The purpose of this study was to explore preschool- and primary school teachers? perceptions of fairytales, why they use fairytales and what thoughts they have about the impact of fairytales on children?s reading and writing development. We interviewed seven teachers and three preschool teachers in northern Sweden to find out how work with fairytales is carried out in preschool and primary school. We also interviewed twelve pupils who were seven and eight years old to find out what they thought of fairytales in primary school. The result showed that preschool- and primary school teachers had a positive attitude towards fairytales and the opportunities provided by fairytales.

The purpose of this study is to find out how some Swedish preschool teacher discussing how children's Swedish colloquial interaction can be enhanced in the free play. In this case where children are aged three to five.My research questions in the study are:-          What type of free play do preschool teachers talk about in relation to children's Swedish colloquial development?-          What do preschool teachers say about child's colloquial interaction?-           How do preschool teachers reason regarding in what environment children?s colloquial interaction occurs?In my study I have used an interview with elements of a visual method called The Diamond. The approach is that the participants in the interview will be enhanced to discussing about a wise certain number of images. These images are then to be ranked accordingly with a specific theme and terms.If a child has difficult to speak, you can take help of  the interest the child has, the child can tell you and the other children what he or she know about the interest.

The purpose of this thesis is to study how children's librarians in public libraries use non-fiction books in their work to promote reading. My research questions are: What methods do children's librarians use för promoting non-fiction books? Are there children who can gain more from non-fiction books than other children do? Are there any differences in working with fiction and non-fiction books? To answer these questions I have interwieved five children's librarians about their methods, attitudes and thoughts on non-fiction books.The result shows that all of the librarians use non-fiction when it comes to promotion reading but not to the same extent. Some hardly use it at all, mainly because the schools that they are serving demands fiction books when practicing reading skills. while others use it but in less extent than fiction, as a way of separating the library reading from school work either because they want to keep the experience of reading in the library apart from school work or because they find it more efficient to do so.

Statistics regarding children, who are overweight, shows alarming results in many parts of the world. Overweight may cause serious consequences, as for instance heart- and vascular diseases. Research is pointing out that hereditary, social, behavioural and cultural facts may promote developing overweight and it is of great importance to find out how to prevent overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. The purpose of the literature study was to compile primary and secondary preventions against overweight/obesity in children and adolescents. The result showed that prevention through education, recommendations, healthy eating and exercise may be usable in the work to prevent overweight among children and adolescents.

SWITCH- Swedish Intelligibility test for children, is a test thatmeasures intelligibility of children's speech through repetition of singlewords. The test is computer generated and consists of 1000 word listsrandomly selected for each assessment. The purpose of this study was toexamine the equivalence, reliability and validity in the word lists. Word listswere tested on ten children with typical language development (N group)and ten children with speech deviation (T group). The children were audiorecorded when they repeated two lists.

Background: It is common that children and adolecsents with Aspergers syndrome have impaired motor skills and are less physically active than neurotypical children and adolecsents. Studies conducted on neurotypical children shows that children and adolecsents who are regular physical active also have a good motor control and a good physical self-esteem. The purpose of this study was to investigate the physical self-esteem of children and adolescents with Aspergers syndrome. Study Group: 36 children and adolescents aged 9-15 years with a diagnosis of Aspergers syndrome was asked to participate in the survey. 18 children, 16 boys and 2 girls, responded to the questionnarie about physical self-esteem which 17 of the answers could be used in the study.

The discussion on whether the aesthetics or the pedagogy of children´s literature is the most important trait of the genre has been going on for quite some time. As children´s literature rose from a will to educate it is argued that pedagogy is forever imbued in the literature that addresses the child as its main reader. Literary scholars voices concern that the discussions about aesthetic expressions are being shunned in favor of that of educational values but does one exclude the other?In this essay I focus on two of Swedens most prominent authors of children´s literature, Lennart Hellsing and Ulf Stark. They are both part of the aesthetics/pedagogy debate, in their fictional works for children as well as with articles and essays on the subject.

The educational underachievement of children in foster care has been known for a long time. This study aimed to compile and analyze the current knowledge about interventions, intended to improve foster children?s school achievements. The method used was a systematically undertaken narrative review. Despite a comprehensive searching strategy, only ten relevant studies were found, indicating that little has been done to improve the educational outcomes for children in public care.

AbstractThe purpose of this work is to contribute knowledge about the transition of children from preschool to preschool classes. The experiences of pedagogical staff, parents and children are described, based on four deepening questions. The questions are about what the actors experience as positive and what the difficulties were in the transition process, and they also cover the differences of children and collaboration between actors. The method consists of qualitative interviews with parents, children, and pedagogical staff. The interviews concern the experiences of transition from the different actors.

The thoughts of a common school for all children have been around since the 1800?s but was something that was introduced in Sweden first in 1962. When the curriculum for primary school came in 1980 there was a new concept, a school for all. With a school for all it was aimed that all children should have the right to participation and a common education no matter what needs they could have.During my education I have come across the concept a school for all and that is something that interested me. Today?s curricula and school laws aim to ensure that all children have the right to equal education and inclusion whatever needs you have.The purpose of this study is to find out some pedagogues? thoughts and work around the concept a school for all.

The main aim of this study is to analyse the grotesque characterization of adults in four novels by Roald Dahl, from Michail Bachtin?s definition of the carnival-grotesque in Rabelais and his world. From this view I have examined how the conflict between children and adults is described in these books, and to what extent the grotesque motifs have a function in this conflict.For this purpose I have applied theories of the literature-grotesque by Michail Bachtin, and of the meaning and function and ? in this context ? the necessity of fright and horror in children?s fiction, in particular by Bruno Bettelheim and J.A. Appleyard.

According to the curriculum for the Swedish preschool system, children?s development and learning should be documented and analyzed in order to evaluate and develop the preschool quality. Social criticism is directed to some of the methods of documentation for assessing the children´s individual knowledge development. The purpose of this study was to examine how, what and why some teachers use documentation in preschool. I wanted to examine which methods preschool teachers used when they documented the children and what they focused on.

The purpose of this study is to gain knowledge about how teachers in preschool regard their participation in children's play. Through this study you will get an insight into how teachers' involvement affects children's learning. I have chosen to look at the study from a socio-cultural perspective.The study is based on qualitative interviews with four pre-school teachers.The result shows that teachers believe that it is important to attend in children's play to support, challenge and develop their play. One sees that teachers take different roles based on the needs of the children?s group, such as actively participate in the play, being a supportive teacher, serve as inspiration or to be an observer.

The aim of this study has been to create an understanding for the situation of an often forgotten group in foster care, the carers? own children. Our main focus has been the experience this group has of foster care, their experience of participation in caring for the foster children and their possible need of support and help. Our chosen method has been qualitative interviews with six adult children of foster carers, two men and four women. The theory used in this study has been Sense of Coherence.Our interviewees gave mainly a positive description of being part of a foster family even though they could give examples of difficult situation and of loss.

This thesis examines which function the information technology may have in thechildren's library, with the example from two library computer programmes. One is anexpert system, Hedvig, which will help children to choose and to find books, and theother is a computer game, The mysterious signs, that will teach children library user education.The main question is: What conceptions do the project-leaders, the children'slibrarians and the children have concerning the function of these two programmes in thechildren's library?The study is based upon qualitative interviews with two projects-leaders, fourlibrarians, three computer programmers and twenty-eight children.The theoretical material consists of examples on other library computer programmesfor children developed in Denmark and USA, some American studies in children'sabilities to use computerized information retrieval systems, and studies concerningchildren's relations to computers.The adult's conceptions of the computer programmes are divided into categories asfollows: Democracy, aspect of sex, complement, marketing, reading promotion,development of competence, information technology development, pedagogics, adulteducational activities, compensation and armusement, pedagogics, usefulness,effectiveness and information. These categories shall be seen as the conclusions of the thesis..