Helena Hemmingsson
About me
Description
Helena Hemmingsson is a professor of Special Education at Stockholm University. Her main research area is children and adolescents with disabilities or special educational needs (SEN) concerning opportunities and barriers for participation in school activities with a focus on information and communication technology (ICT). Her research interests include digital equality, the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in school and at leisure, and the effectiveness of ICT as support in school activities, including how the support is designed, conducted and perceived by students and teachers. Currently, she runs an innovative project on eye gaze technology for steering a computer with the goal to provide students with profound impairment opportunities to digital access for communication, learning and play.
Another strong research interest concerns the perceived need for adjustments in school activities of students with special educational needs and their opinion of to what extent schools have met these needs. Hemmingsson has developed an assessment, the School Setting interview (in Swedish BAS Bedömning av anpassningar i skolmiljön) that assess students’ perception of the need for adjustments in 16 ordinary school activities. Besides research to evaluate psychometric properties of SSI the assessment is used for researching the students' perception of the learning environment and their opportunities for participation in school activities.
Current projects
Eye gaze technology in everyday activities for children with complex needs without speech is an intervention study that explores eye gaze technology as a tool for providing children with severe disabilities without speech opportunities for participation in school and play activities. The project has been conducted in Sweden, the USA and Dubai, and currently a project in Taiwan is running. The project has been funded by Vetenskapsrådet (The Swedish Research Council) and international funding.
Internet use and participation concern how young people with disabilities use the internet and participate in the digital society. Groups of interest have so far been young people with physical disabilities, neuropsychiatric syndrome and intellectual disabilities. The project has collaborated with Mediarådet (The Swedish Media Council) to be able to compare young people with disabilities access to, use of and attitudes to ICT with a reference group. Survey´s and other methods in the project has been adjusted to investigate this topic from the perspective of the young people with disabilities themselves.
The School setting Interview is used in several projects to assess student’s perception of their learning environment and opportunities to participate in school activities. A recently finished longitudinal intervention study examined perceived needs for support in school with a focus on ICT of students with special educational needs and whether or not support including ICT affects their subjective well-being, school attendance and grades. Over 400 students with special educational needs were included in the intervention study and about 150 of these were followed up to one year after school. Currently, SSI is included in a project about the effects of the Covid pandemic on families of children with disabilities.
Selected publications
1. Hemmingsson, H. (2021). Digitala resurser i skolan för delaktighet och lärande. I M Westling Allodi (Red), Specialpedagogik för lärare. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur.
2. Borgestig, M., Khatib, I. A., Masayko, S., & Hemmingsson, H. (2021). The impact on eye-gaze controlled computer on communication and functional independence in children and young people with complex needs- a multicenter intervention study. Developmental Neurorehabilitation, 19, 1-14. DOI: 10.1080/17518423.2021.1903603.
3. Hsieh, YH, Borgestig, M., Gopalarao, D., McGowan, J., Granlund, M., Hwang, AW., & Hemmingsson, H. (2021). Communicative interaction with and without eye-gaze technology between children and youths with complex needs and their communication partner. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Helath,12;18,(10):5134. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18105134
4. Alfredsson-Åberg, K., Kjellberg, A., & Hemmingsson, H. (2020). Digital participation? Internet use among adolescents with and without intellectual disabilities: A comparative study. New Media and Society, 22(12), 2128-2145.
5. Lidström, H., Hemmingsson, H., & Ekblad, E. (2020). Individual adjustment needs for students in regular upper secondary school. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Reserach, 64(4), 589- 600. DOI:10.1080/00313831.2019.1595714
6. Hemmingsson, H., & Borgestig, M. (2020). Usability of eye-gaze controlled computers in Sweden: A total population study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(5), 1639, doi:10.3390/ijerph17051639
7. Andreassen, M., Hemmingsson, H., Boman, I-L., Danielsson, H., & Jaarsma, T. (2020). Feasibility of an intervention for patients with cognitive impairment using an interactive digital calendar with mobile phone reminders (RemindMe) to improve the performance of activities in everyday life. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health,17,(7), 2222. doi:10.390/ ijerph1702222
8. Alfredsson-Åberg, K., Kjellberg, A., & Hemmingsson, H. (2020). Access to and use of the internet among adolescents and young adults with intellectual disabilities in everyday settings. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 45:1, 89-98. DOI:10.3109/13668250.2018.1518898
9. Alfredsson-Åberg, K., Kjellberg, A., & Hemmingsson, H. (2020). Digital participation? Internet use among adolescents with and without intellectual disabilities: A comparative study. New Media and Society, 22(12), 2128-2145.
10. Lidström, H., Hemmingsson, H., & Ekblad, E. (2020). Individual adjustment needs for students in regular upper secondary school. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Reserach, 64(4), 589-600. DOI:10.1080/00313831.2019.1595714
11. Hemmingsson, H., & Borgestig, M. (2020). Usability of eye-gaze controlled computers in Sweden: A total population study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(5), 1639, doi:10.3390/ijerph17051639
12. Andreassen, M., Hemmingsson, H., Boman, I-L., Danielsson, H., & Jaarsma, T. (2020). Feasibility of an intervention for patients with cognitive impairment using an interactive digital calendar with mobile phone reminders (RemindMe) to improve the performance of activities in everyday life. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health,17,(7), 2222. doi:10.390/ ijerph1702222
13. Alfredsson Ågren, K., Kjellberg, A., & Hemmingsson., H. (2020). Internet opportunities and risks for adolescents with intellectual disabilities: a comparative study of parents’ perceptions, Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, DOI:10.1080/11038128.2020.1770330
14. Hemmingsson, H., Lidström, H., & Egilson, S. (2020). BAS: Bedömning av anpassningar i skolmiljön. Lund: Studentlitteratur.