Social Work and the Department of Ophthalmology at Tygerberg Hospital. The goal of the study is therefore to gain a better understanding of the socio-emotional experience of older persons with visual impairments in order to provide guidelines for social work intervention with these older persons. The literature study firstly focused on the life-stage of older persons in order to gain a better understanding of the developmental needs and tasks during old age focussing especially on the significance of visual competency in this life-stage. The literature study also included the theoretical framework that guides the social worker’s task, in this study the focus was on the ecological perspective. Primarily, the literature study explored the socio-emotional experiences of older persons affected by visual impairments and the social work interventions that are available for older persons with visual impairments. The researcher decided to involve ten older persons (65 years of age or older) with visual impairments who are from the service-area of Tygerberg Hospital in the research. A qualitative investigation was carried out by means of conducting semi-structured interviews with the aid of an interview guide. The results of the investigation largely confirmed the findings of the literature study namely that visual impairment severely impacts the daily functioning of older persons. These socio-emotional challenges include: aspects related to family and/or friends; psychosocial implications of vision loss on daily activities like: driving, shopping, sport, television, needlework/ knitting, and reading; and a lack of knowledge regarding available services for older persons with visual impairments.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Young learners with reading and writing difficulties cannot reach their full potential in school. Teachers, parents and illustrators of children’s books cannot assume the efficacy of illustrations as an aid in developing reading skills as a matter of course. Pierre Bourdieu’s habitus theory explains perceptual diversity. Illustrations, as varied visual contexts, can be interpreted in different ways and, therefore, also provoke different meanings. The thesis proposes that the young learner should be provided with a diversity of visual stimulants. The thesis proposes that such visual stimulants comprise multiple characterising in illustrated form. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Jong leerders met lees- en skryfprobleme kan nie hul volle potensiaal bereik nie. Onderwysers, ouers en illustreerders van kinderboeke kan nie die effektiwiteit van illustrasies as hulpmiddel in die ontwikkeling van leesvaardighede as vanselfsprekend aanvaar nie. Pierre Bourdieu se habitusteorie verduidelik perseptuele verskille in die registrasie van beeld en teks. Illustrasies, as gevarieerde visuele kontekste kan op verskillende maniere geïnterpreteer word en daarom roep dit verskillende betekenisse op. Die tesis stel voor dat die jong leerder variasies in visuele stimulante behoort te ontvang. Die tesis stel ook voor dat sodanige visuele stimulante multikarakterisering in geïllustreerde vorm behels.

The point of this text is to refer to the child with specific learning and behaviour difficulties as a unique personality and as a human beings with its own value. Childrens' self-concept is formed in a family background, at school and by a person of the same age. Childrens' self-concept is mainly endangered at schools, however the school has got a lot of opportunities to prevent that danger of self-concept reducing, to form and to develop it. The theoretical part is concentrated on forming self-concept in a view of child's psychical development and of childrens' specific learning and behaviour difficulties, it is pointed to forming self-concept at school background and in some situation which can endanger childrens' self-concept. We have also outlined a few possibilities how to prevent the threated self-concept, how to form and develop it. In the empiric part we studied whether the self-concept of children with specific learning and behaviour difficulties differs from self-concept of the children who haven't got these difficulties. For that purpose we used a standard questionnaire.

<p>In this essay, I will look at three different Compulsory comprehensive schools in one community and I will compare final grades from students who graduated in spring 2006. I will also examine how the three schools work with students, and in what way they approach students with dyslexia/reading- and writing difficulties, so that they could reach goals set by The Swedish National Agency for Education. The aim with this essay is to show differences between schools in the same community and my question is if it is the way you approach students with dyslexia/reading- and writing difficulties that affects the student’s grades and results.</p><p>The study is concentrating on three schools in one community and students with dyslexia and reading- and writing difficulties that went to those schools. I have spoken to remedial teacher at each school about how they approach students with dyslexia/reading- and writing difficulties, what kind of methods the use, how they investigate if a student is in need of special help and how they grade their students who are in need of special teaching because of their learning disabilities. This essay will also present different ways of defining dyslexia and how to approach the pedagogic difficulties that will appear in situations where students with reading- and writing difficulties gets exposed and are in need of special education or help.</p><p>The results of this study can only be connected to those schools that have been studied for this exam. The results can not in any way be generalising for all schools in Sweden. However did the study results show that students that went to school 2 reached higher goals than students that went to school 1 or 3. The study also shows that these schools use different ways to work with students with dyslexia and reading- and writing difficulties. But to compare numbers and grades can’t give a fair picture of how each school work with each student so that they develop those skills and knowledge that is seen as necessary to become a democratic member of the society. Because numbers and grades cant tell anything about the student’s disabilities or what kind of knowledge or skills the student is in possession of. Nevertheless can this study when comparing grades, in the most general way, say that students that go to school 2 are more likely to reach goals that are set by The Swedish National Agency for Education.</p>

In this essay, I will look at three different Compulsory comprehensive schools in one community and I will compare final grades from students who graduated in spring 2006. I will also examine how the three schools work with students, and in what way they approach students with dyslexia/reading- and writing difficulties, so that they could reach goals set by The Swedish National Agency for Education. The aim with this essay is to show differences between schools in the same community and my question is if it is the way you approach students with dyslexia/reading- and writing difficulties that affects the student’s grades and results. The study is concentrating on three schools in one community and students with dyslexia and reading- and writing difficulties that went to those schools. I have spoken to remedial teacher at each school about how they approach students with dyslexia/reading- and writing difficulties, what kind of methods the use, how they investigate if a student is in need of special help and how they grade their students who are in need of special teaching because of their learning disabilities. This essay will also present different ways of defining dyslexia and how to approach the pedagogic difficulties that will appear in situations where students with reading- and writing difficulties gets exposed and are in need of special education or help. The results of this study can only be connected to those schools that have been studied for this exam. The results can not in any way be generalising for all schools in Sweden. However did the study results show that students that went to school 2 reached higher goals than students that went to school 1 or 3. The study also shows that these schools use different ways to work with students with dyslexia and reading- and writing difficulties. But to compare numbers and grades can’t give a fair picture of how each school work with each student so that they develop those skills and knowledge that is seen as necessary to become a democratic member of the society. Because numbers and grades cant tell anything about the student’s disabilities or what kind of knowledge or skills the student is in possession of. Nevertheless can this study when comparing grades, in the most general way, say that students that go to school 2 are more likely to reach goals that are set by The Swedish National Agency for Education.

En kvalitativ studie kring några lärares tankar kring individuell utveckling och elevers delaktighet i sin egen utveckling begränsat till elever med läs och skrivsvårigheter i årskurs tre. för att genomföra den här studien har jag valt att intervjua fyra lärare med behörighet att undervisa elever i årskurs tre i ämnet svenska, dessa lärare valdes genom bekvämlighetsurval. Lärarna uttrycker att de arbetar relativt lika vad gäller IUP och elevers delaktighet men även att lärarna framhller vikten av att stödja eleverna och hjälpa dem på olika sätt för att de ska nå mlen för läsning och skrivning. Resultatet diskuteras utifrån Vygotskijs begrepp proximala utvecklingszonen som är ett centralt begrepp i studien. / This is a qualitative study where I have chosen to investigate teachers’ work with student’s individual development and participation in their learning process, but I have restricted myself to students in year three with difficulties in reading and writing. I wanted to find out how some teachers think and feel about the concepts I have used above and find out how you can work to get students more involved in their learning process. To carry out this study, I have conducted interviews with four teachers qualified to teach students in grades three in Swedish as I picked through the convenience sample. I chose to do unstructured interviews in order to get closer to respondents and that their responses would be more profound and so explain what they think about the questions I asked. These interviews, I then processed by analyzing and interpreting them. The result do I also link to the zone of proximal development by Vygotskij, as I have as theoretical approach in my work. What I have found is that teachers work relatively the same with student’s individual development and participation in its learning process, but also that the teachers pressure much that it is important to support students and help them in different ways for them to reach the goals in reading and writing.

Balanserat styrkort har sedan sin introduktion vidareutvecklats och fått en ny innebörd från det ursprungliga och ses idag mer som ett styrverktyg än ett prestationsmätningsverktyg. Ursprungligen användes styrkort i den privata sektorn men används idag även inom kommunala verksamheter. Det har uppmärksammats att svårigheter kan uppstå vid användningen av balanserat styrkort vilket studeras närmare i denna uppsats. Syftet med studien är att beskriva och förklara hur interna svårigheter i kommunal miljö kan hanteras vid styrkortsanvändning. Detta ledde till följande problemformulering; Hur hanteras svårigheter som kan uppkomma vid användning av balanserat styrkort? Denna studie är kvalitativ och insamlingen av empirisk data har genomförts på två kommunala förvaltningar inom Helsingborgs stad. Genom denna studie har det framkommit att hanteringen av svårigheter är något som det aktivt arbetas med. För att skapa motivation och engagemang hos både medarbetare och chefer är det viktigt att skapa en förståelse för styrkortet på alla nivåer i organisationen samt att uppmuntra till kommunikation, kreativitet, eget ansvar och delaktighet i styrkortsarbetet. En central faktor till att kunna hantera de svårigheter som uppstår är det så kallade styrkortsnätverket som består av experter inom styrkortsanvändningen. En annan viktig faktor är målkedjan vilken skapar en tydlig röd tråd från mål till konkreta handlingar. Denna kan i sin tur reducera bristande motivation och engagemang då varje person inom verksamheten kan se sitt bidrag till de övergripande målen. Vi har även genom studien kommit fram till att ett väl utvecklat och aktuellt tekniskt systemstöd anses vara till stor hjälp för att styrkortsarbetet ska fungera. Detta system motverkar svårigheter som kan finnas i fråga om onödig och inaktuell information. Men för att önskad användning av systemet ska kunna ske krävs att användarna förstår sig på det. Detta har hanterats på så sätt enkelhet är i fokus för att kunna säkerställa optimal användning.

The study is a qualitative explanation of the manifestations of learning support in the lives of high school learners experiencing barriers to learning. The primary research question that guided this study was: How does learning support manifest itself in the lives of high school learners? Nine learners repeating grade nine were sampled to participate in the study. Co-participating were nine family members, seven educators and the principal. Interviews and observations were conducted to determine the nature of barriers to learning experienced by high school learners, and the ways in which learning support manifests in their lives. Theme analysis was then used to analyze the data collected. This process yielded two main themes, e.g. barriers to learning and manifestations of learning support . The two main themes were then further divided into eight sub-themes and fourteen categories. The findings of the study are articulated in terms of the ecosystemic perspective, which then indicated that barriers to learning issued from factors related to learners, educators, families, the education system and society. The sub-themes and categories that emerged on barriers to learning are discussed in detail in the thesis. The study further revealed that learning support manifests in diverse ways for the participants in this study, i) in terms of knowledge about and the availability of learning support, ii) in terms of guidance, advice, motivation, encouragement and one-on-one support, iii) in terms of extra classes, extra work and assistance with schoolwork and finally, iv) in terms of the mobilization of available resources. In conclusion, the study illustrates that there is low consistency in the ways in which learning support manifests in the lives of the learners in the study. It also shows a lack of formal avenues that can be accessed for learning support by the learners experiencing barriers to learning. / Thesis (PhD (Learning Support, Guidance and Counselling))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

Vid arbete med matematiska textuppgifter krävs det en god läsförmåga, läsförståelse och ett bra arbetsminne. Om en elev har brister såväl i läsningen som i arbetsminnet resulterar det i stora svårigheter när arbete med matematiska textuppgifter sker. Det finns ett flertal förklaringar till varför elever har svårigheter vid arbete med matematiska textuppgifter, dessa förklaringar belyses i den här studien. Den här systematiska litteraturstudien har som syfte att beskriva de underliggande faktorerna till svårigheter vid arbete i matematiken med textuppgifter samt hur lärare arbetar för att underlätta lärande i ämnet matematik för elever med svårigheter inom matematiska textuppgifter. Metoden som används för att besvara studiens frågeställningar är en innehållsanalys av tio vetenskapliga artiklar som har sökts fram på ett systematiskt och strukturerat sätt. Resultatet utgår från de tio vetenskapliga artiklar som analyserades genom innehållsanalys. I artiklarna identifieras följande teoretiska ramverk, (1) sociokulturellt perspektiv, (2) diskursanalys och (3) Kintschs teori om textförståelse. Flera artiklar förklarar svårigheter med matematiska textuppgifter som en konsekvens av antingen kognitiva nedsättningar eller överflödig information. Båda dessa försvårar för eleverna. Ett antal av artiklarna lyfter även metoder som lärare kan använda sig av när de ska stötta samt utmana elever när det gäller matematiska textuppgifter.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur pedagoger arbetar med att förebygga elevers läs- och skrivsvårigheter genom digitala verktyg inom F-3 och ämnet svenska. Forskningsfrågorna handlar om hur pedagogerna som medverkar i studien tolkar fenomenet läs- och skrivsvårigheter, samt på vilka sätt de arbetar för att främja inlärningen med digitala verktyg och vilka möjligheter respektive svårigheter de möter i undervisningen med stöd av digitala verktyg. Resultatet vilar på intervjuer med fyra verksamma pedagoger som dagligen arbetar med digitala verktyg i läs- och skrivundervisningen. Deras uttalanden har analyserats för att finna kärnan i praktiker med digitala verktyg som främjar läs- och skrivutvecklingen hos elever i läs- och skrivsvårigheter. Det teoretiska ramverk som studien vilar på är det sociokulturella perspektivet, då digitala verktyg är kommunikationsverktyg. Då studien även behandlar specialpedagogiska aspekter används specialpedagogiska perspektiv för att synliggöra elevers behov. Resultatet visar på att de digitala verktygen främjar läs- och skrivutvecklingen hos elever i läs- och skrivsvårigheter. Detta genom att de digitala verktygen tillåter anpassningar som ej är möjliga i den traditionella läs- och skrivundervisningen. Användandet av digitala verktyg skapar även motivation hos eleverna då arbetet ses som något lustfyllt. / The purpose of this study is to explore how teachers work when counteracting pupils’ reading and writing difficulties through digital tools, in elementary school, and in the Swedish subject. The research questions process how the teachers that participate in the study interpret the phenomenon of difficulties of reading and writing, how they work with promoting learning through digital tools and what possibilities and difficulties they encounter in this type of education. The result is based on interviews with four active teachers who work with digital tools in reading and writing education daily. Their statements have been analyzed to find the core of what promotes learning to read and write for students that have reading and writing difficulties when using digital tools. The theoretical framework the study is based on is the socio-cultural perspective, because of the digital tool being a communication tool. As the study also processes special education aspects, the special education perspectives are used to make the needs of pupils´ visible. The result shows that the digital tools promote reading and writing skills for students with reading and writing difficulties. This is because the digital tools allow adaptations that would not be possible in traditional reading and writing instruction. The digital tools also create motivation for students because the work is seen as something pleasurable.