<p>In a school for children from 6-9 years in a small town in the southeast of Sweden, is areading activity program in progress since 8 years. The original purpose of this program wasto enhance the student’s reading interest. All of the students read at least one book a week andthen they review the book in front of the class.</p><p>The purpose of the present study was to examine vocabulary, word retrieving, narrative skillsand grammatical abilities in children in this school. The objectives were to investigate if thechosen language abilities in these children were different compared to normative data andearlier studies in children at comparable ages. Furthermore, the aim was to study if narrative skills correlated with vocabulary, word retrieving and grammatical ability.</p><p>The examination was carried out by testing 65 students in the school regarding the chosenlanguage abilities. The results showed that these students had better vocabulary compared to American normative data and earlier Swedish studies. In narratives they produced stories inchronological order and they included a large amount of information. Narrative abilitiescorrelated with receptive vocabulary, word retrieving and grammatical abilities.</p><p>It was concluded that reading promoting activities may have affected these student’s languageabilities in a positive way.</p> / <p>I en skola för barn mellan 6 och 9 år i en liten stad i sydöstra Sverige pågår sedan 8 år tillbakaen aktivitet vars ursprungliga syfte var att öka elevernas läsintresse. Alla elever läser minst enbok i veckan och gör därefter en recension som de läser upp i klassen.</p><p>Syftet med föreliggande studie var att studera ordförråd, ordmobilisering, narrativ förmågasamt grammatisk förmåga hos eleverna på den utvalda skolan. Frågeställningarna varhuruvida utvalda språkförmågor hos eleverna skiljde sig från normativa data och tidigarestudier av barn i jämförbara åldrar. Vidare undersöktes om narrativ förmåga hade någotsamband med ordförråd, ordmobilisering och grammatisk förmåga.</p><p>Undersökningen gjordes genom att 65 elever på skolan testades med avseende på de utvalda språkförmågorna. Resultatet visade att dessa elever hade ett bättre ordförråd jämfört medamerikansk normering och tidigare svenska studier. Gällande elevernas narrativa förmåga berättade de i kronologisk ordning och återgav många delhändelser i historien. Resultatetvisade också att narrativ förmåga hade samband med impressivt ordförråd, ordmobiliseringoch grammatisk förmåga.</p><p>Slutsatsen var att den läsfrämjande aktiviteten kan ha påverkat dessa elevers språkförmågorpositivt.</p>

In a school for children from 6-9 years in a small town in the southeast of Sweden, is areading activity program in progress since 8 years. The original purpose of this program wasto enhance the student’s reading interest. All of the students read at least one book a week andthen they review the book in front of the class. The purpose of the present study was to examine vocabulary, word retrieving, narrative skillsand grammatical abilities in children in this school. The objectives were to investigate if thechosen language abilities in these children were different compared to normative data andearlier studies in children at comparable ages. Furthermore, the aim was to study if narrative skills correlated with vocabulary, word retrieving and grammatical ability. The examination was carried out by testing 65 students in the school regarding the chosenlanguage abilities. The results showed that these students had better vocabulary compared to American normative data and earlier Swedish studies. In narratives they produced stories inchronological order and they included a large amount of information. Narrative abilitiescorrelated with receptive vocabulary, word retrieving and grammatical abilities. It was concluded that reading promoting activities may have affected these student’s languageabilities in a positive way. / I en skola för barn mellan 6 och 9 år i en liten stad i sydöstra Sverige pågår sedan 8 år tillbakaen aktivitet vars ursprungliga syfte var att öka elevernas läsintresse. Alla elever läser minst enbok i veckan och gör därefter en recension som de läser upp i klassen. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att studera ordförråd, ordmobilisering, narrativ förmågasamt grammatisk förmåga hos eleverna på den utvalda skolan. Frågeställningarna varhuruvida utvalda språkförmågor hos eleverna skiljde sig från normativa data och tidigarestudier av barn i jämförbara åldrar. Vidare undersöktes om narrativ förmåga hade någotsamband med ordförråd, ordmobilisering och grammatisk förmåga. Undersökningen gjordes genom att 65 elever på skolan testades med avseende på de utvalda språkförmågorna. Resultatet visade att dessa elever hade ett bättre ordförråd jämfört medamerikansk normering och tidigare svenska studier. Gällande elevernas narrativa förmåga berättade de i kronologisk ordning och återgav många delhändelser i historien. Resultatetvisade också att narrativ förmåga hade samband med impressivt ordförråd, ordmobiliseringoch grammatisk förmåga. Slutsatsen var att den läsfrämjande aktiviteten kan ha påverkat dessa elevers språkförmågorpositivt.

ABSTRACT In standardized tests, culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children usually perform at similar level as children with language impairment (LI), largely due to the fact that most standardized assessment tools have been developed on the basis of a monolingual population with mainstream backgrounds. As an alternative to standardized tests, a dynamic assessment approach has been advocated to assess the language abilities of CLD children. Dynamic assessment is considered to reduce test bias, since it measures the child's learning potential (i.e. modifiability) instead of the child's static performance on a certain task at one point in time. The aim of the present study was to explore if dynamic assessment was as successful in a Swedish context as it has been in American contexts. The study had a test-teach-retest design with every session conducted individually. Five typically developing monolingual Swedish children, aged six to seven, were asked to tell two stories on the basis of two comparable picture sequences. In between, a teaching session, that consisted of a mediated learning experience (MLE), was conducted. During the MLE session, a certain aspect of storytelling, chosen from the analysis of the test narrative, was targeted and 5 trained. After the MLE session, the child's modifiability was measured using five-point scales for teaching effort and student responsiveness. The test and retest results were then compared. The DA results indicated that three of the children were typically developing and that two of the children, contrary to fact, had some kind of language learning disability. The material used was found to have limitations in its narrow rating criteria and complicated scripts for the MLE sessions. The conclusions were that (a) the assessment was influenced by the examiner's subjective rating and therefore unable to show the children's true narrative abilities, (b) that the MLE material was not fully suited for younger school aged children and (c) not suitable in the Swedish context. Further studies have to be made with a larger number of children, including CLD children, to be able to tell whether dynamic assessment is a suitable method in Swedish contexts or not. A special DA material for Swedish assessments would then be useful. / Typiskt utvecklade barn med atypisk kulturell bakgrund, flerspråkighet eller låg socioekonomisk status (dvs. barn med språkskillnad) som genomgår språktestning med standardiserade tester förefaller prestera lika på dessa som barn med språkstörning. Detta pga. att de flesta standardiserade tester är skapade för enspråkiga barn med typisk bakgrund. Barnen med språkskillnad riskerar således att bli feldiagnostiserade med språkstörning. Dynamic assessment (DA) har i främst amerikanska studier visat sig vara en fördelaktig bedömningsmetod vid sådana fall, då den har lyckats särskilja barn med språkskillnad från barn med språkstörning. Detta eftersom DA, till skillnad från standardiserade tester, inte undersöker barnets förmåga att klara en viss uppgift vid ett tillfälle, utan istället undersöker barnets förmåga att lära sig att klara av en uppgift (dvs. barnets modifierbarhet). Föreliggande studie avsåg att undersöka hur DA av narrativ förmåga fungerade med svenskspråkiga typiskt utvecklade barn i åldern sex-sju år. Deltagarna genomgick individuell DA med test-teach-retest-design och fick först berätta en saga till en bildsekvens. En aspekt av narrativ förmåga, t.ex. kausalitet, valdes sedan ut och tränades vid en undervisningssession som utgjordes av en så kallad mediated learning experience (MLE). Barnets modifierbarhet under MLE skattades med hjälp av femgradiga skalor för läraransträngning och barnets responsivitet. Därefter följde retest, där varje barn fick berätta en saga till en ny bildsekvens. En jämförelse mellan test och retest skedde. Resultaten visade att tre av deltagarna fick de resultat som förväntats av barn med typisk utveckling. Två deltagare fick resultat som indikerade språkstörning. Materialet som användes bedömdes ha snävt satta bedömningskriterier och svåranvända skript för undervisningssessionerna. Slutsatserna som drogs var (a) att DA-materialet som användes gav en mycket subjektiv bedömning som inte stämde överens med barnets faktiska narrativa förmåga, (b) att MLE-skripten inte var designade på ett helt barnvänligt sätt och (c) inte passade i svensk kontext. Fler och större studier behöver göras för att kunna ge en tydligare bild av hur DA fungerar i svensk kontext. I detta fall vore ett svenskt DA-material önskvärt.

Abstract Children with hearing disorders face particular challenges in developing their vocabulary. They often have difficulty in acquiring spoken language at the same rate as their normal hearing peers, despite progress regarding hearing aid technology.Aim. The main aim of this study was to describe aspects of expressive vocabulary for school-age children with mild to moderately severe hearing impairment (HI-group), and to compare with results for a group of normal hearing children (NH-group) of the same age. One aim was also to test whether there were differences, between children with hearing impairment and normal hearing children, in the ability to repeat non-words and sentences and to compare these results within each group with results on two newly constructed vocabulary tests. An additional aim was also to investigate whether background factors, such as age of diagnosis, age of hearing aid fitting and amount of hearing aid use, were related to results on vocabulary tests.Method: 24 children age 7-11 with mild to moderately severe bilateral hearing impairment, and 82 normal hearing children of similar age, were included in this cross-sectional study. Assessments of picture naming, word definition, repetition of nonwords and repetition of sentences were performed with all participants. Age, hearing, use of hearing aid and parents' level of education were included in the analyzes.Results: The HI-group performed significantly below the results of the NH-group regarding picture naming, word definition, nonword repetition and repetition of sentences. The HI-group also produced significantly more words with deficiencies in phonological structure, than the NH-group, during picture naming. In the HI-group there was a significant positive correlation between amount of hearing aid use per day and nonword repetition. Age of diagnose and age of hearing aid fitting did not show statistically significant associations with outcomes on the language tests in this study.Conclusion: Despite the technical development of hearing aids, the expressive vocabulary in school-aged children with bilateral, mild to moderately severe, hearing impairment, does not reach the same level as in normal-hearing peers, although there is a variation within the group. Amount of hearing aid use seems to be important for the ability to perceive new words.

Bakgrund: Den dagliga fysiska aktiviteten hos barn minskar, nya aktiviteter och intressen som utförs framför dator är en bidragande faktor till detta. Ökat stillasittande kan leda till ett flertal konsekvenser. Fysisk aktivitet kan motverka detta och bidrar till förbättrad kondition, muskelstyrka, blodtryck, blodfetter, bentäthet och BMI hos barn och unga i skolåldrarna. Syfte: Att sammanställa hur fysisk aktivitet under skoldagen för elever (åldern 6–19) påverkar skolprestationen. Metod: Denna systematiska litteraturstudie baseras på 13 vetenskapliga artiklar. Studierna har en kvantitativ ansats, och var genomförda med randomiserade kontroll studier RCT). En kvalitetsgranskning av materialet gjordes med hjälp av GRADE. Resultat: I resultatet framkommer inget enhälligt resultat gällande hur fysisk aktivitet påverkar elevers skolprestation. Studierna visar i stället på tre huvudområden som sammanfattas till positivt resultat på skolprestation efter intervention, ingen förändring på skolprestation efter intervention och slutligen andra effekter av intervention. Slutsats: Ingen generell slutsats har kunnat dras gällande ökad fysisk aktivitet och elevers skolprestation. Endast en liten del kan ha påverkats negativ av interventionen ökad fysisk aktivitet under skoldagen. Generellt kan ingen negativ påverkan ses på elevernas skolprestation efter interventionerna. Forskning visar också på att elever som hade fått ta del av dessa insatser utveckla färre problem med ångest, jämfört med barn i en kontrollgrupp. / Background: The daily physical activity of children decreases, new activities and interests performed in front of a computer are a contributing factor to this. Increased sedentary lifestyle can lead to a few consequences. Physical activity can counteract this and contribute to improved fitness, muscle strength, blood pressure, blood fats, bone density and BMI in children and adolescent of school age. Aim: To compile how physical activity during the school day for students (age 6-19) affects school performance. Method: This systematic literature study is based on 13 scientific articles. The studies have a quantitative approach and were conducted with randomized control studies (RCT). A quality review of the material was done with the help of GRADE. Result: The result does not show a unanimous result regarding how physical activity affects students' school performance. Instead, the studies show three main areas that are summarized as a positive result on school performance after intervention, no change in school performance after intervention and finally other effects of intervention. Conclusion: No general conclusion has been drawn regarding increased physical activity and students' school performance. Only a small part may have been negatively affected by the increased physical activity during the school day. In general, no negative impact can be seen on students' school performance after the interventions. Research also shows that students who have taken part in these interventions develop fewer problems with anxiety, compared with children in a control group.

Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a communication disorder which can greatly affect a child’s ability to achieve academic goals. In Sweden, all children have the right to receive the support they need in school. To ensure the needs of students with DLD are being met, more studies are needed regarding teachers’ knowledge about DLD as a diagnosis, their experiences related to working with these students, and their experiences of relevant interprofessional teamwork. The purpose of this study is therefore to shed light on the professional situation for teachers of students with DLD. The results of the study are based on focus group interviews with 19 teachers from 17 different counties in Sweden. The interviews were transcribed and then analyzed using content analysis. The study found that the participating teachers experience DLD as a diagnosis which greatly affects students’ goal achievement as well as their socio-emotional well being. The participants also underlined the lack of instruction related to DLD in teacher training programs and described that this lack of instruction sometimes led them to feel unprepared in their work with these students. Interprofessional collaboration was lifted as an especially important aspect of work with children with DLD, but many experienced the circumstances at their workplace as suboptimal for effective teamwork. The teachers specifically expressed a desire for more collaboration with SLPs and highlighted the importance of knowledgeable and competent school leadership. The results of the study indicate a need for children with DLD to be more highly prioritized both in the education of teachers but also in the allocation of resources within schools. Additionally, in order to achieve more equitable access to education for these students, teachers feel that SLPs need to be more closely involved at the school level. / Likvärdig utbildning för barn med språkstörning - En studie om måluppfyllelse, erfarenheter och deltagande

This study investigates intergenerational language transmission amongst Hungarian immigrants, using in-depth interviews and participant observation as the main methods. The analysis examines the experiences of parents and their school-aged children in 61 families living in Sweden´s two main cities, Stockholm and Göteborg. The sample families were separated into four groups, based on two pre-contact factors, namely (1) the parents´ linguistic environment and (2) their social identity prior to migration. Three of the four groups turned out to be comparable in size and serve as the focus groups of the study. Group 1 comprises families in which one or both parents are former majority members from monolingual parts of Hungary. Group 2 comprises families in which one or both parents are former majority members from Hungary, but in contrast, these parents grew up in bilingual areas, being exposed to other languages in their childhood settings. Group 3 comprises families in which often both parents grew up as members of a vital ethnic minority in bilingual or multilingual settings in Transylvania (Romania). It was hypothesised that the parents´ childhood experiences would have an effect on their ways of raising children in a migrant situation, which, in turn, will affect children´s bilingualism as well as the group´s maintenance chances. The results of the statistical analysis confirm the hypothesis and show significant differences between the focus groups in a number of factors, e.g. marriage pattern, religious engagement, cultural orientation, children’s opportunities to meet other group members, and language awareness. Most importantly, the investigation revealed broad variation in language use norms among the sample families, especially for family and group internal communication. This, together with the poor demographic conditions of the group, seriously threatens group cohesion. The prospects for Hungarian language maintenance in Sweden are therefore seen as limited.