In March 2020 schools in Sweden had to reorganize their organization due to the covid-19-pandemic. The uppersecondary school had to undergo a quick transformation from a traditional education in a brick-and-mortarsetting to distance education in an online setting. Even though this way of organizing education was new toSwedish upper secondary school the Swedish Department of Education (Skolverket, 2020a) argued that studentswith disabilities and in need of special support in school were supposed to be given the same opportunities indistance education as in traditional education.Previous research suggests that distance education could be a challenge to these students in terms of lack ofstructure and motivation. It also shows that there is a lack of competence among teachers regarding this way ofteaching. On the other hand, previous research also shows that some of these students could be favored in thisway of teaching and that it could result in a higher attendance and a more favorable educational setting.The aim of this study is to contribute with knowledge about different professions perceptions regarding distanceeducation and the impact of distance education when it comes to students in need of special support within theSwedish upper secondary school. This is a qualitative study based on 9 semi structured interviews with 3 specialeducation teachers, 3 special educational needs coordinators and 3 teachers.The results suggests that there are certain challenges with distance education, such as a lack of overview of thestudents in the classroom, less time to prepare lessons and a lack of continuity when organizing teaching. Thefindings also suggests that distance education have been positive for certain students who might have had aproblem earlier when it comes to distractions in the school setting. The results also point towards the importanceof realizing that the teaching environment is different in distance education compared to the traditional settingand that is something that needs to be addressed, a development of school staff’s knowledge about onlinelearning is of the essence in order to fully make use of distance education and especially in order to teachstudents in need of special support. In conclusion, there are both benefits and challenges with distance educationand also a need of development in order to fully make use of distance education for students in need of specialsupport and the teaching of these students would probably benefit of future research regarding how to merge thetraditional brick-and-mortar teaching with distance education when it comes to their respective strengths andweaknesses.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / The harsh economic environment, lack of adequate caregiving resources, lack of psychosocial support structures poses as some of the challenge’s families caring for the children with special needs face. In exploring the experiences, perceptions and coping strategies applied by families caring for children with special needs care, the study sought to explore the (physical, social, psychological, emotional, financial) experiences of caring for a child with special needs and their experiences of access to services (healthcare, education, social). The caregiver’s perceptions of family, service providers and community member’s reactions towards their children with special needs and the coping strategies applied by families when caring for their child with special needs were also included in this study.

This study aims to investigate how special needs teachers work with dyslexic pupils who are not reaching the goals of the subject of English. In addition, the focus is to examine dyslexic pupils’ experienced areas of difficulties and also how to structure the language teachings in order to facilitate for the pupils with dyslexia. The method of collecting data for this essay is based on a qualitative research approach through semi-structured interviews with special needs teachers. The results conclude that the informants do not support the pupils directly since their assignment is instead to coach the teachers, which mean that their main responsibility is to work primarily with school organization. Also, through this essay it became evident that dyslexia exists in every language and the specific learning disability is not equal with a failed grade in English.

This qualitative study aims to explore the parents’ or other family members’ experiences in participating in music therapy sessions with their children with special needs. This aim leads to three research questions which were; 1) Can music therapy help to achieve aims set out for individual children with special needs and their parents or other family members 2) What are the functions of music therapy in nurturing communication between the parents or other family members and their children? and 3) How can the music therapist develop ways in which parents or other family members can use music to help their children? Six children who are attending the Special Education Centre, region 9 in Thailand, aged four to twelve years old with their family members who are their primary carers, participated in 24 music therapy sessions. Each session was videoed and the video recordings were discussed every two weeks with the carers. The carers were interviewed three times by the research assistants. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was employ to evaluate data collected from interviews. Furthermore, there were two home visits, one after a month when the 24th session was finished and another visit was two months after the 24th session was finished. From the interview analysis, there are 28 themes under five categories namely: 1) The carers’ expectations of the music therapy 2) The carers’ experience of seeing their children in the music therapy sessions 3) The carers’ experiences of seeing themselves in the sessions 4) The carers’ experiences of reviewing the video recordings from the music therapy sessions and 5) The carers’ experiences of using music at home. It can be summarised that music therapy made a positive impact on the children and their carers. The finding highlighted how the music therapy enhanced the social and communication skills of the children. Moreover, involving the carers in the sessions enabled the carers to have positive experiences with their children and these experiences led the carers to see and interact with their children differently. The findings suggest the ways to work with the carers in a therapeutic process and how to encourage the carers to use music at home with their children.

This thesis disrupts the popular narrative of high-functioning autistic individuals as the ideal and capable special needs people who are worthy of our attention. It characterizes the author’s nonverbal autistic sister as a charming, cunning, even diabolical figure who cannot be pinned to a single interpretation - a figure beyond understanding. Defying convention both stylistically and thematically, this thesis provides a nuanced, in-depth view of a family with special needs as each member copes in different and contradictory ways.

The overall aim of this doctoral thesis is to increase knowledge and understanding of special needs education in rural schools. More specifically, the purpose of this thesis is to examine and analyse the enabling and constraining conditions in special needs education for the mission of class teachers', principals' and special educators'. To fulfil this purpose, the following research question is posed: What are the enabling and constraining conditions for special needs education and its organisation, and what meanings are given to special needs education in rural schools? In order to meet this aim four studies were conducted in a total of 58, mainly Swedish rural schools. The schools were spread out geographically and represented both public and independent rural schools. The empirical data consists of interviews, observations and questionnaires. The method of analysis was mainly qualitative content analysis. Descriptive statistics were also used. The first study (Article 1) examines class teachers' conditions for supporting pupils with special educational needs in seven rural schools in Sweden, Norway and Finland. The main results of the interview study are summarized into four themes; relationship, collaboration, distance and concern. The second study (Article II) investigates how principals in rural Swedish schools organize special needs education. A web questionnaire was answered by 45 principals. The results show that the principals balance between an individual approach to special needs and a flexible way of organizing special needs education. The third study (Article III) examines how special educators' expertise in educational consultation is utilized in order to support professional development of class teachers who work in rural schools with diverse pupil groups. Three authentic consultation sessions were observed and analysed. The results show that consultation as a support strategy enables the class teachers to support pupils with special educational needs and strengthens professional collaboration between special educators and class teachers. The fourth study (Article IV) investigates what meanings educators working as principals in independent rural schools attach to special needs education. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire with open-ended questions. According to the principals' special needs education is an activity aimed at supporting all pupils' learning and development. The results also show that the independent schools have strong ties to the surrounding community. The thematic analysis of the four studies displays two main concepts; inner force and outer pressure. These concepts illustrate the enabling as well as the constraining conditions for special needs education in rural schools. The inner force stems from relationships, familiar atmosphere, the possibilities to meet all pupils' needs, collaboration and flexible ways of organizing the educational activities, while the outer pressure stems from threats of school closure, lack of resources and unappreciative municipal authorities. Despite the constraining conditions, which make the rural school vulnerable, the enabling conditions seem to dominate, making the rural school an inclusive learning environment able to meet all pupils' diverse learning needs.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The policy for Inclusive Education in South Africa, the White Paper 6, states that all children can learn with support. Research suggests that there is a lack of access to education and resources for children with ASD living in low socio-economic communities. Education support services are under-resourced and unable to deal with the enormous number of learners with special needs. Globally, there is an appalling lack of dedicated school and learning facilities for children affected by autism. In special needs schools, children with autism are placed in classes with children with other disabilities. This is often as a result of either little understanding of their learning needs or resource constraints such as no schools close by to accommodate autistic learners.

To date the management of state-maintained special schools for children with hearing impairment (SMSSCHI) in Ghana has not been extensively researched. As a result, the way such schools are managed is inadequately understood. This research sought to address that lack of understanding. The aim of the research was to examine the nature of the day-to-day management activities in SMSSCHI to refine our current understanding of such schools. Research questions focused on the nature of the day-to-day management; the organisational challenges; the relationships between the SMSSCHI and stakeholders including, the private sector, parents and the Ghana Education Service (GES); the way educational policies influence the management of SMSSCHI; and the boundary issues in the day-to-day management of SSMCHI in Ghana. The research began with an analysis of the relevant literature. The empirical research was in two phases: Phase 1 involved visits to seven out of the 12 SMSSCHI in Ghana to understand day-to-day management practices. Phase 2 explored the relationships between schools and stakeholders in the day-to-day management of SMSSCHI in three schools. The data were analysed using the planning, organising, staffing, coordinating, reporting, budgeting (POSDCoRB) framework. The key findings were that day-to-day management practices were homogenous across study schools. This homogeneity stemmed from the use of centralized planning emanating from the GES to ensure conformity to set policies. This practice led to a limited adoption of strategic plans to address local needs. Organisational boundary issues emerged as significant in relation to the involvement of stakeholders in school management portrayed by the profound influence of the GES and very minimal involvement of other stakeholders as enshrined in the decentralisation policy of the GES. Societal conceptions of disability and the location of special schools influenced stakeholders' involvement in school management. The implications of the findings for policy and practice are discussed.

This thesis evaluated training groups for adoptive parents of special-needs children. It was hypothesized that training would influence parenting stress, stress symptoms, and marital satisfaction, and that helpfulness of training sections would depend upon the status of the participants' children (i.e., foster, adopted, or adoption in process). Data were collected from 15 participants who were sampled through agencies that typically interact with adoptive parents. Repeated measures ANOY As were computed to compare scores on the PSI/SF Parental Distress Subscale, OQ-45, and RDAS across three time intervals. No significant differences were found. Data from a scale of helpfulness were analyzed using descriptive statistics. There was a general trend such that foster parents reported the training groups as least helpful, adoptive parents reported them as more helpful, and participants in the process of adoption reported the highest ratings of helpfulness. Explanations for results are discussed along with implications and recommendations for future research.

This research study focuses on gathering data on stress among caregivers caring for an individual with special needs. The participants selected were from three agencies in Southern California. Once the participants were selected, an interview was conducted using an audio recording device to gather and analyze the data collected. The researcher dictated the responses provided during the interview if the participants did not wish to be recorded. All participants received a $5 Starbucks gift card for their participation. This study was conducted to inform clinicians and any reader on the daily struggles and challenges caregivers face by caring for individuals with a disability. This study had a sample size of eight participants. Themes that were used were service utilization, social support systems, mental and physical health and self-care. Social workers working with individuals who care for individuals with special needs should be knowledgeable in coping strategies.