<p>Abstract</p><p> </p><p>This licentiate’s dissertation is about how school staff talk about pupils having difficulties in relating to teachers and other pupils. It’s specific focus is on pupils which are described as “disturbing”, “troublesome”,”unruly”, “unconcentrated” or characterised by similar concepts. The main aim is to elucidate and discuss how school staff explain pupils’ difficulties, what measures they state that they undertake and what measures they consider necessary.</p><p>The study is based on a social constructive approach. This means that the way we understand the world we live in is seen as shaped by social and cultural processes mediated through language. A consequence of this is that the way the staff talk about pupils in difficulties will influence how they relate to those children and how they work at solving the problems.</p><p>The empirical material consists of interviews with six principals, six Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators and six class teachers from six different schools. 15 of the people interviewed work with 11–13 year olds and three of them with 7–9 year olds. The material from the interviews is categorised into themes and further analysed in order to present a systematic overview of the ways in which the staff talk about children in difficulties.</p><p>The result shows that the problems are understood as complex and full of nuances. Explanations of the problems from medical/psychological perspectives have no distinguished status. It is more common that the problems are related to social conditions, family situation and school environment.</p><p>The study also shows that different professional groups usually place the responsibility for solving the problems with other professional groups. The way the concerned principal looks upon the problem seems be important for the way the problem is dealt with.</p><p>The way the staff studied talk about the school activities indicates that schools differ concerning issues like organisation, the role of the Special Needs Co-ordinator, co-operation between different professional groups etc. As a consequence pupils having difficulties in relating to other people will be subjected to different conditions depending on what school they attend. The school as an arena of identity creation and citizenship education will offer hence different opportunities to different children in difficulties.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em>Keywords:</em><strong> </strong>special educational needs, social constructionism, children in need of support,</p><p>problem behavior in schools</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong><em> </em></strong></p><p>Hans Larsson, Department of Education,</p><p>Örebro University, SE-701 82 Örebro, Sweden, hans.larsson@oru.se</p>

The current study evaluated the efficacy of a training series designed to teach typical school-based behavior support professionals to build behavioral interventions from functional behavioral assessment (FBA) information. The study was conducted in three stages. First, a descriptive assessment examined the extent to which typical school team leaders demonstrated knowledge of core behavior support plan (BSP) development features following a four-part training series on the development and implementation of function based supports. The second stage of the study assessed the extent to which participants who met criteria for BSP development during training were then able to lead a typical school team in building a BSP that was perceived by expert behavior analysts as "technically sound." In the final stage, a nonconcurrent multiple-baseline design was used to determine if there is a functional relationship between implementation of BSPs led by typical school-team leaders who received the training and improvement in the level of student problem behavior. Thirteen school professionals participated in four 1-hour "From Basic FBA to BSP" training sessions. A post test analysis of BSP knowledge indicated that the participants ended training with the knowledge needed to use FBA information to develop student BSPs. Six of the 13 professionals went on to lead school-based teams in the development of BSPs that were rated by outside experts as technically adequate. Direct observation data were collected on student behavior during the implementation of five of the six resulting BSPs, and decreases in problem behavior and increases in academic engagement were seen for all five student participants. Additionally, participating team leaders and classroom staff indicated that they found the procedures and tools used to be both acceptable and effective. These results document preliminary findings supporting the efficacy of a four-part training series used to teach typical school staff to use FBA data in designing student BSPs. Further implications for practice in schools and directions for future research are discussed.

This licentiate’s dissertation is about how school staff talk about pupils having difficulties in relating to teachers and other pupils. It’s specific focus is on pupils which are described as “disturbing”, “troublesome”,”unruly”, “unconcentrated” or characterised by similar concepts. The main aim is to elucidate and discuss how school staff explain pupils’ difficulties, what measures they state that they undertake and what measures they consider necessary. The study is based on a social constructive approach. This means that the way we understand the world we live in is seen as shaped by social and cultural processes mediated through language. A consequence of this is that the way the staff talk about pupils in difficulties will influence how they relate to those children and how they work at solving the problems. The empirical material consists of interviews with six principals, six Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators and six class teachers from six different schools. 15 of the people interviewed work with 11–13 year olds and three of them with 7–9 year olds. The material from the interviews is categorised into themes and further analysed in order to present a systematic overview of the ways in which the staff talk about children in difficulties. The result shows that the problems are understood as complex and full of nuances. Explanations of the problems from medical/psychological perspectives have no distinguished status. It is more common that the problems are related to social conditions, family situation and school environment. The study also shows that different professional groups usually place the responsibility for solving the problems with other professional groups. The way the concerned principal looks upon the problem seems be important for the way the problem is dealt with. The way the staff studied talk about the school activities indicates that schools differ concerning issues like organisation, the role of the Special Needs Co-ordinator, co-operation between different professional groups etc. As a consequence pupils having difficulties in relating to other people will be subjected to different conditions depending on what school they attend. The school as an arena of identity creation and citizenship education will offer hence different opportunities to different children in difficulties.