AimThe specific questions in the theoretic part were:What is contained in the terms "balance and balance skill" and how can this skill be measured?The specific questions in the empirical part were:How does balance skill in different age categories of children correlate with biological and physiological parameters such as age, gender, body height, weight and level of physical activity?MethodsLiterature search based on books and scientific papers related to the questions posed above. Selection was made at libraries and on?line through "Pubmed". Specific search words were used.

The purpose of this paper was to study how the death is described in some books for children and how the books may affect the readers. I chose five books where the leading character was a child who lost a close relative like a parent or a sibling. I asked the book questions like you would do at an interwiew.The main questions were:· What do the children think about the death?· How does the child react when it finds out that a parent or a sibling is dead?· What does the child think about seeing the dead person and how does it react at the funeral?· From what or whom do they find the strength to move on?· What support does the child have from people in the surroundings?· How may the books affect the readers?The results showed that the books give you an image close to the reality. The children had different ways to mourn.

The aim of this study was to examine the social relationships between children and librarians during reference interviews. Using qualitative interviews with five children's librarians I illustrate attitudes and behaviours during a reference situation which take place in psychological, social and even in pedagogical contexts. The literature review comprises studies of the reference interview with children and youth, a description of interpersonal communication and finally social interaction and dialog between teachers and pupils. The main result of this study was the demonstration of a dichotomy in modes of interpersonal communication. In one mode, the social frame is emphasized.

This report is the outcome of an exam work made in interaction design, bachelor degree, at the School of Arts and Communication, Malmö University. Working in collaboration with the childhood obesity unit, Region Skåne, our aim was to fulfill their request of a web based application preparing the children for treatment at their facility. Furthermore the application intends to give the children knowledge concerning obesity as well as teaching them how to obtain a healthier lifestyle in terms of provision and activities. The application concerns children in different ages and therefore different stages of their learning abilities. Our conclusions are that they need to be challenged and obtain feedback in different ways to get motivated.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to investigate articles in Swedish library journals on children?s reading from gender and sex perspectives. Gender theory as it has been developed by Yvonne Hirdman and Robert W. Connell is used to analyze the articles. The thesis includes a chapter on previous research in the fields of gender in relation to children, reading and the library.

The intention of this final thesis is to examine how to create a schoolyard that inspires children at the age of 6 ? 12 years to play and give them possibility to develop. To get a lot of knowledge in this subject, I have combined studies of literature with practical studies at Hosjöskolan in Falun. During my practical studies I have done interviews, walks in the area with the children and visited other schoolyards. I have based a design proposal for the schoolyard of Hosjöskolan on these studies.

The pre-school is seen by many as the place where children get equipped for the future and the challenges there of. One of the most important aims according of the curriculum for Swedish preschools is that children get the opportunity, in interaction with the pedagogues, to develop their identity and to feel secure and satisfied with themself. Although, in the curriculum of the Swedish preschool system there is a comprehensive focus on the children?s competencies and learning, the importance that the children feel secure is not that prominent. Consequently a paradox occurs between the focus on children?s competencies and their need for care.

One of the Swedish preschools many tasks is to identify the needs of a child and to shape an activity suited to their needs. This identification means a lot of times that a child is weighed and valued despite that the curriculum clearly states that no assessment is to be done in the Swedish preschool. To develop a preschool able to face all children regardless of their individual needs it?s necessary to change focus from child assessment to instead look at the work and environment in the whole preschool. A development of the activity might be seen as a work in progress whose primary goal is to improve the quality of work in preschool.

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to find out how the after-school teachers can work with children diagnosed with ADHD on the after-school center, study the given conditions as well as the links between the two earlier mentioned. Four interviews, with four different after-school teachers, from four after-school centers in one municipality was made. The interviews consisted of seven questions, six of the questions gave the respondents the opportunity to own interpretation of the question and thereby answer the question after what they considered as correct.The result shows that work with ADHD diagnosed children can differ widely based on the conditions the after-school teachers have. Examples of conditions are knowledge and education on the subject, the after-school center environment, the number of teachers in the business and more. Based on the four interviewed response, and the information that previous research shows about the subject, the work with ADHD diagnosed children at the four different after-schools is not good enough.

The thesis explores the meaning of the concept "children's best" in relation to the social Swedish parental insurance debate from a post-structuralist view. The main material has been taken from daily news papers and the methodological as well as theoretical basis is provided for by Laclau & Mouffes discourse theory. In particular has the concept "empty signifiers" been of use when investigating "children's best" as a strong argument on both the "pro" and "against" sides of the debate of an individualized parental insurance. The theoretic purpose of the thesis is also to examine the poststructuralist/feminist dilemma in order to approach a more pragmatic and useful model of the two combined provided by Alcoff and Fraser. One conclusion is that "children's best" may never have an objective answer and will be a changing concept in time, ideology preference and discoursive field.

The aim of this study was to, with a social constructivistic approach, examine how parents,regarded as neglecting their children, are depicted in 12 LVU-legal cases from the Supreme Administrative Court in Sweden. By using a document analysis influenced by discourse analytical tools, we found that there are repeated descriptions of the parents, which constructs an image of parents as shortcoming in the care of their children. The categories lack of emotions, mental disorder, substance abuse and physical maltreatment were the main reasons for child neglect that the parents were described from. Attitudes towards authority, aggression and immaturity, lack of insight, and deficiencies in the home were repeated in the description of the parent. We further found that mothers were regarded as more responsible of the children compared to fathers.

AbstractMaster?s Thesis in Comparative literatureTitle: Ghettoiserade Vampyrer. En studie av barnvampyrlitteratur och dess betydelse för vampyrlitteraturgenren (Ghettoized Vampires. A study of children?s vampire literature and its significance for the vampire literature genre)Writer: Peter KostenniemiDepartment of Literature, History of Ideas and ReligionSupervisor: Anna NordenstamExaminer: Yvonne LefflerKey Words: Vampire literature, children?s literature, Der kleine Vampir, Nattens BørnIn vampire literature research the focus usually lies on adult and, to some extent, young adult fiction.

AimThe aim with this essay has been to investigate how preschools profiling in motor activity training, work to stimulate motor development of children. In order to study this, the main focus for the research has been on the following queries:What characterize motor activity training at the preschools studied?What is the purpose with the motor activity training of preschools which were studied?How do the preschools describe the affect that motor activity training has on children?How do the preschools look at the need for motor activity training?MethodFour in-depth interviews were conducted with representatives of the chosen preschools profiling in motor activity. My selection was based on a strategic sample and this was made by an internet mapping of preschool activities in the districts of Stockholm, and information from the service guide of the town of Stockholm. Then e-mail was sent to ten contact persons at preschool units, and ten preschools were contacted directly by phone.

The public library is an institution that throughout history has been associated with anumber of social codes, that seem to be deeply rooted in the minds of the public. Thesecodes regulates how users act and interact in the library environment and as a library useryou have to obtain knowledge about these social codes.This master's thesis aims at studying how these codes are transferred to children in the earlyschool-age, how children react to the social codes and what effects they have on thechildren's development into library users.The empirical material used in this study consists of observations and interviews. Theobservations are conducted during two school classes visits to a public library and focuseson the interaction between librarians, the children and their teachers, and the interviewswere conducted with the two librarians responsible for the library visits.The theories used in this master's thesis consists of symbolic interactionism, in the form oftheories by George Herbert Mead and Erving Goffman, Peter L. Berger and ThomasLuckmanns theories regarding the concept of institutions. Another theory that's used in thismaster's thesis is the one concerning the social aspects of information literacy focusing onthe concept of epistemic communities as presented by Kimmo Tuominen, Reijo Savolainenand Sanna Talja.The result of this study is that the social codes are communicated to the children primarilyby the teachers rather than the librarians.

The aim was to evaluate and suggest improvements for the prototype TIVOLI (sign-learning via computer-based playful interaction). The game purposed to give children who need signing as augmentative and alternative communication enhanced signing skills. Three children in need of signs played TIVOLI at home during 4-5 weeks. Data contained parental interviews, Talking Mats interviews, assessment of signing competence before and after the evaluation period and game protocols. One game interaction per child was filmed.