I denna rapport kommer du som läsare kunna ta del av en redogörelse över det arbete som den undertecknade gruppen har utfört i kursen KPP305, Examensarbete produktutveckling, 30hp. Detta arbete har sin grund från en tidigare läst kurs, på Mälardalens Högskola, som gick under namnet Industridesign 2. Under denna kurs utdelades en uppgift som bestod i att ?möjliggöra musicerande för funktionshindrade?, och gruppen tog därmed fram ett visuellt koncept över ett fotanpassat instrument för människor med rörelsehinder i överkroppen. Detta examensarbete kan ses som en fortsättning på den just nämnda uppgiften.Under hela projektet har gruppen haft en nära dialog tillsammans med människor som befinner sig inom berörande branscher såsom instrumentbyggare, reumatiker, funktionshindrade med flera.

Aphasia is a disease that brings on disability. The purpose of the study is to describe the daily life when afflicted with aphasia and gain a deeper understanding of persons with aphasia in working ages. The study was made with a qualitative approach with a combination of data sources; literature, internet lectures, live lectures, interviews with personnel in medical and educational services and three persons with aphasia. More research in aphasiology is welcome. This may be aimed at developing knowledge about the importance of communication, of active participation in the social environment, and the achievement of improved attitudes towards people with disabilities. The study should give rehabilitation actors and close relations knowledge and support in their action when they meet people with aphasia..

The aim with this study is to see how social workers apprehend the law, support and service for persons with certain functional impairments (LSS) and the application. We interviewed six social workers in six different municipalities to get a distribution between small and big municipalities. In the study we have used a qualitative method with half structured interview questions, since we wanted to get a comprehension for the social workers apprehensions. We have used a communication theory and a role theory in the study. The result showed that the social workers consider that the LSS is important, but that there are a few difficulties in the application.

Undersökningen beskriver den matematiska kommunikationen mellan speciallärare och matematiksvaga elever. Den empiriska datan består av två matematiklektioner från år 9 i grundskolan. Datan analyserades för att finna olika typer av kommunikation.Lärarna var i många delar medvetna i sitt sätt att kommunicera med eleverna och undervisningsmiljön kändes trygg. Under lektionerna observerades två parallella språk, ett vardagsanknutet och ett matematiskt språk. Det framkom att ett tydligt förhållningssätt beträffande matematiskt språk kan underlätta för elevens inlärning samt medvetandegöra läraren om den kommunikativa betydelsen i undervisningen med styrdokumentens mål i fokus. .

The survey aims to highlight and describe how the schools' teaching strategies look like in the work of pupils from the neuropsychiatric disability AD/HD (Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder). The pedagogical strategies have been investigated in an integrated and segregated teaching method. The study is qualitative in nature where the interviews conducted, first with a student who has been diagnosed AD/HD but also with teachers from each school who is well versed in student teaching and work. The results of the study show that knowledge and commitment about AD/HD is crucial to students' role and function in school. If knowledge and commitment is sufficient for the student teaching tailored to student needs and the risk of misunderstandings occur decreases. Security is a key factor for students who have been diagnosed AD/HD and learning form in itself is no guarantee that students will feel safe. Students have in the two teaching methods stressed that they feel safe at school and with their education and therefore has no teaching method preferred.

Reading difficulties is the most common learning difficulty in the western world and it is common that people with reading disabilities also exhibit arithmetic difficulties. Different theories about the cause of the relationship exists, one theory describes the importance of good phonological ability in reading as well as in arithmetic, while another theory describes the importance of a reliable number system and that only a subgroup of students with reading disabilities also have difficulties with arithmetic. The purpose of this study is to investigate how students with reading difficulties (RD), without any known mathematical difficulties, perform on mathematical tasks relative to a control group. The study was theoretically grounded on the Triple code model (Dehaene, 1992), which is a model for numerical information processing that describes how various numerical and arithmetic tasks are processed through three distinct representation systems in the brain, a verbal and a visual representation system and a quantity system. Reading skills, phonological skills, arithmetic skills and number processing skills were examined in 61 students through a variety of tests.

The aim with this study was to illustrate communicative meetings between people that are visiting and working in two different associations for people with intellectual disabilities. The method we used was interviews. To find out the meaning of the associations for the members creating of identity, participation and self esteem we asked them if they felt stigmatized and if they thought that the associations reduced that feeling and how the pedagogy cooperation between them selves and the coaches were working. The results of the study showed that the members of the association experienced that it had a positive influence according to their creating of identity, participation and self esteem. The members felt that coaching and the pedagogy cooperation had both positive and negative aspects but mostly it worked well..

Normal children acquire the necessary social habits without being consciously aware of this, they learn instinctively. (Author?s translation from Swedish to English) (Asperger & Frith, 1998, s. 21) This essay is about people who do not learn to socialize, the social habits, instinctively but through conscious learning. We have interviewed three adults with the diagnosis of Asperger syndrome with the aim to let them tell us about what it means to have a neuropsychiatric disability.

This study investigates how assistive technology tools are used in the classroom by students in reading and writing disabilities in the school years immediately prior to moving to gymnasium. Through observations and interviews with two students and two teachers this study also considers if the use of these tools can lead to increased accessibility and goal fulfilment, and whether these elements are prerequisites for success. The result shows that the students use laptops in the classroom, primarily for writing longer texts, and that in order to be successful, an early start, equipment, time and positive attitudes towards the tools are important. The students use the tools in the classroom, but they have very different feelings about how included they are in the class. The participants see a clear link between the use of assistive technology tools and increased goal fulfilment. .

This study aims to explore purposes of daily workshops for persons with disabilities. The method used was qualitative interviews. An inductive research strategy was used. Half-structured interviews with six managers of daily workshops were carried out, wherein they expressed their intentions with the daily workshops and the reasons for people to participate. The interviews were analysed with Antonovsky´s salutogenetic perspective, in which Sense of Coherence, SOC is a main concept, and with the normalisation principle.

Syftet med undersökningen är att ta reda på hur akademiskt utbildade inom ett visst yrke bemöter personer med Aspergers syndrom samt vilken kunskap de utbildade personerna har inom ämnet. Vi har valt att använda oss av en kvalitativ forskningsmetod i vår uppsats, utifrån studiens syfte och frågeställningar. Vi har valt att intervjua akademiskt utbildade som arbetar och möter personer med Aspergers syndrom inom människovårdände yrken. Dessa akademiskt utbildade personer arbetar på olika sätt beroende på vilken myndighet de jobbar på, därför har vi intresserat oss för hur man bör bemöta sina klienter/patienter som professionell utifrån ett professionellt etiskt perspektiv. Våra valda informanter jobbar inom differenta organisationer i Norrtäljekommun.

 In this essay our starting point was the question:? How youth experience their ongoing sojourn in the resource school?? We did a qualitative study with interviews. We interviewed totally eight youth with different backgrounds. The head question was youth´s positive and negative experiences about ongoing sojourn in the resource school compared with their home school. In the result, we came until that most of the youth were pleased with their sojourn in the resource school.

Personer med en neuropsykiatrisk funktionsnedsättning kan ha olika svårigheter som påverkar de dagliga aktiviteterna i vardagen. Aktivitetsbalans är ett begrepp som ofta används inom arbetsterapi och beskriver en individs uppfattning av att ha en tillfredsställande mängd av aktiviteter och rätt variation mellan olika aktiviteter. Det förekommer inga studier om aktivitetsbalans kopplat till personer med en neuropsykiatrisk funktionsnedsättning vad författarna har noterat. Syftet med examensarbetet var att beskriva den självskattade aktivitetsbalansen hos vuxna personer med en neuropsykiatrisk funktionsnedsättning. Den metod som användes var en kvantitativ icke ? experimentell tvärsnittsstudie.

Background and aim: Asperger syndrome is a neuropsychiatric disability which is essentially characterized by impairments in social interaction. Little is known about how these individuals experience social interaction and more distinctly close relationships. Therefore the purpose of this present study is to explore how initiating and maintaining close relationships could be facilitated for individuals with Asperger syndrome. Furthermore how these individuals would like others to behave towards them. By assuming an insider perspective the empirical data is based on the participants own descriptions of their experiences, thoughts and ideas about close relationships.Findings: Most respondents state that they experience difficulties initiating social interaction, the main reason being that they don?t know what they are expected to say or how to act in this type of situation.

The purpose of our study is to examine the case managers reasoning and descriptions of empowerment as a method in their social work from a comprehensively perspective including family members. To manage with this purpose we interviewed two case managers, two clients with mental disabilities and five family members. We have come to the conclusion that the case managers works more consist of advocacy than empowerment. Despite that we have found that the long term goal for the case mangers work is to give the clients tools for empowerment. Our results also show that the clients feel that they have gained and increased their ability to do things by themselves and to be a part of the community.