Browsing by discipline "Erityispedagogiikka"

Objectives. As a special education teacher, I consider the welfare of the students in school to be important. Forming the class into a group of students that can work well together and have positive atmosphere to support learning. Research has shown that emphasizing courage has improved the social relationships between students and it is assumed to also support the group processes in the class. The research question of the study is to see how can courage as a character strength support the group processes in the class. The objective of the study is to figure out how the students experience courage and how courage appears during group work in drama lesson. Methods. The study was qualitative case study. The target group of the case study was a third grade special education class of ten students. The empirical evidence of the study was gathered from three different source materials: sociometric measurements done at three different points during the research period, student interviews, and drama lessons in small groups. The analysis was based on group theories of social psychology, positive psychological definitions of courage and the fields of learning in drama education. Results and Conclusions. The students of the special education class that were observed in the study proved to be brave and compassionate. They showed a growth mindset towards the idea of increasing and developing their courage. These qualities supported the interaction among the students in the class. Drama as a cooperative learning method supported the development of student interaction, a positive atmosphere, and proved to be effective for teaching and improving character strengths.

Objectives. Previous studies have shown that the sensitive interaction produced by adults is connected to the self-regulation and working memory of children. This is because interactions stir emotions in children. The processing of emotions is connected to the functions of the prefrontal area of the brain. These functions include self-regulation and the working memory. Children are more easily led by their emotions when compared to adults, and they need adult support in their self-regulation. Self-regulation has been shown to be a prerequisite for metacognition, and metacognition is an important component of the learning process. This study aims to find out how the interaction produced by an adult is connected to the executive functions of a student. The results of the study can be applied to interactions between adults and children in a general level, but special emphasis has been placed on immigrant children. The importance of interaction is emphasized when the child has moved from their own culture to a foreign one. Immigrant students are over-represented when looking at the decisions related to specific support, but according to various studies, the need for specific support for these children has not been demonstrated reliably. The study examines the interactive means that adults have at their disposal and tries to shed light on the interaction produced by adults. Methods. The material of the study is part of the University of Helsinki's Long Second data. The material was videotaped during the school year 2011–2012 in a preparatory class, twice a week. The approach to the study was through a socio-cultural learning theory perspective, because the socio-cultural theory focuses on the interaction between the environment, cultural tools, the individual and the community. The method of analysis applied was discussion analysis. The analysis was supported by a questionnaire on concentration, Keskittymiskysely (Klenberg, L., Jämsä, S., Häyrinen, T. & Korkman, M. 2010) which was used to analyse executive functions. One student was picked from the video material, and the changes in the student's executive functions were monitored in relation to teacher interactions. The material that was selected for analysis included four teachers. Results and conclusions. Four different types of adult interactions were discovered in the analysis phase. One of these interaction types shows genuine interest in the child. By utilizing dialogical discussion, this type of adult interaction makes students regulate their activities and speak Finnish. The more dialogical the teacher interaction was, the better were the student's own executive functions. The study also showed that rules related to the interaction improved the student's own executive functions.

Objective The objective of this study was to learn about the psychosocial well-being and life management of Finnish adults with late deafness or hearing loss and to observe the effectiveness of the rehabilitation courses they participated in. Methods For my study I used indicators which were suitable for the evaluation of life management and psychosocial well-being of late-deafened adults. The first part of the study was conducted during 2009 as a questionnaire on three rehabilitation courses in Kopola, a course center of the Finnish Federation of Hard of Hearing. The follow-up study was done at the third period of the courses during 2009 2010. The questionnaire contained both open and structured questions. The questionnaire consisted of five areas concerning life management and psychosocial well-being: sense of coherence (life management), human relations and social support, mood, self-esteem and satisfaction with life. I also asked the participants to reflect on their experiences of group rehabilitation. Results and conclusions The participants consisted of seven women and three men. They were approximately 63 years old and were all retired. Loss of hearing was described to have affected their social life, free time, and in general made their lives more difficult. From the course the participants hoped to gain new skills such as signed speech and lip-reading, uplift their mood, accept their loss of hearing and experience peer support. After the courses they replied that they had more close relations with whom they also were a little more in contact with. More participants were satisfied with e.g. their ability to take care of themselves, their free time, financial situation, family life, mental resources and physical shape. Majority of the participants showed symptoms of depression when the courses started, but at the end of the courses these signs had moderated or disappeared for most of them. The participants felt that during the rehabilitation they had been heard, respected, accepted and been taken care of. The course provided the possibility for confiding, and the discussions gave the participants support and consolidation. In conclusion, the course affected positively on the acclimatization to the hearing loss and the empowerment of the participants. The results of this study can be utilized in disability services, the development of rehabilitation and in the social- and health services of senior citizens.

Aims. The study examined teachers' self-compassion in relation to burnout, work engagement and the meaning of work. Previous studies have shown the positive effects of self-compassion on well-being. Little is known about the teachers' self-compassion and how it is related to work well-being. Studies have shown that a self-compassioned teacher has more positive attitudes towards inclusion and they are socio-emotionally more capable. Methods. The data was collected via an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to special education students at the University of Helsinki. All the students had a degree in education, and at least three years of work experience in the education sector. Answers were received from 85 students. The questionnaire measured self-compassion, work engagement, meaning of work and burn out. The analysis of the data was done by statistical methods using the SPSS program. Results and conclusions. More than half (61.2%) of the respondents (N = 85) were in the group's average self-compassion level. The high self-compassion level was 14.1% of the respondents, and the low self-compassion level was up to about one quarter of the respondents (24.7%). A comparison between the three groups showed that the average level and high self-compassion level groups had better protection against burnout and higher work engagement than the low self-compassion teachers. The study showed that the meaning of work was in relation to self-compassion. High self-compassion level is in relation to lower burnout levels and higher work engagement. Teaching self-compassion skills to future teachers improves the well-being of teachers and could lower their levels of burnout. Teachers' well-being also increases the well-being of students.

A decline in math performance has been a topic of discussion in recent years. Specifically the lowering achievement of boys has raised concern. This study investigates the extent to which mathematics achievement level and students’ background explain the decline. It is known that math skills develop hierarchically and there is a strong association between previous and later math performance. The achievement level of middle school aged students is already quite stable. In addition, higher achievement level is related to better cognitive abilities, more positive attitudes towards learning and higher socioeconomic status (SES). Based on previous research on the development of math achievement, three hypotheses were tested. It was assumed that the loss of math skills is mediated by lower achievement level, immigrant background, lower SES and male gender. It was also assumed that the three-tiered support for learning protects from the decline. The data (N=6021) were drawn from the MetrOP-research project, and consisted of students who participated in the math assessment in the beginning of 7th grade in 2011 and at the end of 9th grade in 2014. The sample was coded according to two categories: those whose performance declined and those whose performance remained stable or improved based on the difference of the two test results. Three models were tested with logistic regression. The first model focused on achievement level, and included the test result of 2011 and math grade of 6th grade as independent variables. In the second model the effects of student characteristics were tested, and it included immigrant status, SES and gender as independent variables. The third model tested if the support for learning protects from the decline, and the information about the three-tiered support was added as an independent variable in addition to the variables in the first two models. The results indicate that there is no strong association between the ability level or student background characteristics and the loss of math achievement. The achievement level had minor and inconsistent effect, since lower grades and the higher test performance of 2011 both had positive effects. The variables of student characteristics were inadequate to explain the decline in the second model, and only the immigrant status and SES had minor effects when the achievement level was in the model. The three-tiered support also had no effect. Overall it seems that there is a loss of curriculum based math skills across ability levels and there is a need to strengthen the basic math skills of middle school students.

Low reading comprehency is connected to pupils with low reading skills. There are several reading strategy programs that could be teached at schools in order to enforce reading comprehency. It is not clear though, how much and in which way do textbooks in average lend themselves for such teaching methods. In other words, are certain characteristics of a textbook (for instance in lay-out) likely to support reading comprehency or not? Reciprocal teaching (RT) is a method for enhancing reading comprehency and it is based on four reading strategies: predicting aims at activating relevant background knowledge before reading, clarifying aims at critical evaluation during reading, questioning aims at concentration on the main ideas of the text, summarizing aims at allocating attention to the major content and also checking one’s understanding. In this study two finnish textbooks are analysed from the point of view of RT. Aleksis 9, which is a textbook of finnish language and literature for 9th graders, is compared to Aleksis 9E, which is a special education version of the former. The analysis concentrates on certain characteristics of lay-out and content that are first linked to RT’s four strategies. Also the characteristics that help to use the book are analysed, as well as some principles of easy-to-read lay-out. The qualitative methods used are content analysis and linquistic analysis. The purpose of the study is to find out whether the books differ as they give opportunities for carrying out RT. The study indicates that Aleksis 9E suits better than Aleksis 9 for strategies of predicting and summarizing. In addition it seems to be better organized and is therefore easier to use than Aleksis 9. Aleksis 9E also achieves the principles of easy-to read lay-out better than Aleksis 9. Therefore Aleksis 9E gives more opportunities for carrying out RT in average than Aleksis 9. The lack of Aleksis 9E is though, that some of its text-elements reformed due special education seemed to be more thwarting for reading comprehension than the original text-elements in Aleksis 9. Aleksis 9E would also meet the demands for RT even better, if the sentences were split over lines as instructed in easy-to-read principles. According to results it is possible to utilize certain characteristics of lay-out and content for the use of RT, but the requirements for that depend on each textbook. Therefore, the knowledge concerning reading comprehency should be part of book-production allready very early on, even before the principles of lay-out are being established. Further reseach could be targeted for instance at generating, evaluating and realising certain pedagogical elements on the basis of studies about reading comprehency.

In this study my aim was to find out if students' spontaneous communication changes when a therapy dog is present. People with ASD have challenges in communication which appear already early in the childhood. The challenges in communication reach also the area of spontaneous communication and at worst, a person with ASD can lack the ability to spontaneous communication altogether. An assistant dog placed in a family has been documented to improve and increase the communication of a child with ASD. In addition, animal assisted education has been proposed to improve the social skills of children with ASD. Animal assisted interventions have been researched in different kinds of clinical studies and therapy situations. It has been stated that the presence of a dog can increase the inter-action of the person with ASD, first with the dog and later on with humans as well. My research is a qualitative Master's thesis, where my target group was a class of six students of different ages, four of whom had been diagnosed with ASD and two with features of ASD. A therapy dog works in the classroom. For my thesis I filmed video data on four different days when the dog was present and on four days when she wasn't. I wrote transcripts of the data, and searched them for verbal initiations in communication. Based on those findings I did a content analysis and finally counted how many initiations were represented in different classes. I examined the amount of the initiations, to whom they were directed and how the communicative functions could be divided according to the criteria defined by Wetherby and Prizant (1993). I examined first the class as a whole, and later each student individually. The results showed that the presence of the dog increased the spontaneous communication of the students. The spontaneous communication nearly doubled. The spontaneous communication was most often directed to the teaching assistants when the dog was absent. When she was present, more initiations in communication were made towards the whole class. The presence of the dog clearly influenced most of the students in the class. The results show that the amount of spontaneous communication of at least four students increased when the dog was present. In addition, the quality of spontaneous communication enhanced for at least three students when the dog was present. Only one of the students was seemingly unaffected by the support of the dog when it came to spontaneous communication. The results indicated that the communicative functions were divided differently depending on the presence of the dog. In both situations, joint attention was presented most out of all the initiations. When the dog was present the amount of social interaction was increased significantly; when she was absent there was nearly none. The amount of behavior regulation was approximately the same, but when the dog was absent, there was a relative increase in protest towards an object or action. There were also differences when it came to joint attention: When the dog was present, the children commented more on the action, but when she was absent they shared more of their emotions and delight. The subcategory of emotion sharing also includes refusal and expression of negative interest. The greater amount of the initiations related to those explains their growth when the dog was absent.

This master’s thesis focuses on the support for learning and well-being in Finnish general upper secondary education. In Finland, the reform of general upper secondary education started in 2017. Under the new Act on General Upper Secondary Education (714/2018), students are entitled to receive special needs education and other support for learning, when The National Core Curriculum for General Upper Secondary Schools (Finnish National Agency for Education, 2019) will come into force in the autumn of 2021. Special education will be given by special education teachers (Finnish National Agency for Education, 2019). However, many Finnish upper secondary schools do not yet have a special education teacher, and practices in special education are still lacking (Greus et al., 2019). The main aim of this study is to structure a general view of support for learning and well-being in general upper secondary education. In addition, the purpose is to analyse factors that enable or challenge support being fulfilled in school and to examine visions of special education teachers job description in the future. The aim of this study is also to act as a tool for developing support in Finnish general upper secondary schools. This study is carried out as a qualitative case study. The data is produced in one general upper secondary school by interviewing subject teachers, the principal, the guidance counsellor, the psychologist, the school social worker and the school nurse. The support in general upper secondary school appeared multidimensional and layered. In relation to the student, three layers were found: individual support, support in group and support in the structures of the school. The best situation with support measures was in individual student welfare services, whereas in instruction individual support was rarely actualized. The main factor that challenged the support being fulfilled in instruction was the fact that subject teachers did not know the students. In student welfare services the main challenge for support was the lack of time. The job of special education teachers in the future was met with confusion and optimism.

The current Act on Upper Secondary Education does not provide any specific information on the organization of special education. This is why the special education programs vary between upper secondary schools. Not all secondary schools have special education teachers and this might place students with special needs at a disadvantage. There have been only a few researches on special education in upper secondary schools in Finland during the last decade and the studies have focused on the need of special education in upper secondary education or, the job description of a special education teacher. The purpose of this study is to describe the perceptions of the students’ regarding the challenges that they face in their studies and the support they have received. The aim is also to look at the special education from a student point of view and clarify, how the need for support is recognized, what kind of challenges does the student with special needs meet and who provides the support and how. The data for this qualitative study was collected by inteviewing 14 upper secondary school students over the age of 18 with special needs. They all studied in the same upper secondary school in southern Finland under the guidance of the same special education teacher. The topic was approached by using phenomenography which enables clarification of variations in individual views and investigates different understandings of reality. Students view on the recognition process of special needs in upper secondary school was based on a reading assesment and diagnostic evaluation done by the special education teacher. The recognition of reading difficulties was a relief for most of the interviewed students. They felt that early recognition gives them more time to benefit from the support. The interviewed students found it hard to work with the subject teachers, because they felt that the teachers could not offer them enough support. The results showed that the amount of the support depends on the attitudes and skills of the subject teacher. Other challenges were problems with concentration, reading difficulties and fatigue. Students found the special education teacher to be the keyperson that provides them support. The new Act on Upper Secondary Education secures everyone´s right to special education and the services of a special education teacher. In the future, special education teachers will have an important role as consultants or intermediators between the students and subject teachers, so that students with special needs get the help they are entitled to.

The subject of this master's thesis is the playing with a friend -project in the Special Music Centre Resonaari. The aim is to study the meanings of cooperative learning and volunteering within the playing with the friend -project. The purpose is to define the strengths of the project and to find aspects that affect the autoconcept of persons involved in the project. As a part of the autoconcept, the study aims also at finding identities that are built while participating to the project. The methodological approach of this study is qualitative. The data was gathered using interviews. Four playing pairs were interviewed, that is eight persons altogether. Four of them represented adult volunteers and four Resonaari's pupils with special educational needs. Two parents evaluated also the project. The data was analyzed using a narrative approach that stressed especially turning points in the narration. These changes concerned mainly mentalities towards the project and the pair, learning and one's own identities. Volunteering was meaningful for the volunteers at the beginning to get involved in the playing with the friend -project. Nevertheless, as playing pairs' friendship kept deepening, volunteering was seen less dominating. There was learning in musical and social skills but it wasn't goal-orientated. Thus, cooperative learning made possible sharing music in a relaxed atmosphere and seeing the parter all the time more as a friend. The pairs had built an own acting culture that underlines the importance of the new structure. Friendship creates an open and relaxed atmosphere where trying and learning by mistakes are accepted. At the same time, it enables strong commitment to the other person and to the common task. Learning is a vast study field that offers many further subjects to be investigated. In the mainstream schooling system enhancing good relationships between peers should be taken in account while developing learning strategies.