The development of five individual pupils’ writing abilities, as reported by six of their teachers, is analysed. The thoughts and reflexions inspired by the everyday interaction between the teacher and the pupil suffering from some kind of reading and writing disability are presented. The purpose is to capture what was unique and characteristic in the measures that triggered a positive response in the pupils. Some of the questions answered in this study are: How does the phenomenon of reading and writing disabilities manifest itself in the classroom, and what are the consequences for the individual pupil of the various pedagogical measures available? One conclusion that may be drawn from this study is that there is no cut-and dried method for working with pupils suffering from reading and writing disabilities. Nor is there any such thing as a standard pupil with this disability. Instead, both the type and the extent of the problem vary greatly, and individual pupils develop their own personal strategies to cope with them and take in new knowledge. Also the skills of the individual pupils vary widely, and the possibility to use and develop them is dependent on the pedagogical context he/she is part of, on the actions of the individual teacher and several other interacting environmental factors. It also becomes clear that the ’capacity’ of the individual pupil, rather than being a fixed constant, is entirely dependent on the context. There is a strong correlation between the successful development of the pupil and the sensitivity, empathy, imagination, competence and ability of the teacher to capture opportunities as they arise. Some common features of the teachers involved in this study were that they helped their pupils to structure their thinking and involved them in their own acquisition of knowledge, and that their education was focused on the process rather than the goal. The methods they used were based on both theoretical knowledge and practical experience. They were well versed in many different theories and methods, and prepared to try different things till they found the best solution for the individual pupil. The communication between teacher and pupil was the cornerstone of their tuition. The classroom situation was characterised by a mixed group of pupils where individual measures constituted a natural component. The borderline between ‘ordinary’ and remedial teachers was deliberately blurred. Instead a spirit of constructive co-operation prevailed where all available resources were used in the work with the pupils. Events that promoted progress in the individual pupil were episodes where he experienced success and stood out in a positive sense among his class-mates. On these occasions the teacher had succeeded in identifying some specific skill possessed by the pupil, and made it visible also to the pupil himself and the people surrounding him. It was also a matter of identifying and challenging the individual weaknesses of the pupil, and of making him conscious of the progress he made. The social context surrounding the pupil did, of course, play a vital part in these positive events. This study demonstrates that a thorough linguistic diagnose followed by carefully tailored tuition is far superior to other kinds of remedial tuition in enhancing the reading-and writing abilities of the individual pupil. The common method of lumping together a group of pupils with widely varying types of reading and writing disabilities into a ’remedial class’ did, by contrast, appear to be an unfortunate strategy.

In schools today, we expect student performances and achievements to be exceptional. Having good reading and writing skills are essential if students want to excel at their school assignments. Students with reading and writing difficulties have to work much harder than their other classmates. Their having to work harder coupled with being teenagers and facing all the uncertainties which are present at that age, these students face the difficult task of trying to find out who they are and who they want to be. In other words, they try to create their own individual identities. This study investigates the experiences of students with reading and writing difficulties in their interactions with other students and school personnel, in different situations. The collection of data has been done through group interviews. Thirteen, 15 year old students participated in these interviews. Some of the factors which characterise a hermeneutic approach have helped to form the basis on which the study lies. A hermeneutic approach suggests that the data collected is sorted and analysed to enable the identification of differences and patterns. These patterns are arranged to give results that are subjective and which also show an interpretation of the data collected. The results show that students are more comfortable with their identities, when they are diagnosed or made aware that their performances in school are directly affected by their reading and writing difficulties. The study also shows that having reading and writing difficulties tells the students who they are but, at the same time, plays an important role in their interactions with other classmates and adults. The outcomes of these interactions greatly affect the formation of their identities. The way in which school personnel treat students is also shown to be of great importance.

The aim of this study was to investigate how the computer as a tool is helping dyslectic students who have Swedish as a second language in learning. The following questions were formulated: How important is it to diagnose dyslectic students? How does the computer assistance motivates dyslectic students achieve their goals? How easy is it to include dyslectic students in the ordinary class with computer assistance? And in which way does the school and home environments affect dyslectic students who have Swedish as a second language? The sample consisted of four dyslectic students, 13 to 15 year olds who have Swedish as a second language. And two Swedish and Swedish as second language teachers.  They were selected by purposive non-probability sampling. They were all participating in the one to one programme. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using content analysis. After transcribing the interviews’ six themes: diagnosis, computer as a tool, inclusion, motivation and environment were identified. The results were that computers are helpful tools for dyslectic students who have Swedish as a second language. Computer assistance makes these students more independent to find ways to support themselves. They do not need to face failure all the time, when they can use the computer to achieve success. It motivates the students to learn more. It was very clear that the students were more efficient in computers compared to the teacher´s. Maybe, both the teachers and the students should be given the same competence education. Motivation as the most important aspect in learning was very noticeable in all the six interviews. Keywords Dyslexia, Computer as a tool, Special Education, Reading Writing Difficulties, Content Analysis, One-One program, Motivation, Swedish as Second language, SVA.

This study covers a research within the area of writing difficulties in the ESL classroom (English as second language). This essay aims to look at teachers’ attitudes towards working with writing difficulties and also how teachers deal with this issue in the classroom. The data for this study was collected through the qualitative method; interviews and observations. The informants who participated in this study are English teachers, working in year 7-9. The observations were conducted during the informants’ lessons. Previous research has also been used in this study in order to establish the teachers’ work within writing. The study shows that the teachers feel that it is challenging to work with students who have writing difficulties, since those students might be unmotivated. However, the informants believe that teachers need to motivate their students to write more, in order to achieve development. Moreover, the study shows that teachers do not use any specific method when working with writing, instead they try to see what the students have difficulties with, and subsequently find solutions based on the individual’s needs.

Syftet med denna studie är att ge en översikt över forskning om skrivsvårigheter hos flerspråkiga elever. Forskningsfrågorna som besvaras i studien är vilka orsaker som ligger bakom skrivsvårigheter hos flerspråkiga, hur orsakerna till skrivsvårigheter hos flerspråkiga identifieras och hur den pedagogiska praktiken kan utformas för att stötta flerspråkiga elever med skrivsvårigheter. För att besvara dessa forskningsfrågor har jag gjort systematiska sökningar efter relevant forskningslitteratur och därefter kritiskt granskat och sammanställt sex forskningsartiklar. Forskningen visar att det kan finnas flera orsaker till skrivsvårigheter hos flerspråkiga. Orsakerna kan kopplas till såväl bristande språkfärdighet i andraspråket som dyslexi, men svårigheterna kan också bero på annan funktionsnedsättning och psykosociala faktorer. Vidare visar forskningen att identifiering av skrivsvårigheter hos flerspråkiga kan vara problematisk eftersom det kan vara svårt att bedöma om flerspråkiga elevers läs- och skrivsvårigheter beror på tillägnandet av andraspråket eller om det är dyslexi eller andra kognitiva eller kulturella problem som är orsaken. I forskningen betonas att lärarens kompetens är den mest betydelsefulla faktorn för en gynnsam läs- och skrivutveckling i skolan.

In order for special educators and specialist teachers to be able to support multilingual students, a mapping system is needed in the student’s mother tongue. It’s needed because special educators and specialist teachers should, in the best possible way, be able to assess and offer the support that a multilingual student need. The purpose of the study is to analyze in detail how special educators and specialist teachers work to support multilingual students who have dyslexia. The study has the socio-cultural perspective as a theoretical starting point and the reason for that is that the socio-cultural perspective focuses on learning and the learning of individuals in social contexts. The scientific approach that becomes current and applied in the study is qualitative research method and the applicable method is semi- structured qualitative interview, where four special educators and two specialist teachers are interviewed regarding their work to support multilingual students with dyslexia. The result of the study is that screening tests can determine if a student has dyslexia and therefore assess the support that is required. If a student has dyslexia in Swedish, the student will also have it in their mother tongue. Since the tests are performed in Swedish, in order to be able to process dyslexia in the best possible way, you have to map the difficulty in both the students mother tongue and Swedish.

Att kunna skriva har en stor betydelse i dagens samhälle. Elever i skrivsvårigheter kan påverkas negativt i olika sammanhang i livet. I klassrummet har läraren ett ansvar att se till att dessa elever utvecklar en god skrivförmåga. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad svensk och internationell forskning visat de senaste 10 åren när det gäller lärares didaktiska kompetens på området skrivutveckling hos elever i skrivsvårigheter i lågstadiet. Studiens frågeställningar handlar om att undersöka vilka kunskaper och kompetenser läraren behöver ha för att gynna skrivutvecklingen hos elever i skrivsvårigheter. Det lyfts även fram vilka undervisningsmetoder som understödjer skrivutvecklingen hos elever i skrivsvårigheter. De huvudbegrepp som behandlas i studien är: skrivsvårigheter, skrivutveckling, undervisningsmetoder och didaktisk kompetens. Metoden som valts till studien är en systematisk litteraturstudie där tre vetenskapliga avhandlingar och sex artiklar ligger till grund för min undersökning. Materialets resultat visar att lärarens skrivkunskaper har en stor betydelse för att gynna elevers skrivutveckling i skrivsvårigheter samt att läraren använder sig av varierande arbetsmetoder. Några framgångsrika undervisningsmetoder som presenteras i resultatet är stöttning och olika typer av skriftspråksaktiviteter.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka lärares uppfattningar om läs- och skrivsvårigheter hos elever på mellanstadiet och hur mellanstadielärare uppger att de arbetar med dessa elever. Det teoretiska ramverk som ligger till grund för studien är kognitiva processer och läsningens fem utvecklingsdimensioner. Sju kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer utförs för att samla in data. Resultatet visar att mellanstadieelevers svårigheter är läsförståelse, fonologisk medvetenhet, avkodning, stavning och grammatik. När lärare upptäcker läs- och skrivsvårigheter tar de direktkontakt med elever, anpassar materialet efter elevers behov, tar kontakt med speciallärare eller specialpedagog och kontaktar vårdnadshavare. Resultatet visar även att mellanstadielärare använder sig av grupp- och pararbeten, en-till-en undervisning, motivationsskapande undervisning, undervisning som är fokuserad på språk- och läsförståelse och digitala verktyg. Elever i läs- och skrivsvårigheter behöver varierad undervisning och olika arbetsmetoder för att utveckla deras läs- och skrivförmågor. Om eleverna tidigt och utifrån sina egna behov får hjälp, stöttning och anpassningar kan det hjälpa dem att komma ur dessa svårigheter.

This study is a quantitative study that has examined 29 students in grade 8 who have not received a pass grade in mathematics. The focus of this study is in two areas: first, which mathematical abilities do the students have the greatest difficulties in, and second, on the relationship between mathematics difficulties and reading and writing difficulties. Mathematical abilities have been studied using knowledge matrices from the national tests in mathematics. Reading and writing difficulties has been investigated using test results from diagnostic material in the area. The results show that conceptual and problem-solving skills are the most difficult abilities in which previous research also indicates. Procedural ability is the ability where most students show competency, which also is consistent with previous research. The study indicates that there are links between mathematics difficulties and reading and writing difficulties, although it is not possible to show strong correlations in this small study.

This case study uses a reading comprehension test and interviews to investigate how readers with and readers without reading or writing difficulties understand and perceive a decision on building permission in two versions: an original version and a version revised in accordance with the recommendations in a guide to plain language, Klarspråk­stestet för beslut. The aim is to contribute to usage guidance on adjusting texts for people with reading and writing difficulties and to study how comprehension and perception differ between those who have reading and writing difficulties and a control group. The study includes twelve participants, half of them with reading and writing difficulties. The theoretical framework of the study is plain language based on adequate simplifications and explanations for the intended recipient.   The result shows that there were differences between the groups’ mean scores on comprehension questions when they have read the decision in the original form, but there were no longer any differences between the groups when they had read the version in plain language. Just two people answered all the questions on the reading comprehension test correctly. One of the reasons for this may be that decisions on building permission are a type of decision that can be difficult to understand. Revising such decisions in accordance with the recommendations of the Swedish Language Council can facilitate reading comprehension, but does not automatically mean that the content is correctly understood or that the decision is perceived as being sufficiently adapted to the reader’s perspective. The result of the reading perception test shows that most participants were more positively disposed towards the plain language version of the decision. Another result is that there is a tendency for the last text the informants read to be perceived as better. All the informants’ responses to the questions on perception show that they want to find answers to their questions early in the text. The participants with reading and writing difficulties think that the technical terms should be explained in detail, while the informants without reading and writing difficulties think that these words are sufficiently well explained. The viewpoints expressed about the content show that the informants have different reading goals.