Vi beskriver samverkansarbetet med att utveckla, genomföra och utvärdera en läsundervisningsmodell för att gynna pojkars läsning i lågstadiet. Vi bygger modellen utifrån intervjuresultat från lärare och pojkar inom ramen för ett ULF-projekt.

Summer reading loss is a documented reality for many students. Research has established differences in the contribution of summer reading activity between children from families with different economic status. In this study, 120 students in Grade 2 and 115 students in Grade 3 from a socioeconomically vulnerable area participated in a summer reading intervention. In addition, a control group from the same schools comprised of 106 students from Grade 2 and 94 students from Grade 3. Almost 90% of the participating students did not have Swedish as their native language. The participants were tested on reading skills, including word decoding, nonsense-word reading, word comprehension and reading comprehension, before and after the summer vacation. The intervention was planned together with teachers from three participant schools and leisure centers. Before the summer holiday the schools arranged reading weeks and library visits. The students were encouraged to read at home during the vacation and record the number of books read on a digital platform. The results showed that the largest effect sizes between groups (intervention and control) were observed for word decoding in Grade 2 and word comprehension in Grade 3 where the intervention group improved more than the control group. If summer learning loss can be avoided or limited, the treatment can be considered worth implementing.

The aim of this study was to examine and describe the use of a formative assessment support regarding reading instruction in grades 1-3, viewed from a teacher perspective. Sixty-five teachers from all parts of Sweden responded to a questionnaire, who had used the support for at least one year. Of the participant teachers, nine were interviewed for the purpose of performing an in-depth analysis of the questions. The teachers stated that the primary use of the assessment results was to identify students in need of extra support, as a basis for performance appraisals, as well as for further lesson planning. Formative assessment was, on the one hand, described as a concrete practical method and, on the other hand, as an attitude. The results also indicate a feeling of frustration that, notwithstanding the current deeper insight into what every student needs, the teaching still proceeds on some middle-ground path or level. 

Purpose: Reading and writing applications (with text-to-speech, TTS and speech-to-text, STT functions), used as assistive technology (AT) for students with reading difficulties are increasingly used in education, however, research has not sufficiently enough evaluated its potential. The purpose of this study was to explore how assistive reading and writing applications were perceived to function with regard to students possibilities to assimilate (i.e., "read") and communicate (i.e., "write") text. Methods: Following a six-week app intervention, this follow-up survey contained 54 special education teachers perceptions of how the use of apps impacted student motivation, learning, and its usability in special education. A total of 59 students with reading difficulties from Grade 4, Grade 8 and from high school, were assessed. Analyses included quantitative and qualitative analyses of teachers responses and written material. Results: The results showed individual differences in how teachers perceived app usage for text-interaction purposes, including how app usage affected student motivation and autonomy for text-based learning. Eighty-two per cent of the younger and forty-seven per cent of older students continued to use the technology after the intervention, but in various degrees. Conclusions: Based on these findings, students with reading difficulties seem to be able to use AT in order to assimilate text (i.e., to read) and to communicate text (i.e., to write), and, thus, AT has the potential to promote participation in regular education. Future research should focus on how to customize assistive technology support in order to better utilize the potential. IMPLICATION FOR REHABILITATION This study found that students with reading difficulties could use reading and writing apps (with text-to-speech, TTS and speech-to-text, STT) in portable tables to be able to gain access to, and to produce text in an applied school setting. To use TTS and STT as assistive technology efficiently may require relative extensive support and training, but even with this support, not all students in this study benefited from the potential use of the technology, as the processes of being able to gain access to and to produce text with assistive technology seem to be a difficult process for some of the students. It is proposed that in order to enable all students with reading difficulties possibilities to use assistive technology efficiently, its uses need to be customized even further than was done in this extensive intervention.

We present quantitative results from the pilot-year of a large scale Swedish educational project in reading development called LegiLexi, inspired by research within the Response to intervention and Formative assessment traditions. The vision of the project is that every pupil should reach adequate reading skills at the end of grade 3 in primary school. LegiLexi contains a formative assessment tool and a teacher course, which are linked together. We describe LegiLexi and analyze quantitative effects of the pilot year regarding reading development for pupils in grade 1. The design included three conditions; full access to LegiLexi, access only to the formative assessment tool, and control. Results showed that the group with full access to LegiLexi improved their word decoding and reading comprehension the most. For language comprehension, the Formative assessment only group showed the highest improvements. Thus, the features of LegiLexi seem to help enhance critical reading skills. Some changes will be made in the project to strengthen methodological aspects and further facilitate pupils' reading development.

This pilot study investigated the possible transfer effect on reading ability in children with reading difficulties after a systematic intervention to train and compensate for reading deficiencies by using applications in smartphones and tablets. The effects of using assistive technology (AT) one year after the interventions were completely studied. School related motivation, independent learning and family relations were also considered.

The study examined effects of playing number games (linear number board game, circular number board game, and nonlinear numerical activities) on the development of number knowledge and early arithmetic. A passive control group was also included in the design. 114 5-year-old preschool children participated. Four tasks (number line estimation, counting, naming Arabic numbers, and arithmetic calculation) were used as dependent measures. Children assigned to an intervention participated in six 10-min sessions during a period of three weeks. Children playing the linear number board game improved their performance on the number line estimation task, while children playing the other games did not. Furthermore, children playing the linear number board game showed a substantial enhancement of their calculation performance. The positive effects of playing linear number board games support the representational mapping hypothesis. The finding concerning calculation provides support to the assumption that a linear representation is important for early arithmetical learning.

This study investigated the self-image and psychological well-being in 67 children and adolescents age 10–16 years with severe reading difficulties and/or dyslexia. The participants were assessed with Beck Youth Inventory regarding symptoms of depression, anxiety, and negative self-image. The results showed that the participants do not depict negative self-image and showed few symptoms of depression or anxiety at group level in comparison to a norm group. These results could be seen as contradictory to previous research. A questionnaire regarding self-efficacy was also distributed and showed that the participants had low self-knowledge about their reading impairments. The results were interpreted as a possible increase in knowledge among teachers and subsequent change in pedagogical strategies. In addition, technological advances may have improved the academic situation for dyslexic children. This study was a partial study in a larger project that aimed to evaluate the efficiency of assistive technologies for dyslexic children.