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The diploma thesis focused on the issue of coping with separation from the family. Specifically, it focused on so-called homesickness in children of younger school age when participating in a several-day stay at school in nature. The aim of the work was to map the risk factors contributing to a worse experience of separation child from the family and to compile basic recommendations for teachers on what measures they should take together with the family to make it as easy as possible for the child to stay outside the family. Based on a study of the literature and research reports, a questionnaire for parents was first prepared and then submitted, which could help teachers find children at risk, but also draw attention to parents' risky behavior, which could exacerbate difficulties in coping. Records of risk factors were compared with records of children's experience and behavior during school stays in nature. These were obtained through a pupil questionnaire survey and a structured questionnaire for accompanying teachers. The diploma thesis managed to determine the positive activities that parents should choose before the child leaves for school in nature. The results of the research confirmed a significant connection between longing and the factor of previous experience with staying away from...

The goal of this thesis is to ascertain results in test battery in young school age children, specifically aged 6.-9. years, who took part in project Sazka Olympijský víceboj. We were especially focused on disciplines of Olympijský diplom, which examine motor abilities by using motor tests. Unfortunately, because of Covid-19 pandemic situation, we had to request the results of mentioned tests from elementary schools, and also from organisation, that manages the whole project. The data we have received were from three elementary schools from Central Bohemian Region and Prague. All data were from first stage of elementary school and were measured between 2016-2020, because these data were the most current ones. The practical part of this thesis was formed as quantitative form of research. Population was composed of 92 schoolchildren, who took part in project Olympijský diplom between 2016- 2020 and were in first, second and third year of elementary school during these years. Girls were included in total count of 51 and boys were included in total count of 41. We have analysed collected data from different aspects. The aim of our interest were average values according to gender, school year and also comparison of class with orientation on sports and casual class. The research part of this thesis...

Children with language impairment (LI) often demonstrate difficulties in social communication. Although a number of general social communication interventions have been suggested, there is relatively little work done to examine the efficacy of these interventions for school-age children with LI, and none reported to target general emotional competence. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects on teacher perception of an intervention designed to improve emotion understanding. The intervention was centered on the presentation and use of children's stories to introduce and practice aspects of emotion understanding. The withdrawn and sociable subscales of the Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (TBRS) were selected as variables on which to measure teacher perception. Following treatment five of the six participants scored higher ratings of prosocial behavior, with two demonstrating overall reductions in withdrawn behavior and increases in sociable behavior. For one of these participants, the reported progress was notable. The most positive indicator of change following treatment was the reduction in solitary-active withdrawal behavior reported for three of the participants. A reduction in this type of behavior would most likely have an important impact on the quality of social interactions experienced by these individuals.

Recent research indicates that many children with Language Impairment (LI) have difficulty with social communication skills. This study assessed the impact of a social communication intervention on teacher perceptions of social withdrawal in children who received the treatment. The intervention targeted emotion understanding using the presentation of children's stories, facial picture cards, and journaling. Teacher perception was measured using the three withdrawal subscales of the Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (TBRS): Solitary-Active withdrawal, Solitary-Passive withdrawal, and Reticence. Following treatment all five participants received lower ratings of withdrawn behavior on some of the subscales. Only one participant received a rating indicting increased withdrawn behavior (on a single subscale). The most positive indicators of change following treatment were the reduction in Solitary-Active withdrawal for three of the participants and the reduction of Reticent withdrawal for three participants. This study reveals promising results for social communication intervention in children with LI in the area of withdrawn behaviors.

Research has shown that children with Language Impairment (LI) struggle with social communication skills in addition to their characteristic syntactic difficulties. This pilot study analyzed the potential change in grammatical complexity in narratives of five children with LI when enrolled in a social communication intervention. The intervention itself focused on teaching emotion understanding by reading and reenacting children’s stories and journaling. Grammatical limitations were indirectly addressed by clinician modeling of complex forms during the intervention sessions. Each child’s productions were assessed and analyzed for grammatical complexity during retelling a book in the Mercer Mayer “a boy, a dog, and a frog” series. The children performed this task once a week during the course of the intervention. Specific measures used included the average length of terminable unit (T-unit) and the number of subordinate clauses used in each narrative. Three students’ productions remained steady throughout the course of the interventions; their grammatical complexity neither increased nor decreased. One student’s production showed a clear decrease in complexity but was explained by an obvious and arguably more creative change in her language output. One student’s grammatical complexity increased throughout the sessions as indicated by a steady increase in the average length of T-unit. Thus, the results of this study were equivocal. There were several limitations, however, that might be addressed in future intervention studies.

Examensarbetet behandlar delaktighetsbegreppet i fritidshemsverksamheten. Syftet med vår undersökning var att se hur delaktiga eleverna är i fritidsverksamheten och hur pedagogerna arbetar med elevdelaktighet. Alla har rätt till en likvärdig utbildning men hur det kommer till uttryck i verksamheten kan se olika ut beroende på de förutsättningar som finns. Undersökningen belyser pedagogers bristande kompetens att tillgodose elevers behov. Via den empiriska insamlingen framkommer det att pedagogerna som intervjuats är överens om vad begreppet delaktighet innebär. Via observationer ser vi dock en tydlig skillnad hur arbetet kring delaktighet utformas i verksamheten. Genom analys av sociala interaktioner och deliberativa samtal ser vi hur elevers delaktighet kan utvecklas. Det är pedagogens uppdrag att möjliggöra delaktighet hos eleverna. Exkludering är motsatsen till delaktighet. Forskning tyder på att exkludering i barndomen kan leda till psykisk problematik och sämre livskvalitet även in i vuxen ålder. Det innebär att pedagogen har en avgörande roll i elevers utveckling, idag och imorgon. / The master degree project deals with the concept of participation in educare centers. The purpose of our study was to see how students are involved in extracurricular activities and how educators work with student participation. Everyone is entitled to an equal education but how it is expressed in practies may differ depending on the conditions that exist. The survey highlights teachers 'lack of skills to meet students' needs. Through the empirical collection emerges that the educators interviewed agree on what the term participation means. Through observation, we see a clear difference how the work with participatory and incluism takes form in different contexts. Through analysis of social interactions and deliberative conversations, we see how students' participation can be developed. It is the educator's task to facilitate participation of students. Exclusion is the opposite of participation. Research suggests that exclusion leads to psychological difficulties in the future. This means that the educator crucial role in students' development, today and tomorrow.

The purpose of the present study is to test the feasibility of implementing a video-game based intervention protocol as a means to improve therapy compliance in school age children with hyperfunctional voice disorders. Three levels of modification were made to an existing entertainment software program in order to implement the therapeutic protocol and test compatibility. The third level of modification included a two-phase quasi-experimental single subject design with a school age participant receiving the video game therapy protocol and traditional therapy for equal time. The independent variables for this study included the mode of voice therapy delivery (traditional vs. video game). The dependent variables included therapy compliance, perceptual evaluations and acoustic measures. This study found that a purely entertainment video game can be implemented as a therapeutic protocol for a school age child diagnosed with a vocal pathology. Results illustrated no change in compliance with non-traditional therapy versus traditional therapy. However, perceptual measures improved post treatment for breathiness, strain and overall severity, as well as significant differences for mean amplitude. Discussion will focus on implications of employing video game based therapy and design of future studies.

This dissertation explores how children with and without developmental coordination disorder (DCD) ‘look’ and ‘see’: how they integrate vision and attention to guide arm and hand movements during a visuomotor task. Chapter 1 provides the thesis context, reviewing the vision and attention literature, outlining the role of these processes in motor performance, and reviewing what is known about vision and attention in children with DCD. Chapter 1 includes a discussion on eye tracking to measure visual attention, and outlines the thesis purpose and objectives.Chapter 2 focuses on children with DCD, detailing their presentation and clinical management. This chapter serves to increase the reader’s understanding of the difficulties children with DCD experience, and to demonstrate the need for intervention to prevent the profound consequences that can impact their quality of life. Chapter 3 presents a study that explores how children with and without DCD employ vision and attention to accomplish a visuomotor task in a natural setting, using a novel eye tracking design. Highlighted here are important differences during visuomotor task performance: compared to their peers, children with DCD did not use predictive gaze to attend to relevant task objects, but rather used vision to guide their arm/hand throughout the task. Chapter 4 outlines lessons learned from using an eye tracker with children with DCD, describing the children for whom eye tracking was not reliable, and discussing equipment and participant factors that impact eye tracker use. Recommendations for future research using eye tracking with the DCD population are provided. Finally, Chapter 5 discusses the clinical and research implications of the studies conducted here. Insights gained regarding visual attention differences between children with and without DCD are discussed in the context of interventions to improve health outcomes in children with DCD and the design of future eye tracking studies. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Det övergripande syftet med denna licentiatstudie är att undersöka hur teknik som undervisningsområde kommer till uttryck inom fritidsverksamheter. Syftet inrymmer ett fokus på vad fritidslärarna gör för att organisera undervisning. Studien utgår ifrån följande frågeställningar: hur ser fritidslärarna på undervisning i teknik i fritidshem; och hur organiseras teknik som en del av undervisnings-praktiken i fritidshem? Studien är kvalitativ samt inspirerad av etnografi och Grounded theory. Studiens teoretiska perspektiv är symbolisk interaktionism, samt Mitchams modell för manifestation av teknik från 1994. Studien är en fält-studie på tre olika fritidshem. I studiens bakgrundsbeskrivning påvisas att fritidshem har haft en historia där hantverk och olika estetiska aktiviteter varit vanligt förekommande aktiviteter. Fritidshemmen har också, i och med en tydligare styrning kring lärandet, fått del i läroplanen Lgr11 (reviderad 2016), där tekniken är en framskriven del av undervisningen. Studien handlar därför om hur fritidshemspersonalen reflekterar och förhandlar och definierar för att göra olika teknikaktiviteter. Fritidshemspersonalen gör, enligt studien, här en nyorientering för att tolka innehållet i den egna läroplansdelen. I denna nyorientering använder fritidshemspersonalen sig av tre olika strategier för att hantera detta med teknik som undervisning, detta i ett gränsland mellan tidigare idétraditioner och en utökad styrning.