In this essay I have investigated how music and song can promote children’s language development. I have investigated what the preschool teachers think about music connected to language development and if they believe that they need to have the skills and experience for it to become a learning experience for children. I have done my research at two different preschools to support my findings. In each preschool I have interviewed a preschool teacher and also studied the children and teachers when they sang and made music together. The results I have gathered show that language and music have common components like rhythm, tone, pauses and melodies. During my observations I could see that the teachers used tools like movement, objects and sign language to promote the understanding of the words in the songs. In the result we also can see that the preschool teachers possess insight in the importance of music connected to children’s language development. Songs with movement are a commonly used tool which serves to lift children’s language development. This is because that through movement they can give meaning to the lyrics in the song. However it is important that the preschool teachers are devoted in their work with music with children. The educator must be aware of the importance of the social interaction and show an interest in the work with music. A danger can be that educators that aren’t aware of the importance of music or doesn’t show any interest in what’s being done will rub off their emotions onto the children that will increase a risk of little to no development or learning taking place.

published_or_final_version / Speech and Hearing Sciences / Master / Master of Science in Audiology

Purpose: This study examined the effectiveness of two differing interventions to improve the consonant cluster production in six children aged 4-5 years with concomitant speech sound disorder and expressive language difficulty. Method: Participants were selected for the study based on a high incidence of consonant clusters errors in their speech production. All participants had at least 75% of their cluster production attempts in error in their initial speech sample. The participants were randomly assigned to receive 24 hours of either a phonological awareness intervention with integrated speech targets (Gillon & Moriarty, 2005), or a morphosyntax intervention which alternated therapy sessions for language and speech targets (Haskill, Tyler, & Tolbert, 2001) Each intervention was administered in two blocks of 6 weeks separated by a 6-week therapy break. Hour-long small group intervention sessions were attended twice weekly by all participants. Consonant cluster productions were assessed using speech probes and standardised speech assessments. These were administered pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at follow-up 3 months post-intervention. These measures were compared to identify any improvement in (a) word-initial cluster accuracy as a result of /s/ clusters being targeted in the phonological awareness intervention;(b) word-final cluster accuracy as a result of word-final morphemes being targeted in the morphosyntax intervention; and (c) cluster element accuracy as a result of improved production of the phonemes as singletons. Results: The data supported the hypotheses that targeting word-initial clusters in the phonological awareness intervention would lead to improvements in accuracy for target /s/ clusters, non-target /s/ clusters and singleton fricatives. Improvements in production of /s/ clusters, singleton fricatives, and untreated consonant + liquid clusters were significant for all participants in this intervention type. The improvement for word initial /s/ clusters was greater than for the treatment group who received morphosyntax intervention. The data was less convincing for the hypothesis that word-final cluster production would improve following intervention for word-final morphemes in the morphosyntax intervention. Although there was improvement in word-final production for two of the participants in this group, there were similar or greater improvements seen for the children who received phonological awareness intervention in which word-final clusters were not targeted. The data supported the final hypothesis that improved production of singletons following speech intervention for these phonemes would result in improved accuracy for the phonemes when attempted in the context of clusters. All participants had improved accuracy of cluster elements that had been singleton targets during intervention. Conclusion: The data showed that the Phonological Awareness intervention led to significant improvement in production of the target /s/ clusters, and generalised to increased accuracy for production of singleton fricatives, non-target /s/ clusters, and untreated consonant + liquid clusters. The Morphosyntax intervention resulted in less consistent improvement in production for target word-final clusters. In this programme, word-final clusters were implicitly treated through language intervention for word-final morphemes. The data indicates that improvement in consonant cluster production is facilitated when using explicit teaching methods to introduce and practice consonant clusters during intervention with children with speech sound disorder.

This multiple-case study describes the literacy events that occurred during play in three holistic preschool classrooms over a four-month period. The data includes field notes from observations and from discourse with participants, audiotape transcriptions, interviews, and writing samples. Analytic induction was used for the analysis. Within play, literacy was used as: a support for play themes, a frame for play themes, and as an extraneous aspect of play. Literacy events involved transactions with print, as well as social transactions. Social transactions within literacy events were analyzed for whether they involved: self-construction of meaning, joint construction of meaning, direct instruction, or challenge. The data show that in print-rich environments, where reading and writing materials are accessible, and where literacy is an expected way of life, teachers can meaningfully facilitate literacy development. The teachers capitalized on the many teachable moments that arose during play by carefully observing children and making relevant literacy-related contributions. The children explored and developed their own understandings about literacy, and at the same time, nurtured literacy development in their peers; literacy development was both personal and social. By themselves, and with support from peers and teachers, the children explored the functions and features of written language, they tested their hypotheses about written language, and they developed strategies used by successful readers and writers. Play was found to be a meaningful and effective medium for facilitating literacy development.

No description available.

According to the immigration service forecasts Sweden faces large refugee influxes in the coming years. This means that educators in the kindergarten, preschool and school, will meat children from the war torn countries. In this study, the purpose is to find out the educators different conceptions of war-affected refugee children, because my theory is that their beliefs influence their actions. I wanted to get answers to their beliefs about the difficulties or challengers that children and educators may be faced with. Furthermore, I wanted to know what educators envisioned about their own role’s importance to the war affected refugee children and their perceptions of the Swedish culture, environment, language and school. All children have the right to go to school and usually begin refugee children in preparatory classes, but when one is six years you start directly in preschool. Internationalization requires people for them to see the values of diversity and raising awareness around a common cultural heritage. Performances means to understand the world and to embrace the world in different ways. The view of other people is deeply rooted within us and is influenced by the traditions we carry with us from teaching and education. In my study, I used qualitative interviews in the meeting with the four educators. In the study there is a research study which deals with relevant literature for my study. Educator’s perceptions showed that communications problems, not having a common language, don’t have a knowledge of what the kids have been through, cultural differences, which requires mutual understanding it was seen as a major difficulty. Their knowledge and ideas based on experience, there was no training how to actively work with war affected refugee children. In summery, I can’t make any conclusions about my theory that beliefs affect their behaviours, but about the need for a little extra commitment about these children, such as to convey security in different ways were considered important as the performances was that there are children who have had a hard time. Their beliefs about war-affected refugee children reflects the need for more knowledge in the form of further education.

Syftet med denna studie var att identifiera hur förskollärarna arbetar med ämnet kemi i förskolan. För att kunna granska detta har kvalitativa intervjuer använts som undersökningsmetod. Undersökningen grundar sig i fem förskollärares berättelser av hur de arbetar med detta ämne. Resultatet visar, efter genomförd analys av intervjuerna, att förskolläraren strävar efter att kemiaktiviteterna bör ske i samspel med andra aktörer i förskolan. Det konkreta arbetet utförs med konkreta verktyg och samtal kring fenomen som förekommer i vardagen. Resultatet visar även att förskollärarna använder sig av naturliga material i form av vatten. Slutsatser som kan dras utifrån studien är att ämnet oftast integreras omedvetet av förskollärarna. Men att ett mer medvetet bruk av att använda det skulle leda till att barnen får de bästa förutsättningarna till att erövra kunskap om kemiska processer. Denna studie visar även att det är viktigt att förskollärarna får tillgång till vidareutbildningar inom naturvetenskap för att integreringen av ämnet kemi i förskolan ska bli mer tilltalande och mer användbart på denna nivå. / The purpose of this study is to identify how teachers work with chemistry in preschool. In order to examine this, qualitative interviews was used as a method of investigation. The study is based on five preschool teachers' stories about this subject. An analysis of the interviews shows that teachers seek to coordinate the activites related to chemistry with other actors in preschool. The activities are done with concrete tools and conversations about phenomenas that occurs. The results also shows that preschool teachers use organic materials like water. A more conscious use, however, could lead to even better conditions for children to capture the knowledge of chemical processes. This study also shows the importance of further education in natural science for preschool teachers, in order to make the integration of the topic chemistry more appealing and more useful at this level.

This thesis means to find out how preschool teachers are working to demonstrate the importance of recycling and reuse for children. My hope is to contribute knowledge about various practical methods to establish the idea of sustainable development in the operation. I have used the method of qualitative research and done semi-structured interviews with preschool teachers on certified green flag preschools. The questions I have asked for example concerned how the preschool teachers have worked with recycling and reuse, how much the children have been able to influence and if other didactic subjects are implicated. Six interviews were made and these are summarized in the result part. The analysis shows that all teachers want to teach the children the importance of protecting our earth and what actions each person can contribute with. Even in my search through earlier literature, this has been emphasized since the children absorb a lot of knowledge during the preschool age. Reuse and recycling is integrated into the operation and are not something that is done out of the ordinary. The preschool teachers did not consider it to be any difficulties or obstacles. It rather simplified their work because the policy document gets integrated.

Syftet med min undersökning var att lyfta fram hur förskollärare förhåller sig till användandet av Tecken som Alternativ och Kompletterande Kommunikation, TAKK, som komplement till talet i samlingssituationer. Metoden som användes var kvalitativa intervjuer, dessa har gjorts med fyra pedagoger, två som arbetar på yngrebarnsavdelning och två som arbetar på äldrebarnsavdelning.Sammanfattningsvis visar undersökningen att användningen av TAKK skiljer sig åt i många avseenden, inte enbart mellan yngre och äldrebarnsavdelningarna utan även förskollärare sinsemellan, men att det även finns många gemensamma tankar och erfarenheter hos respondenterna. Något som de har gemensamt är att alla fyra är positivt inställda till användandet av TAKK och de anser att det är ett roligt och utmanande arbetssätt. Det har framkommit under intervjuerna att TAKK anses av respondenterna vara är ett bra sätt att stimulera kommunikationen hos alla barn på deras avdelningar, och inte enbart de barn som har någon form av språkstörning. Något som skiljer dem åt är erfarenheten av TAKK och även mängden av tillfällen då TAKK används i samlingarna. / The purpose of this study was to show how preschool teachers relate to the use of AAC in gathering situation. Qualitative interviews have been used on four preschool teachers, two who work with younger children and two who work with older children to see if ACC uses different depending on the children's ages.The conclusion is at the use of AAC differs in many aspects, not only between the work with AAC in younger and older children departments but also among the preschool teachers experience. Similar thoughts and experiences emerged during the interviews with the respondents. They all have in common that all four have positive opinion about the use of ACC and they think it’s an interesting and challenging approach. AAC is considered by respondents to be a good way to stimulate communication among all children in their departments, not just the children who have language impairment. The respondents differentiate in their experience of AAC and in the amount of times which AAC is used in the gatherings.

This thesis investigates the place and meaning of ‘physical education’ to practitioners and children at three preschool settings in a city in Scotland. The thesis examines the discourses of physical education at the preschools, and interrogates the ways in which the participants engaged with these discourses in order to construct their subjectivities. Preschool physical education has been largely unexplored by researchers and this study thus gives insight into how practitioners and children engage with, take up and resist particular discourses. The study contributes to physical education and early childhood education research by connecting separate bodies of sociocultural, and more specifically poststructural, research related to both fields. A poststructural, Foucaultian theoretical framework underpins the thesis. It features discourse analysis and particularly draws on Foucault’s work around techniques of power and the ‘technologies of the self’. The first step in the discourse analysis involved examining potential sources of discourses the practitioners were likely to draw on. This entailed analysing the physical education sections of the curricular documentation used at the settings (Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence), and analysing texts related to preschool physical education continued professional development (CPD) that some of the practitioners participated in. Analysis indicated that physical activity and health discourses are prevalent throughout the curricular documentation. Discourses related to motor skill development and play also prevail. Motor skill development and physical activity discourses are prevalent in the documentation related to CPD. The second step in the discourse analysis involved analysing language patterns in the participants’ talk. Fourteen practitioners and 70 children participated in the study. Research methods employed were observations, interviews with adults, a group drawing and discussion activity with children, and interviews with children. Discourses related to motor skill development, play, physical activity and health, along with a related pedagogical discourse concerning ‘structure and freedom’, appeared to underpin ‘physical education’ at the three contexts, in different ways. For instance, the settings differed in the extent to which motor skill development underpinned physical education, with pedagogies often being more adult-led where this discourse was stronger. This thesis highlights that preschool practitioners and children engage in multiple, complex ways with a range of physical education discourses that currently have currency in Scotland.