For many years, I have tried to understand why students end up in difficulties in mathematics. As a future teacher, it is extremely important to have knowledge of the various factors that leads to difficulties in mathematics. As a teacher it is obvious to meet the students who find mathematics a difficult subject, and, therefore it is necessary to have a broader knowledge of how to respond and support these students. According to Ahlberg, number of students with mathematics difficulties is increasing every year, therefore, it is important to help students and organize a supporting school environment that promotes and encourages learning (Ahlberg 2001, p. 104-105).

?Studies have shown that patients receiving mechanical ventilation in an intensive care unit (ICU), who are entirely dependent on the nursing staff, often experience frustration due to a temporary loss of the voice source. Limited communication is an important factor contributing to patient discomfort. Nursing staff also report communication as frustrating and difficult.The aim of the present study is to introduce a neck-type electrolarynx as a communication aid in an ICU, to study the nursing staff experiences of communication with tracheotomized patients receiving mechanical ventilation, and to examine the patient´s experiences regarding communicative abilities. Communication between a ventilator treated, tracheotomized patient and members of the nursing staff was recorded and analyzed according to principles of Conversation Analysis (CA).The results show that several members of the nursing staff experience difficulties communicating with tracheotomized patients receiving mechanical ventilation.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the handling of difficulties encountered by Swedish managers in Swedish subsidiaries in South Korea. By identifying the most common and possibly most manageable difficulties specific to the market we categorized them into three different groups; external difficulties, internal difficulties and difficulties related to the leadership. Depending on where in the environment and in relation to which stakeholder the difficulties originate the managing process comes to be supported through sometimes contradictory theories. Our study implies that the proper handling is crucial to satisfy local expectations which are critical for survival of Swedish companies. It also implies that the leadership skills acquired by the Swedish managers combined with the level of acceptance for foreign managers among the Korean coworkers affect how influential the manager?s ambitions are.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether the teacher's background affect students' approach to mathematics teaching. Characteristically, in Sweden today is that mathematics is perceived as difficult subject and that the number of foreign teachers has increased. The study examines a phenomenon which the relationship between the teacher's language accent and substance difficulties.The method used for data collection is questionnaires, in order to investigate the phenomenon as the relationship between the teacher's accent and substance difficulties.The investigation has been carried out based on the students' point of view, both secondary and primary school pupils. What difficulties have arisen in teaching?  What is the biggest obstacle to achieve the goals of mathematics, to understand the teacher's language accent first in order to understand the subject, or that mathematics is difficult in itself to be understood as a substance.The result clearly shows that the teacher's accent does not affect teaching and students' view of mathematics as a subject.

AbstractThe purpose with this essay is to get an insight on how the school has changed over the past years in terms of reading- and writing difficulties/dyslexia. In the literature studies I mention reading- and writing difficulties and the reasons why some people get these problems. Further on in the literature study it is written about what the education act and the curriculum say about the school?s duties towards pupils in need of special support.The result contains interviews with one language pedagogue and one special pedagogue who work in two different municipalities. In addition I interviewed two former pupils who went to school 15-20 years ago.I came to the conclusion that today?s schools have changed to the better for the pupils with difficulties.

This study is based on a qualitative internet research about people with Asperger syndrome and their thoughts and opinions about the difficulties that occurs in the environment outside the home and their experiences of Internet. We have analyzed Internets social influences for those with Asperger syndrome, as a consequence of the difficulties that they meet in other environments. The constructed communities in the environment outside the home and the social interaction that occurs there is not adjusted for those with the diagnosis. This leads to difficulties to be there for those with Asperger syndrome. By doing a content analysis of the assembled data from a community site on the Internet, we found out that the environment on Internet is more comfortable for those with the diagnosis in several ways.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine how teachers in primary school reason about and problematize the phenomenon of concentration difficulties. I want to know what the teachers think characterizes concentration difficulties, the situations in which difficulties creates the most problems, and whether the teachers think that these difficulties solely depend on external factors. To examine this, I chose to do interviews with three teachers in years four to six. I have completed parts of my work with my colleague Elin Preisz. We have used the same purpose and issues in our studies, although Elin has interviewed teachers in preschool. With this we want to be able to compare the reasoning between teachers at different stages in school. The results of my study shows that the interviewees think that it is hard to describe what characterizes the problems in concentration difficulties because the problems is very individual.

It is not uncommon for math difficulties and reading difficulties to occur simultaneously. Despite this, math and reading difficulties are thought to have different cognitive profiles where math difficulties are linked to number sense; an innate ability to understand, approximate and manipulate both quantities and numerical information, whereas reading difficulties are linked to phonological ability; an innate ability to understand, create representations of and manipulate phonological information. A possible link between the difficulties is that phonological abilities also could affect mathematical ability. Support for this comes from studies where comorbid math and reading difficulties are associated with more severe difficulties in arithmetic ability compared to those with isolated math difficulties. The purpose of this study is to examine whether isolated math difficulties, isolated reading difficulties and comorbid math and reading difficulties can be linked to deficits in number sense, phonological ability or both of these, and whether comorbid math and reading difficulties differ in performance in mathematical tasks compared to isolated math difficulties for children in second grade.

This study aims to research how digital media can be used for communication and information management between teachers at preschools and children?s homes. To get an understanding of this we have investigated which channels are being used and for what purposes. The interest has also been to explore preschool teachers and caregivers? attitudes towards digital communication in preschools.A qualitative case study of comparative nature has been conducted, where two preschools were selected because of their use and non-use of digital media for communication with caregivers.

This study takes place within a publicly owned art producing organization and dwells on the problems of a change process that the organization was involved in. Both leaders and staff were disappointed by the way the change process had developed. The management team explained the outcome by referring to the uniqueness of working with artists who constantly put their own personal objectives before the benefit of the whole. The aim of this study is to find a complementary explanation to the one the management team provided us with; an explanation that can help in the understanding of the dynamics of a change process. Can perhaps theories on information, communication and change processes give an alternative explanation to why the change process faltered? To investigate this, we have used a qualitative single case study.

AbstractThe purpose with my study was to find out how students with physical difficulties are treated in school by teachers and other students and also if there are any differences between how teachers and students treat students with physical difficulties. I also wanted to see if there were any prejudices against students with physical disabilities from either students or teachers. If there are any prejudices, I wanted to know what kind it is that exists. When I went to school, I remember that I looked down on the students with physical difficulties because they were different. When I have been working in school as a teacher, I have seen students who pull away from students with difficulties.I chose to do the study at a higher grade school, because I have not been in such a high grade in school during my practice.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine how teachers in primary school reason about and problematize the phenomenon of concentration difficulties. I want to know what the teachers think characterizes concentration difficulties, the situations in which difficulties creates the most problems, and whether the teachers think that these difficulties solely depend on external factors. To examine this, I chose to do interviews with three teachers in years four to six. I have completed parts of my work with my colleague Elin Preisz. We have used the same purpose and issues in our studies, although Elin has interviewed teachers in preschool. With this we want to be able to compare the reasoning between teachers at different stages in school. The results of my study shows that the interviewees think that it is hard to describe what characterizes the problems in concentration difficulties because the problems is very individual.

The purpose of this thesis is to study how some librarians working at a public library experience problems that can occur at the reference interview, slightly focusing on Communication difficulties. Therefore I interviewed three librarians working at the reference desk on a daily basis. I chose to limit the study to public libraries and to the south of Sweden. My main question is: what difficulties can a librarian encounter during a reference interview and what can he/she do to treat these? In support of my main question I have three subordinated questions:What reasons can there be to a librarian not understanding a user?s information need?What methods are useful for a librarian to enhance the condition of the reference interview? What attitudes and qualities can be of use for the librarian at a difficult reference interview?For the collection of empirical data I chose to use semi-structured interviews.

The purpose of this study was to examine what students themselves think about using computers in school. The study was conducted in a school in central Sweden. The students in focus were students with reading and writing difficulties, dyslexia or language difficulties such as an other native language. A total of eight students were interviewed. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis.

It is not uncommon for math difficulties and reading difficulties to occur simultaneously. Despite this, math and reading difficulties are thought to have different cognitive profiles where math difficulties are linked to number sense; an innate ability to understand, approximate and manipulate both quantities and numerical information, whereas reading difficulties are linked to phonological ability; an innate ability to understand, create representations of and manipulate phonological information. A possible link between the difficulties is that phonological abilities also could affect mathematical ability. Support for this comes from studies where comorbid math and reading difficulties are associated with more severe difficulties in arithmetic ability compared to those with isolated math difficulties. The purpose of this study is to examine whether isolated math difficulties, isolated reading difficulties and comorbid math and reading difficulties can be linked to deficits in number sense, phonological ability or both of these, and whether comorbid math and reading difficulties differ in performance in mathematical tasks compared to isolated math difficulties for children in second grade.