People with Aspergers syndrome (AS) have proven difficulties maintaining jobs according to previous research. This is a quality study. Four women with AS were interviewed about their experience of employment. What difficulties and contributions have they experience at work? What is the self experienced need of support within the research group? The result has been analyzed with different types of “support”. The need of work related support has been analyzed with performance, assimilation, inclusion and marginalizing. In difference to previous research, social aspects of employment didn’t prove a sufficient difficulty in this study but some social difficulties were found. Misunderstandings between coworkers were found to complicate the work situations, together with their lack of ability to understand critics. Minor problems described within the research group were their need to be absolute honest. The lack of ability to deal with destructions such as surrounding noise has proven difficulties in their work role. Emotional support and clear instructions at work, together with a suitable work environment has been pointed out in the group. Key strengths found are their high levels of work ethics and their dedication to perfection.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether the teacher's background affect students' approach to mathematics teaching. Characteristically, in Sweden today is that mathematics is perceived as difficult subject and that the number of foreign teachers has increased. The study examines a phenomenon which the relationship between the teacher's language accent and substance difficulties. The method used for data collection is questionnaires, in order to investigate the phenomenon as the relationship between the teacher's accent and substance difficulties. The investigation has been carried out based on the students' point of view, both secondary and primary school pupils. What difficulties have arisen in teaching?  What is the biggest obstacle to achieve the goals of mathematics, to understand the teacher's language accent first in order to understand the subject, or that mathematics is difficult in itself to be understood as a substance. The result clearly shows that the teacher's accent does not affect teaching and students' view of mathematics as a subject. The students think that mathematics is a difficult subject in itself and the difficulty arises in the abstract data that is not reality linked, and that they rely too much on independent work with individual support as the teacher does not have time to. Students' learning is influenced by other factors like the socio-coherent, which Vygotskji mean. Communication is an important prerequisite in the socio-cultural interaction. It affected in turn by various factors, like cultural affinities, and how to speak and the tone used.

Reading Recovery är ett vida spritt, individcentrerat men reproducerbart program för de svagaste eleverna efter sitt första skolår. Reading Recovery har sitt ursprung på Nya Zeeland, där professor Marie Clay med kollegor med början under 1970-talet bedrev omfattande läsforskning. Den enskilda undervisningen sker enligt en strukturerad lektionsram under 30 minuter dagligen. Programmet bygger på genomgripande utbildning och kontinuerlig fortbildning av redan framgångsrika grundskollärare för att rusta dem för att fatta individuella, pedagogiska beslut med syfte att accelerera läs- och skrivinlärningen hos de utsedda barnen. Eleverna stimuleras att lära sig läsa och skriva genom att främst läsa korta, intresseväckande böcker samt engageras i anslutande skrivande. Betoning ligger på att eleverna ska bli självständiga och utveckla metakognitiva strategier. Elever väljs ut till Reading Recovery genom klasslärarens rekommendation samt utifrån elevens resultat på en omfattande serie tester inom den s.k. Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement; en observation av den tidiga läs- och skrivförmågan. Vanligtvis erbjuds Reading Recovery-undervisning till de 20 procent på respektive skola, vilka uppnått lägst resultat på ovanstående tester. Det grundläggande syftet med programmet är att reducera antalet elever med grava svårigheter att utveckla läs- och skrivförmåga samt att minimera kostnaden för deras utbildning. En majoritet av eleverna i Reading Recovery når avsedda mål och i internationella jämförelser ligger Nya Zeeland vanligen bland de högst rankade länderna i läsning. Samtliga av mina respondenter vittnade om de stora fördelarna med Reading Recovery. Enligt mina observationer stämmer pedagogernas faktiska utförande väl överens med programmets ursprungliga teoribas. / Reading Recovery is a widely disseminated, replicable, early intervention program for the lowest performing first-grade students. Originally, Marie Clay and colleagues constructed Reading Recovery in New Zealand on the base of broad research from the 1970’s and onwards. It utilizes a uniform lesson framework and extensive professional development to help already successful teachers make individual, instructional decisions designed to accelerate the literacy learning of the selected children within one-to-one, 30-minute daily lessons. The children are stimulated to learn to read and write by reading and writing. Short stories are used and writing activities are connected to reading. Emphasis is on teachers guiding children to be independent and learn metacognitive strategies. Reading Recovery students are identified for services based on teachers’ recommendations and the students’ performances on the Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement, with a number of wide-ranging assessments. Usually, students who score at or below the 20th percentile on the survey at a particular school are provided the intervention. The fundamental purpose of the program is to reduce the number of students who have severe difficulty developing literacy skills and to reduce the cost of educating them. A majority of the Reading Recovery students do reach the intended goals and in international comparative studies New Zealand usually is among the top ranking countries in reading. All my interviewees testified of the great advantages of Reading Recovery and, according to my conclusions, actual practice is well correlated with theory.

The purpose of the paper is to examine how teachers in preschool is working with language stimulation for the prevention of difficulties in reading and writing before school starts. The method that was used to illuminate the problem is a qualitative interview. A specialpedagog and six preschool teacher, which is specifically focused on language stimulation in the work with children, have been included in the study. The results indicated that preschool teacher are working a lot with language stimulation. They work mostly with children throughout the group, to encourage and provide children with the tools to be able to communicate with each other and staff. Decks language are used in daily activities. The form of language stimulation creates the conditions for participation and activity, where children are stimulated by each other. Student teachers stressed that signs as a support is something good to work with at nursery, because it gives all the children a chance to communicate. It appears that preschool teatcher want to work more consciously with language stimulation for the prevention of reading and writingproblems and thereby affect the whole child's development positively. In my literature review it is shown that previous researches have reached similar results. Something that is highlighted in the literature are that signs as a support increased opportunities for communication. It could involve children, who, for various reasons do not have access to the Swedish language, such as small children who have not yet developed the language, children with bad hearing or immigrant children. / Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur pedagoger i förskolan arbetar med språkstimulering för att förebygga läs- och skrivsvårigheter inför skolstarten. Metoden som har använts för att belysa problemområdet är kvalitativ intervju. En specialpedagog och sex förskollärare, som är speciellt inriktad på språkstimulering i arbetet med barnen, har ingått i studien. I resultaten framkommer att pedagoger arbetar en hel del med språkstimulering. De arbetar oftast med hela barngruppen, för att stimulera och ge barnen verktyg till att kunna kommunicera med varandra och personalen. Språklekar används i den dagliga verksamheten. Den formen av språkstimulering skapar förutsättningar för deltagande och aktivitet, där barnen stimuleras av varandra. Pedagogerna framhåller att, tecken som stöd är någonting bra att arbeta med på förskolor, eftersom det ger alla barn en chans att kommunicera. Det framkommer att pedagogerna vill arbeta mer medvetet med språkstimulering för att förebygga läs- och skrivsvårigheter och därigenom påverka hela barnets utveckling positivt. I min litteraturstudie har tidigare forskning kommit fram till liknande resultat. Någonting som framhålls i litteraturen är, tecken som stöd, för att skapa ökade möjligheter för kommunikation. Det kan gälla barn, som av olika skäl inte har tillgång till det svenska språket, exempelvis små barn som ännu inte utvecklat språket, barn som hör dåligt eller invandrarbarn.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur skisser och dokumentation kan integreras i undervisningen på frisörprogrammet, samt undersöka om kreativt skapande med hjälp av skissen kan överbrygga inlärnings- och förståelsesvårigheter i de praktiska momenten. En kvalitativ undersökning med hjälp av intervjuer gjordes. Två lärare och fyra elever deltog i studien och besvarade frågorna om kreativt skapande, skisser och dokumentationens betydelse för inlärning och i undervisning. I ett undervisningsförsök genomfört av mig, fick eleverna skapa frisyrer kreativt utifrån egna förutsättningar. Skissen användes av eleverna för att utveckla tankar och idéer. Dokumentationen användes medvetet för att eleverna ska kunna gå tillbaka i sina arbeten och reflektera över metoder och resultat vid ett senare tillfälle. I min litteraturgenomgång belyses exempel på hur inlärning sker i samspel med andra människor. Resultatet från intervjuer, undervisningsförsök och litteraturgenomgången visar att inlärningsoch förståelsesvårigheter ofta kan överbryggas med hjälp av skisser och dokumentation av kreativt skapande. / The purpose of this study was to examine how sketching and documentation can be integrated into the hairdressing programme. Besides this, the study explores whether developing creativity by means of sketching can bridge learning and understanding difficulties when working with practical items. A qualitative study based on interviews was carried out. Two teachers and four students participated in the study answering questions about creating with creativity, sketching and documentation and their importance for learning and overall in hairdressing education. In an educational trial set up by myself, the students developed creative hairstyles, from their own ideas. Sketching was used by the students to elaborate thoughts and ideas. Documentation was consciously used so that the students could have a retrospective look at their work and reflect over methods and results later on. In my literature study there are illustrative examples of how learning takes place through interaction with other people. The result of interviews, educational trial and exposition of literature shows that learning and understanding difficulties often can be bridged by means of sketching and documentation of creative work.

A preliminary measure of affect regulation strategies was developed from Parkinson and Totterdell’s (1999) provisional classification of deliberate strategies for improving negative affect. Four broad categories of strategies including Cognitive Engagement, Cognitive Diversion, Behavioural Engagement, and Behavioural Diversion were represented by the measure. Using this measure, relationships between self-reported use of affect regulation strategies and difficulties in emotion regulation and emotion processing variables were investigated. Participants included 186 adults. Participants completed a 20 minute online survey consisting of the measure of affect regulation strategies, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Subjective Experience of Emotions Scale (SEE), and a demographic information questionnaire. Weak correlations were found for the majority of the difficulties in emotion regulation and emotion processing subscales and individuals’ self-reported use of affect regulation categories. Results also provide evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the DERS and SEE.

During my practice as a teacher trainee at an upper secondary school it became clear to me that many pupils had difficulties with mathematics. I was surprised to find that many pupils seemed to get stuck on the level of attainment for the senior level of the nine-year compulsory school. As I have not studied anything about difficulties in Mathematics during my training to become a qualified teacher, I would like to get to know more about this. After studying research done on this subject I made the following approach to the problem: • What fields regarding Mathematics do the pupils themselves find most difficult? • What factors have been contributory causes to these problems? • What are the factors that have helped pupils with difficulties in Mathematics to reach the goals for the syllabuses in Mathematics? The answers to my questionnaire and interviews resulted in the following conclusions: • Pupils find theory of equation and conversion of units as most difficult at senior level of the nine-year compulsory school. • Teaching should be done in special instruction groups to give the pupil the opportunity to develop his/her skills on an individual level. • Pupils find it hard to deal with all moments in Mathematics during the time given for each course. • The pace for teaching Mathematics is too high according to the pupils. • Pupils wish for instructions on a lower level. • There is often a lack of contact between teacher and pupil. • The teacher should use more time to help the pupil receive good self-confidence and increase the motivation for instructions in Mathematics. / Sammanfattning Under mina praktikperioder på gymnasiet som lärarstudent kom jag i kontakt med många elever som hade det svårt med matematiken. Jag förundrades över att många elever verkade ha fastnat på högstadiets kunskapsnivå. Då jag inte har fått någon undervisning om elever med matematiksvårigheter i min lärarutbildning, vill jag lära mig mer om detta. Efter litteraturstudier kom jag fram till följande problemformuleringar: • Vilka områden inom matematiken tycker eleverna själva att de har problem med? • Vilka faktorer har bidragit till dessa problem? • Vilka är de faktorer som har hjälpt elever med matematiksvårigheter att nå kunskapsmålen i matematik? Som svar på mina enkät- och intervjufrågor kom jag fram till följande: • Eleverna upplever ekvationslösning och enhetsomvandlingar som svårast på högstadiet. • Undervisning bör ske i särskild undervisningsgrupp, för att ge eleven möjlighet att utvecklas på sin egen nivå. • Eleverna upplever att de inte har nog med tid för att hinna klart momenten i matematikundervisningen. • Eleverna menar att tempot i undervisningen är för högt. • Eleverna vill ha undervisning på en lägre nivå. • Relationen mellan lärare och elev är ofta bristfällig. • Läraren ska lägga mer tid på att stötta elevens självkänsla och försöka öka dennes motivation till matematikundervisningen.

A preliminary measure of affect regulation strategies was developed from Parkinson and Totterdell’s (1999) provisional classification of deliberate strategies for improving negative affect. Four broad categories of strategies including Cognitive Engagement, Cognitive Diversion, Behavioural Engagement, and Behavioural Diversion were represented by the measure. Using this measure, relationships between self-reported use of affect regulation strategies and difficulties in emotion regulation and emotion processing variables were investigated. Participants included 186 adults. Participants completed a 20 minute online survey consisting of the measure of affect regulation strategies, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Subjective Experience of Emotions Scale (SEE), and a demographic information questionnaire. Weak correlations were found for the majority of the difficulties in emotion regulation and emotion processing subscales and individuals’ self-reported use of affect regulation categories. Results also provide evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the DERS and SEE.

過去研究顯示，以英文為第二語言的研究生，無論在以英語為第二語言或是以英語為外語的環境下，都會在進行研究和論文寫作時遇到困難(Bitchener & Basturkmen, 2005; Buckingham, 2005; Dong, 1998; Lee, 2008; O’Connor, Greene & Anderson, 2006; Onwuegbuzie & Leech, 2006; Reeves, Herrington, & Oliver, 2005)，然而，相關研究卻缺乏探究在以英語為外語的環境下，同時身為研究生和在職教師的這群學生們所遭遇的困難，及其如何利用可取得的資源去解決論文寫作上的難題。本研究旨在藉由質性個案研究方式，以社會文化學習的角度，特別是van Lier (2004)的擴充式建構理論(expanded ZPD)，取得更多關於身為學校老師的在職研究生在論文寫作過程中遇到的困難以及解決對策的詳細資訊，以期對論文寫作教學以及論文指導上有所貢獻。本研究共邀請到三組指導教授與研究生，每組包含一位教授與他們的兩位研究生。資料來源包含與所有研究參與者的訪談內容、論文寫作相關書籍，以及學生的論文草稿，最後經由對比原始資料得出研究結果。 研究結果顯示學生在寫論文前遇到的困難是研究設計與處理資料，而在寫論文各章節時，他們會同時遇到文字上以及文體格式方面的困難。根據各章節的文體要求，學生們認為文獻回顧、研究發現，以及討論研究結果是最困難的章節，而結論是困難度最小的章節。而這些困難可歸因於學生為非母語寫作者，以及他們對於學術規範的不熟悉。此外，本研究也發現，在職班學生可取得的資源包括同儕、專家、學術出版品，以及自身。 基於上述發現，本研究提出研究所課程的教師應提供學生更多閱讀學術論文的機會，以及在課程中融入讓學生可應用課堂所學的任務。指導教授也能事先提醒學生論文中較為困難的部份，以及告訴學生有哪些可取得資源是有助於論文寫作的。未來，需要更多人誌學以及日記研究法的方式研究，以期能更深入了解在職研究生在論文寫作上的需求。 / Though a number of studies have revealed that both the L2 graduate students in English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts may encounter difficulties in conducting research and writing theses (Bitchener& Basturkmen, 2005; Buckingham, 2005; Dong, 1998; Lee, 2008; O’Connor, Greene& Anderson, 2006; Onwuegbuzie & Leech, 2006; Reeves, Herrington& Oliver, 2005), research about how the graduate students who are also in-service teachers in EFL settings cope with the difficulties in thesis writing by making use of the sources available still lacks. Thus, this study aimed to have an in-depth understanding of the difficulties this group of students faced in the process of thesis writing and the ways they adopted to deal with the problems via a qualitative case study and with the social cultural perspective of learning, especially the framework of expanded ZPD (van Leir, 2004) .Three advisor-advisee pairs were invited to participate in the present study, and each pair was comprised of one advisor and two advisees. Data for analysis were collected from multiple sources, including semi-structured interviews with the participants, the textbook of the thesis writing course, and the drafts of theses. Data were analyzed by constant comparative method (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The results showed that the students faced difficulties about research design and compiling the data even before writing theses. When writing each section of a thesis, they had troubles both at the linguistic level and the rhetorical level. According to the rhetorical regulations of each section, Literature Review, Results, and Discussion were viewed as the three most difficult sections and Conclusion the least difficult section for the students. Hence, the unfamiliarity of academic conventions and the lower English writing abilities contributed to the difficulties the students faced during thesis writing. Moreover, the findings disclosed that the sources available for the students as in-service teachers included human resources such as peers and experts, material resources such as academic publications, and inner knowledge from self. Based upon above findings, it is suggested that the courses of graduate schools should provide students more opportunities to read academic texts extensively and practice what they learn in class. Also, the advisors should remind students of the problematic area of a specific section and tell students the resources available in the academic context. In the future, more ethnographic and diary studies are needed to explore what challenges the students who are also in-service teachers encounter in the thesis writing processes and how they solve these problems because this group of students may have different needs in thesis writing

Syftet med denna studie är att få ta del av speciallärares erfarenheter kring sitt arbete med elever i matematiksvårigheter. Jag valt att göra en livsberättelsestudie, där fyra speciallärares berättelser kring sitt arbete med elever i matematiksvårigheter är i fokus. Genom deras egna berättelser om sitt liv som speciallärare vill jag komma åt hur de jobbar med sina elever och varför de väljer att jobba på just de sätten de gör. Jag vill få fram speciallärarens tankar kring varför dessa elever hamnar i matematiksvårigheter och vad det kan bero på.Resultatet visar att de speciallärare som deltagit i studien är ganska samstämmiga i hur de idag jobbar med sina elever och varför de gör som de gör. Resultatet visar att det är en komplex fråga hur man får dessa elever inkluderade i den ordinarie undervisningen. Speciallärarna i studien ser att elever i svårigheter ofta kan vara rumsligt inkluderade, då de är i klassrummet med sina klasskamrater, men att de inte har något utbyte av det som sker, då de inte hänger med i undervisningen. Speciallärarna ser då att det är större möjligheter att klara dessa elever om de plockas ut i mindre grupper eller enskilt. Det är många faktorer som spelar in för att en elev ska lyckas med matematik och en viktig del i speciallärarnas arbete handlar om att skapa en lugn och trygg miljö för dessa elever. Det visar sig att endast en mindre del av deras berättelser handlade om att arbeta med matematiksvårigheter, då fokus i deras arbete oftast ligger på andra områden. Det centrala i allas berättelser handlar om hur viktigt det är för dem att skapa en bra miljö för sina elever, där eleverna får chans att bygga upp sin självkänsla och att få dem att våga tro på sig själva. / The purpose of this study is to gain access to Special Education Needs (SEN) Teachers experiences in their work with students with mathematical difficulties. I have decided to do a life story study, with four SEN Teachers' stories about their work with students of mathematical difficulties in focus. By their own stories about their life as a SEN Teachers, I would like to find out how they work with their students and why they choose to work the way they do. I want to get the SEN Teacher`s thoughts about why these students end up in difficulties with mathematics and what the reason might be.The results show that the SEN Teachers who participated in the study are fairly consistent in how they currently work with their students, and why they work the way they do. The results also show that it is a very complex issue to get these students included in the regular curriculum. The SEN Teachers see that students with difficulties can often be spatially included when they are placed in the classroom with their classmates, but cannot keep up with what is happening in the classroom, and they won’t gain the right knowledge. SEN Teachers will see that there are better chances of success with these students if they are placed in small groups or individually. There are many factors that come into play for a student to succeed in mathematics, and an important part of the SEN Teachers' work is about creating a peaceful and safe environment for these students. I found that only a small part of their stories was about the actual work with mathematics difficulties, the main part of their work were often needed in other areas. The core message of all the stories is the importance to create a good environment for their students, where the students have a chance to build their self esteem and to believe in themselves.