Background: Joint attention (JA) is selectively and pervasively impaired in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and has been found to link to later outcomes in language, theory of mind, play and social development. This study investigated the effectiveness of a social interactive intervention to improve initiating JA skills in children with ASD. The intervention was based on the mirror neuron hypothesis, in that techniques used encouraged the children to take on their communication partners’ perspective through a process of embodied simulation. Method: Three participants diagnosed with ASD, under the age of 5, were recruited as well as 3 typically developing children for the setting of training criteria. A multiple-baseline design across participants was implemented. Results: All three participants displayed improvements in their ability to initiate JA. Skills generalized to other settings and communication partners. Improvements were observed by both trained and naïve observers. Conclusions: A social interactive model, based on the mirror neuron hypothesis, utilizing specific techniques which follow the child’s lead may be used to effectively improve initiating joint attention (IJA) in some children with ASD.

Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka hur elever och svensklärare på en gymnasieskola i Värmland reflekterar över skriftbruk av dialektalt betingade former och drag. I detta arbete undersöks vidare vilken attityd som eleverna har gentemot sin egen dialekt och i vilken utsträckning som dialekten realiseras i elevernas skriftbruk. Undersökningen utgår från frågeställningarna om vilka attityder som eleverna har till den egna dialekten, hur gymnasielärare i svenska reflekterar över dialektalt skriftbruk samt i vilken utsträckning som dialektala former och drag förekommer i elevernas skriftbruk. Denna undersökning är konstruerad som en kvalitativt inriktad fallstudie med semistrukturerade intervjuer och ett förestavningstest, även kallat diktamen, som metoder för datainsamlingen. Antalet deltagare har avgränsats till fyra elever och en gymnasielärare, där detta urval gjorts genom ett målinriktat bekvämlighetsurval med intersubjektivitet.  Undersökningen visar att de fyra eleverna har en positiv attityd till den egna dialekten samtidigt som förekomst av dialekt menas ge upphov till språkliga svårigheter i mötet med skolspråket i olika skolämnen. Vidare visar undersökningen att gymnasielärare menar att det är viktigt att rätta språket i elevtexter, men att det samtidigt är viktigt att eleverna får en bred språklig repertoar. I likhet med flera tidigare studier visar denna undersökning att det i elevernas skriftbruk förekommer flertalet dialektalt betingade former och drag som pekas ut som vanligt förekommande i det geografiska område som eleverna härrör från. Undersökningen visar även att gymnasieelever tenderar att vara dialektalt flerspråkiga, men att detta inte alltid stöttar eleverna i skolarbetet, utan där förekomst av dialekt stundvis även uppträder som en språklig barriär, i termer av ett dialektalt hinder. / The aim of this study is to investigate how students and Swedish teachers at an upper secondary school in Värmland reflects on the use of dialectally conditioned forms and traits in writing. Furthermore, this study examines what attitudes the students have to their own dialect and to what extent the dialect is realized in the students writing. The study is based on the questions what attitudes the students have to their own dialect, how upper secondary school teachers in Swedish reflects on dialectal writing and to what extent dialectal forms and traits occur in the students writing. The study employs a qualitative approach and is constructed as a case study with semi-structured interviews and a pre-spelling test, also called dictation, as methods for the collection of data. The number of participants are limited to four students and one upper secondary school teacher, whom has been selected through a targeted and convince method for selection with intersubjectivity.  The study shows that the four students tend to have a positive attitude towards their own dialect, while the presence of dialect is said to give rise to linguistic difficulties in the meeting with the language in the different subjects in school. Furthermore, the study shows that Swedish teachers believes that it is important to correct the language in the students texts, and that it is important that the students also receives knowledge in order to establish a wide linguistic repertoire. The results of this study are consistent with the conclusions drawn in several previous studies, that there is to be found several dialectal contingent forms and traits that are identified as common in the geographical area in which the students originate. The study also shows that students in upper secondary school tend to be dialectally multilingual, but that this does not always supports the students in their school work, and that the occurrence of dialect sometimes also acts as language barrier, in terms of an dialectal obstacle.

Syftet med detta arbete är att kartlägga och uppmärksamma utmärkande språkliga drag i det lokala målet i Skillingmark, en bygd belägen ett par kilometer öster om riksgränsen till Norge i västra Värmland. Vidare undersöks i detta arbete huruvida olika dialektalt betingade språkliga drag kan knytas till språkbrukarens ålder som en faktor som påverkar den språkliga variationen. Undersökningen utgår från frågeställningarna om vilka språkliga drag och former som är utmärkande för den språkliga varietet som talas i Skillingmark, hur dessa former och drag avviker från motsvarande former i det neutrala standardspråket, vilka likheter dessa drag och former har med motsvarande drag och former i norskan på andra sidan riksgränsen och huruvida olika språkliga drag förekommer i olika stor utsträckning hos språkbrukare inom olika åldersgrupper. Undersökningen tar avstamp i en kvalitativ ansats med semistrukturerade intervjuer där antalet deltagare, vilka har valts ut genom ett målinriktat bekvämlighetsurval med intersubjektivitet, har avgränsats till tre. Undersökningens resultat visar att det finns flera språkliga drag som utmärker Skillingmarksmålet i relation till det neutrala standardspråket, och där dessa skillnader kan ses på samtliga språkliga nivåer som har undersökts inom ramen för detta arbete. Samtidigt visar undersökningen, i likhet med tidigare studier inom ämnet, att språkliga drag och former i Skillingmark i flera avseenden har likheter med motsvarande former och drag i norskan. Utifrån intervjuer med tre språkbrukare framgår att det även förekommer språkliga drag i Skillingmarksmålet som kan ses vara uttryck för generationsbundna kronolekter, där vissa språkliga drag enkom används av äldre dialektala språkbrukare. Vidare visar undersökningen att dialekter har en viktig funktion i en social språklig dimension, där dialekten kan fungera som ett sammanhållande kitt i ett område med dialektalt kontinuum. / This study aims to map, mark and present distinctive linguistic features in the local linguistic variety that is spoken in the area of Skillingmark, located a few kilometers east of the national border between Sweden and Norway in the western parts in the province of Värmland. Furthermore, this study aims to examine whether different dialectally conditioned linguistic features can be associated with the age of the language user, as a factor affecting the linguistic variation. The study is based on the questions which linguistic traits and forms that are characteristic of the linguistic variety spoken in the area of Skillingmark, how these forms and traits deviate from corresponding forms in the neutral standard language, what similarities these traits and forms have to corresponding traits and forms in the Norwegian language and whether different linguistic features occur to varying degrees based on the age of the language user. The study employs a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews where the number of participants, whom has been selected through a targeted and convenience method for selection with intersubjectivity, is limited to three. The survey shows that there are several linguistic features that can be seen characterize the local linguistic variety in Skillingmark in relation to a neutral standard language, and where the differences can be seen at all three linguistic levels that have been examined. Furthermore, the results of this study are consistent with the conclusions that previously have been drawn in the previous research, and shows that linguistic features and forms in Skillingmark in several respects have similarities with corresponding forms and features in the Norwegian language. Based on interviews with three linguistic users, it is evident that there are also linguistic features in the local linguistic variety in Skillingmark which can be seen as an expression of generational boundary chronolects, where some linguistic features are used exclusively by older linguistic users. In addition, this study shows that dialects have an important function in a social linguistic dimension, and where the dialect can function as a cohesive putty in an area with dialectal continuum.