The individual educational plan (IEP) is a document used in Swedish schools. The purpose of the document is to help and support students who have difficulties in their schoolwork in various ways. In my experience, the student does not always understand the importance of establishing an IEP as a support and help at school. In this study I try to understand the students’ experience of its relevance and purpose and the impact which can be achieved by an IEP. Four students took part in the study, and below you will find a few of the questions asked in the study:   What does it feel like as a student to obtain an IEP? What experiences do students have of IEPs? As a student what are your ideas when it comes to coping with the measures described? Are they opportunities or obstacles?   In my review of surveys and literature IEPs are examined from different points of view by writers who especially bring up the situation of students and young people in the society they live in, which affects their situation in the daily schoolwork in different ways. The result of the study shows that the students expect their IEPs to help them, but they do not seem to find any strategy for the work. The students describe that it feels good that the problems are brought to light, but at the same time they realize that it will be hard work to reach the target, as they look upon their previous achievements in school as a problem. Finally the question is asked whether an IEP should really be made for students who are absolutely fed up with school and who feel that they do not have much choice when it comes to influencing their school situation on the whole?

<p>The individual educational plan (IEP) is a document used in Swedish schools. The purpose of the document is to help and support students who have difficulties in their schoolwork in various ways. In my experience, the student does not always understand the importance of establishing an IEP as a support and help at school. In this study I try to understand the students’ experience of its relevance and purpose and the impact which can be achieved by an IEP. Four students took part in the study, and below you will find a few of the questions asked in the study:</p><p> </p><ul><li>What does it feel like as a student to obtain an IEP? </li><li>What experiences do students have of IEPs?</li><li>As a student what are your ideas when it comes to coping with the measures described? Are they opportunities or obstacles? </li></ul><p> </p><p>In my review of surveys and literature IEPs are examined from different points of view by writers who especially bring up the situation of students and young people in the society they live in, which affects their situation in the daily schoolwork in different ways.</p><p>The result of the study shows that the students expect their IEPs to help them, but they do not seem to find any strategy for the work. The students describe that it feels good that the problems are brought to light, but at the same time they realize that it will be hard work to reach the target, as they look upon their previous achievements in school as a problem. Finally the question is asked whether an IEP should really be made for students who are absolutely fed up with school and who feel that they do not have much choice when it comes to influencing their school situation on the whole?</p>

I denna studie har jag administrerat ett ordinlärningstest och ett vokabulärtest för barn som har en intellektuell funktionsnedsättning. Ordinlärningstestet är baserat på en svensk anpassning av Storkel, Armbrüster &amp; Hogan (2006) engelska ordinlärningsparadigm. Syftet var att undersöka effekterna av fonotaktisk sannolikhet och grannordstäthet på ordinlärning. Storkel et al. (2006) genomförde paradigmet ursprungligen på en grupp med vuxna och i tidigare studier då paradigmet använts på barn har det anpassats på olika sätt. Anpassningarna i denna studie har varit ökade upprepningar av orden under testningen samt att barnen har fått peka på bilder istället för att säga orden som svarsalternativ då många av deltagarna har begränsade möjligheter att utrycka sig med ord.   Resultaten av vokabulärtestet och ordinlärningstestet har jämförts med typiskt utvecklade barn. Utifrån vokabulärtestets resultat så har testgruppen för barn med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning presterat lägre än barn med typisk utveckling. För framtida studier skulle ett vokabulärtest kunna utformas med mer anpassade och tydliga bilder för barn med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning.   Resultaten för ordinlärningstestet med pekningar som svarsalternativ har inte kunnat ge ett fullständigt resultat utan det har endast kunnat ske visuella inspektioner av den insamlade datan. Utifrån den visuella inspektionen kunde man inte antyda något tecken på ökat lärande eller effekter av fonotaktisk sannolikhet eller grannordstäthet. Vid jämförandet med typiskt utvecklade barn antyder det att dessa barn når ett högre resultat än testgruppen med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning. Däremot har det skett intressanta beteendeobservationer under ordinlärningstestet. Det skedde spontana verbala repetitioner av orden under testningen. Antal gånger orden repeterades ökade för varje testomgång och det fanns också trender för kombinationerna hög fonotaktisk sannolikhet &amp; hög grannordstäthet och låg fonotaktisk sannolikhet &amp; låg grannordstäthet. För framtida forskning kan dessa resultat och hur testen administreras vara intressant för hur nya studier skulle kunna designas. / In this study, I have administered a word-learning test and a vocabulary test for children with intellectual disabilities. The word-learning test in this study is based on a swedish adaptation of Storkel, Armbrüster &amp; Hogan (2006) english word-learning paradigm. The purpose was to investigate the effects of phonological probability and neighborhood density on word-learning. Storkel et al. (2006) originally implemented the paradigm on a group of adults and in previous studies when the paradigm was used on children it has been adapted in different ways. The adaptations in this study have been increased repetitions of the words during the testing and that the children have been allowed to point at pictures instead of saying the words as a response alternative, because many of the participants have limited opportunities to express themselves with words.   The results of the vocabulary test and the word-learning test have been compared with typically developed children. Based on the results of the vocabulary test, the test group for children with intellectual disabilities performed lower than children with typical development. For future studies, a vocabulary test could be designed with more customized images for children with intellectual disabilities.   The results for the word-learning test with pointing as a response alternative have not been able to give a complete result, only visual inspections of the collected data have been possible. Based on the visual inspections, there was no indication of increased learning or effects of phonological probability or neighborhood density. However, interesting behavioural observations has been observed during the word-learning test. Spontaneous verbal repetitions of the words were observed during testing. The number of times the words were repeated increased for each test session and there were also trends for an effect for the combinations high phonological probability &amp; high neighborhood density and low phonological probability &amp; low neighborhood density. For future research, these results and how the tests were administered may be interesting and helpful in how new studies could be designed.