It is essential for school psychologists assessing children to use instruments that are reliable and valid. The focus of the current study is to determine whether or not the parent preschool versions of two popular behavior rating instruments, the Behavior Assessment System for Children – Second Edition (BASC-2; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004) and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000), are consistent measures of similarly-named behavioral constructs in preschool-aged children. Parents of 95 preschoolers referred to a nonprofit child evaluation clinic because of behavioral or developmental concerns completed both the BASC-2 and CBCL during an initial evaluation session. The findings revealed that while significantly high correlations occurred, the mean standard scores were significantly different for nine of the 15 construct comparisons. For six of the 15 comparisons, the mean difference was greater than one standard deviation. Additionally, the CBCL usually resulted in higher ratings than the BASC-2. Such findings imply that the two instruments are not equivalent, and results from these two behavior rating scales need to be interpreted with caution. The determination of whether or not a construct is considered clinically significant may depend solely on the instrument completed by the parent.

The research in this thesis attempts to understand what happens when children (3-6 years of age) interact with each other in the context of free play in two pre-school settings when adults are not involved. The aim of the study was to get a closer look at how children create relationships and how they protect and defend their interactional spaces. Data was gathered through ethnographically inspired methodology, using video observation to capture the everyday interactions of the children. Results were analyzed using a phenomenological approach to peer cultures. Previous research suggests that it is very important for children to maintain their interactions with peers and gaining access to play. We have studied how children shape and interrupt relationships, and what strategies they mainly use to exclude undesired participants from play activities. Our results indicate that it was a hard task for the children to gain access to playgroups in these two pre-school settings, and that the children often jointly constructed a number of strategies for excluding other children from their play. The results also showed a considerable difference between the pre-school settings, both regarding the conception of status, themes of play and the way the children chose to protect their interactional space. Our study has shown legible examples of how peer cultures are under influence of local circumstances at these two specific settings.

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The purpose of this study is to investigate how male and female is produced in the literary children’s literature that is found in a Municipal preschool. My issues are the following: Which sex dominates as a main character in the preschools literary books? What type of properties is attributed to the characters? What type of clothes is portrayed on the books characters? I performed a quantitative study of 136 children’s books. I used Maria Nikolajevas perceptions of stereotypical male and female properties to analyze my empirical data. My conclusions are that male characters dominates as main characters, most of the male characters in the children’s books presents stereotypical male properties while the female characters statistics presents almost equal results regarding gender-neutral properties, gender-stereotypical properties and stereotypical male properties and that both gender-stereotypical and gender-neutral clothes appears in the books.

The purpose of this study was to use qualitative interviews with students at Södertörn University to find out what drives the men who begin to study for preschool teachers, how they are treated and how they are influenced by others. I also wanted to find out what the informants believe is the cause to why so few men apply to the program and what they think need to happen to change this.This is a qualitative study based on the selected students' experiences. In order to get different perspectives, I chose to interview three students and former students. One of them chose to terminate their studies after half the time, the second is at the end of the program and the third graduated a couple of years ago and has been working for a while.I originated in the theory of ethical concepts of gender, gender contract, "token" and hegemonic masculinity. Previous research addresses that the perception of men in pre-schools can look very different. Some think there is a need for men in pre-schools to implement typical male activities in an otherwise female-coded environment. Other thinks that men should show that you can expand gender roles. Men in pre-schools may also be suspected of or subjected to rumors of pedophilia. Some people think that men should not take care of children. Meanwhile, the male role is changing and it begins to be seen as more natural that men can work with children. However, more targeted campaigns are needed to attract more men to the profession.Even the informants agree on the need for information and targeted campaigns to attract more men. They think that the profession is well suited for men. However they may feel a bit lonely sometimes because they are a minority and feel a bit singled out. They point out that people think very differently about men in pre-schools which affect how they are treated. Therefore, they find it important to discuss the various ideas and prejudices that exist to learn to deal with and respond to them. Both research and the informants show that men's roles are changing and that it begins to be seen as more natural for men to take care of children. However, it is a process and it takes different lengths of time. Therefore, there is some confusion. A male pre-school teacher may see himself as a leader and representative of the new male role.

Vårt syfte med denna studie är att beskriva hur förskollärare planerar och stimulerar barns lärande ute på förskolegården, samt vilken roll förskollärare har i de planerade respektive de fria aktiviteterna på förskolegården. För att få svar på våra frågeställningar har vi intervjuat sex förskollärare på fyra olika förskolor utan någon uttalad utomhusprofilering. Resultatet av studien visar att det måste finnas ett syfte med utevistelsen på förskolegården. Det behövs en jämn fördelning av förskollärarens arbetsuppgifter vad gäller tid för observation, planering och genomförande av pedagogiska aktiviteter. Förskollärarna i studien menar att de även behöver tid för andhämtning, vilket det främst ges utrymme till i förskolans utemiljö. Förskolegården ses som en bra pedagogisk miljö för barnen att leka fritt i, där vuxna också har möjlighet att observera barnen. Barnen väljer företrädelsevis att leka i den naturmiljö som finns tillgänglig på förskolegården. Däremot används inte denna miljö i den pedagogiskt planerade verksamheten i så stor utsträckning som den skulle kunna göra. Vår tolkning är att miljön utanför förskolans gränser ges högre pedagogiskt värde än den som finns inne på förskolegården.

The purpose with this thesis was to study the special pedagogical perspectives that stood out in documents written by the special teachers in preschool. In order to maintain the thesis research questions a text analysis was carried out on the document “Handledningssamtal” that was used by the special teachers in their contact with the teachers in preschool. The documents were analyzed based in the special educational perspectives and the results and measures from the analysis were divided into three levels; individual, group and organizational level. Finally a study of the connection between the analysis and the measures was carried out and the result was reported in a typology schedule inspired by earlier research. The result of the text analysis indicated that the special educational perspective that dominated was the relational (environmental) perspective. The level that was most frequent in the investigations was the individual level since half of the documents reported that the problems discovered were to be found on this level. The most measures were taken at both the group level and individual level. The most common connection between investigation and measure were individua lneeds/measures belonging to the environment.

The purpose of this study was to examine prevalence rates of several sleep disorders symptoms in young children, and the relationship between symptoms of pediatric sleep disorders and other childhood problems. Eighty-six children aged 3 to 5 years were studied through parent report and academic assessment. Children rated as high risk for having a sleep disorder displayed more externalizing and internalizing problems, less developed social skills, and lower scores on a measure of pre-academic skills, as compared to children whose sleep was rated in the normal range. It was found that 33% of children were at high risk for having at least one type of sleep disorder. Early identification and intervention is crucial in order to assist children suffering from sleep disorders.

Pediatric sleep problems are among the most common pediatric health issues faced by families today. Sleep problems can have a deleterious impact on children's academics, behaviors, social-emotional development, health, and/or safety. Once sleep problems are identified and treated, many of the associated negative impacts can be ameliorated. The purpose of the current study was to examine prevalence rates of symptoms of sleep disorders in young children, and the relationship between these symptoms and various behavior problems. One hundred and four children, ages 2 to 5 years, attending a pediatric health clinic served as the participants in this study. Data on sleep disorder symptoms were derived from the Sleep Disorders Inventory for Students, Children's Form. The Child Behavior Checklist was used to measure internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and adaptive behavior was assessed through ratings on the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, Second Edition. Results indicated that a total of 31% of the sampled children were at high risk for at least one type of sleep disorder. Children rated as high risk for having a sleep disorder displayed more externalizing and internalizing problems, as compared to children whose sleep was reported to be in the normal range. No significant differences were found between adaptive behavior scores and risk for having a sleep disorder. The implications of these results for school psychologists and directions for future practice and research are discussed.

Science and technologhy for All (abbreviated as NTA) is a processed material that can be used by teachers as a support to engage students in science and technology. The purpose of this survey is to find out how preschool teachers are thinking aboat working with the NTA and which learning the children can achieve from the NTA-box. Implementation of the survey is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews. Semi-structured interviews were chosen in order to avoid the yes and no answers, as well as to be able to put supplementary questions to the respondent. The results show that it makes it easier for teachers to work with processed materials in the subjects of science and technologhy. The teachers felt that it gave them a personal growth in the subject and that it saved time in day-to-day operations. According to the teachers the children have been positive of the NTA-box and contributed to greater language development, conceptual understanding, and motor skills. The teachers could not see much difference between boys`and girls`interest in science and technology.