Browsing by discipline "Specialpedagogik"

The purpose of this study was to find out if there is a relative age effect on school success and learning to learn skills in the Finnish school system. In addition, this study aims to find out if the possible differences in school success and learning to learn skills lead to differences in the academic self-concept and differences in the teachers and the parents' beliefs about child's possibility to succeed at school. The data of this study is a part of learning to learn data collected by the Centre of Educational Assessment (the University of Helsinki). The participants of the study were children and their teachers and parents in one school grade in all elementary schools in the city of Vantaa, including Finnish and international schools. This longitudinal data has been collected in the years 2010, 2013 and 2016, when the pupils were first-, third- and sixth-graders. The pupils (N=2569) part consisted of learning to learn assignments in the all grade. They answered beliefs and attitude questions in the third and the sixth grade additionally. The part of the teachers and parents consisted of the background questions and propositions of the children's learning and social skills. The data was analyzed with SPSS Statistic 24 program. Used analysis methods were Spearman correlation coefficient, Chi square and cross tabulation, Kruskal-Wallis test and Linear regression analysis. According to this study date of birth affects both school success and learning to learn skills in first, third and sixth school grade. The differences are the biggest at the beginning of school and decrease during the years. The relative oldest pupils also have a little bit higher attainment in mathematics and Finnish language and they were more able in part of learning to learn task than the youngest peers in the sixth grade. The relative youngest pupils have more special education needs than their older peers. Although relative age had an effect to educational attainment and learning to learn skills, it does not affect academic self-concept.

Aims. The aim of the study was to find out the relations between attention, formal operational thought, psychological well-being and school achievement and choices of educational tracks. The thesis complements the study and modelling carried out by the Centre for Educational Assessment and Unit of Special Education of the University of Helsinki by adding psychological well-being to the model of attention, formal operational thought and future plans. Method. The data consisted of a sample of ninth graders from six comprehensive schools from a municipality in Eastern Finland. The size of the sample was N=287 of which girls 53% (ngirls=152) ja boys 47% (nboys=135. The data were gathered using a computer-assisted ACT-test, a multiple choice Formula-test and a BPNS-questionnaire. The data were analyzed using correlations, linear regression and general linear model (GLM) two-way analysis of variance. Results. Both girls' and boys' experience of competence and formal operational thought had a statistically significant relation between school achievement. Regarding girls, competence was a stronger explanatory variable than formal operational thought, whereas regarding boys formal operational thought was a stronger explanatory variable than competence. When girls' choices of educational tracks were examined it appeared that attention and competence were statistically significant explanatory variables regarding the choice of academic track. Boys' choices of the academic track could only be explained by competence. It also appeared that attention had a statistically significant correlation between formal operational thought which in turn was correlated with school achievement. This confirmed the assumption given by previous studies that attention has an indirect effect on school achievement via formal operational thought. The thesis is part of a study (attention, thinking skills, self-determination theory and school achievement) carried out by the Centre of Educational Assessment and Unit of Special Education of the University of Helsinki.

Due to the rise of the general education level in the society, being uneducated is seen as a risk factor for youth exclusion. Applying to secondary schools is seen as an obligation on the youth, and it involves strong institutional counselling. Youth transitions have, however, become more complicated because of the rapid changes in the society, emphasizing individuality, and increasing unemployment. The complication of the transitions is considered to increase polarization and to make the transitions of especially those youths needing special support less smooth. The need for counselling in transition phases has increased, but at the same time the resources available for counselling are scarce. Worry for the youths has initiated many projects especially to support the youths in the transition phase between basic and secondary education, but the good practices of the projects have not rooted into the basic municipal services. The aim of this study was to bring forward the impressions of youths who had participated in enhanced transition phase student counselling, on their needs for education and support, and on the transition phase student counselling in the transition to secondary education. In this study, five youths were interviewed, who had participated in an enhanced transition phase student counselling project and, at the time of the interview, were in their first year of secondary education. The youths had been directed into the project through basic education student welfare services, and they all had been given special education. The material was collected as individual interviews using a focused interview and analysed phenomenographicly. The youths strongly brought forward the significance of sufficient support in the transition phase. Swift availability of the student counsellor, personal support and guidance, and receiving enough information came up as significant factors in a successful transition. The personal support of a counsellor familiar from basic education helped the youths become attached to secondary education. For successful transitions, some youths need individual, long-term support and directed counselling, and escorting to the second degree. The transition phase between basic and secondary education must be linked to basic municipal services and consist of multi-sectorial and planned cooperation stemming from the needs of the youth, with the aim that all youths successfully transition to the second degree.

Aims. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of Nele and Noa in Rainforest intervention on executive functions (EF) of children with intensive special education needs in the school context. The field of research of executive functions is wide and there is no generally accepted definition of executive functions. Previous studies indicate that executive functions play an important role in children's learning and academic performance processes. It is also possible to influence the skills of executive functions with different kinds of interventions. According to previous research, Nele and Noa in Rainforest intervention has demonstrated positive effects on generally supported children's executive functions, but its effectiveness has not been studied on children with intensive special education needs. Children with intensive special education needs have been found to have various challenges in EFs. Interventions aiming to improve EF skills are therefore being called for. Methods. The study involved a total of 57 pupils, aged 5-13years, with intensive special education needs from seven different classes of extended compulsory education. The children were split in two groups. The experimental group (n = 31) performed individual tasks and played the pair and small group games of Nele and Noa in Rainforest intervention while the control group (n = 26) attended school normally and participated in the intervention only after the research data was collected. Intervention continued for six weeks and the experimental group participated in the intervention exercises three times a week. Children's executive function skills were assessed using ATTEX, Attention and executive function rating inventory. Analyses were done with non-parametric analyses, like Mann-Witney U-test and Wilcoxon signed rank test. Results and conclusions. There was a slight positive development of executive function skills in the experimental group in all areas of ATTEX during the intervention, but the results were statistically significant only in the skills of motor hyperactivity and EF – evaluation. The effect sizes of the intervention were medium-sized on total score, shifting of attention and EF -evaluation. The results suggest that it is possible to develope EFs on children with intensive special education needs with the intervention. However, based on this study, it is not possible to draw general conclusions on the effectiveness of the intervention for the EF skills and it calls for future research to investigate the effectiveness of intervention, for example, with a variety of indicators.

The purpose of this study was to find out how Graphogame, a computer-based learning game can be used to help children with disabilities learn early literacy skills in rural Tanzania. Graphogame aims to help children automate letter-sound connections, which are found to be the most important prerequisite for reading in transparent languages. Previous studies have shown that Graphogame can be an effective learning tool for children without disabilities in both Finland and East Africa (e.g. Ojanen et al, 2015). In addition to investigating the effectiveness of Graphogame, this study aimed to bring forth the issues that arise when conducting a Graphogame intervention in this particular setting. The study was conducted as an intervention, where a group of five children with different types of disabilities played Graphogame daily for six weeks. Their progress was monitored through oral tests before, during and after the intervention. Participant observation was used to gather additional information on the learning process of the participants. The results of this study showed how some of the participants were able to improve their early literacy skills with the help of Graphogame. Three out of five participants in the experimental group were able increase their letter knowledge noticeably during the intervention, two some of them only learned a couple of new letters. It also revealed differences in the participants' ability to transfer their skills to contexts outside the game. Based on the observations made in this study, a list of considerations is made that should be taken into account when conducting future interventions in a rural Tanzanian setting and suggestions provided for future Graphogame research.

Objectives. In this study I aimed to investigate toddlers cognitive and language development and to find out the changes in these areas during a child's first first year in kindergarden. Previous studies are showing that children's development benefits from a high quality early childhood education and care (ECEC). The strongest effect of the high quality ECEC seems to be on children that come from disadvantaged backgrounds. The results also show that poor quality ECEC can sometimes lead to negative effects in a child's development. This research aimes to find out if boys and girls differ in their cognitive and language development during the first year in kindergarden and what kind of changes happen in cognitive and language development at this time? Methods. This research is a part of the Helsinki University study ("Lasso-projekti"), which concerns children's stress regulation, learning and the quality of ECEC. The first measurements were done in autumn when children enter kindergarden before two years of age. The measurements were repeated the following spring. This study participants were 202 children. The sex was known of 182 children. Cognitive and language abilities were assessed using Bayley III and statistical analyses were made using SPSS IMB 22 software. Results and conclusions. When entering the kindergarden boys and girls seem to differ in cognitive and language abilities favouring the girls. During the spring however the development evens. Only in understanding language girls seem to overcome the boys.The main result from the study suggest that during the first year in kindergarden the performances of the poor ones get better but the excellent drop.

This research is a part of a wider research in the metropolitan area. Junior high school and high school students (n=700) participated in a research about a meaningful and happy school in 2015. The goal is to chart what a meaningful and happy school is like and to get some concrete information about students to improve studying to be more up to date. The purpose of this research is to study the students motivation for studying in the metropolitan area and the needs for social and physical environment. One of the baselines used in this research is Ryan's & Decin's self-determination theory (2000). The research focuses on the answers (n=322) of the students concerning studying motivation, and the social and physical environments in three different junior high schools. The materials were collected through web inquiries. This is a quantitative partial taken from all material, which is analyzed by the Kruskall-Wallis test and variance analysis tests. The students' answers were separated into the students who need general, intensified and special support. The answers are used to find out if the students who need special support want the same matters as the students who need general and intensified support. And to study what kind of differences there are between the students who need special support and those who need general and intensified support. The results show that 86 % of the students, especially students who need special support, want areas to school for relaxing with possibilities to use computers. The students hope to have small rooms for studying by themselves privately. This was also suggested mostly by the students who need special support. At 82 % of students want to use gyms at playtime during the school day. The students who need general support pointed out that school is an important place for meeting friends. From the results we can see that students who need general and intensified support are more motivated to study than the students who need special support. We can affect to the students motivation for studying with support and early stage prevention. Schools can take advantage of the results of this study and they have chances to have an effect on the studying motivation and improving the environment for their students. Motivation and physical and social environment can be used for making school a better place for students.