A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Teachers’ and Parents’ Meaning Making of Children’s Learning in Transition from Preschool to School for Children with Intellectual Disability

  2021. Jenny Wilder, Anne Lillvist. European Journal of Special Needs Education

  Article

  The aim of this study was to explore parents’ and teachers’ meaning making of children’s learning in transitions from preschool to school, for 5-7-year-old children with intellectual disability (ID). Although educational transitions is a growing area of research there is limited research about educational transitions of children with ID. These children often need individual adaptations in pedagogical settings and children with ID are most dependent on supportive persons for learning. In a Swedish context, the transitions from preschool to school of eight children with ID were studied during one year. Forty-seven interviews with parents, preschool- and school teachers were performed on three occasions pre- and post-transition. The interviews were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results showed that the master themes ‘Organising for Child Well-being’, ‘Adapting Strategies for Learning’, and ‘Processing Time’ constituted how parents and teachers perceived and responded to the children’s learning. Individualization of transitions is needed and should be built up by close and tentative adaptations that prevail over transitions. This study shows that for children with ID learning is a social process where close partners are very important for child well-being, and thus learning.

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• Managing children with challenging behaviours. Parents’ meaning-making processes in relation to their children’s ADHD diagnosis

  2019. Noam Ringer (et al.). International journal of disability, development and education

  Article

  This study investigates parents’ lived experiences of having a child diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The aim was to explore parents’ meaning-making processes in relation to their children’s ADHD with a focus on understanding the impact that receiving a diagnosis had on the parents’ perceptions of, and ways of managing, their children’s challenging behaviours. Drawing on data collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 parents, we carried out a content analysis of the parents’ accounts, producing a range of categories describing different aspects of the parents’ meaning-making processes in relation to their child receiving an ADHD diagnosis. Five conceptual categories were identified, describing components of a process of adaptation through which the parents – using the diagnosis as a tool – were able to transform feelings of distress over their difficulties in managing their child’s challenging behaviours into feelings of being able to cope with these challenges of integrating the ADHD diagnosis into everyday family life. This research suggests that understanding the long-term processes involved in parents’ meaning-making of an ADHD diagnosis is important and can open up a pathway to developing initiatives to support parents in dealing with their child’s challenging behaviours in everyday life.

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• Learning journey

  2018. Jenny Wilder, Anne Lillvist. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal 26 (5), 688-700

  Article

  Research about transitions in early childhood education has had an upsurge especially in the last 15 years. Much attention has been directed to what constitutes and builds up positive transitions. Although, as learning is one of the main tasks in educational settings, there is a need for more explicit research discussions in the transition research field about children’s learning in transition. The aims of this article are to discuss and unravel the theoretical concept ‘learning journey’ and to propose a conceptual framework for analyzing children’s learning in early educational transitions. The article gives a review of the concept learning journey and related terms: learning, continuity/discontinuity, change, collaboration and time. A conceptual framework of learning journey is proposed and a model presented. The model is discussed in relation to the PPCT-model of Urie Bronfenbrenner and a final discussion set the proposed conceptual framework of learning journey in the context of application to early childhood education.

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• Valued and performed or not? Teachers' ratings of transition activities for young children with learning disability

  2017. Anne Lillvist, Jenny Wilder. European Journal of Special Needs Education 32 (3), 422-436

  Article

  Stakeholder collaboration has been identified as a facilitator for positive transition outcomes for all children, and especially for children in need of special support. However, the type and extent of stakeholder collaboration have shown to be related to teachers' view of their transition practises. Thus, this study set out to examine the transition activities reported by 253 teachers in Compulsory School for Students with Learning Disabilities in Sweden. The purpose was to study the type of transition activities performed and how important teachers regarded these activities to be. The results show that overall teachers are engaged in transition activities that can be described as mainly traditional, as they do not differ from transition activities carried out in other educational settings. The results also show that untraditional transition activities, such as home visits and joint parent meetings with preschools, are viewed as important, but rarely executed. The results are discussed from an ecological systems perspective, emphasising the interconnectedness of individuals and their environment. Focus is given to individualised transition processes and developmentally appropriate transition activities for young children with learning disability.

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• Barns övergångar

  2017. Anne Lillvist, Jenny Wilder.

  Book (ed)

  En god skolstart främjar trygghet, ro att lära och bidrar till goda utvecklingsmöjligheter. Positiva övergångar mellan olika skolformer  främjar kontinuitet i barns lärandevägar och är mycket beroende av  lärares kompetens och lyhördhet. I denna antologi ges perspektiv från lärare, barn och föräldrar om de övergångar som barn gör under sin skolgång, skolövergångar genom nutida övergångsforskning.

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• Participation in daily life for adults with profound intellectual (and multiple) disabilities

  2019. Lena Talman (et al.). Journal of Intellectual Disabilities

  Article

  Participation is the goal of Swedish disability policy, but it is difficult to achieve for adults with profound intellectual (and multiple) disabilities (PI(M)D). Since these adults are dependent on others in every aspect of their lives, others control their ability to participate in everyday life decisions. This study used observations, analyzed with Shier's ladder of participation, to elucidate and describe participation in daily life for adults with PI(M)D living in a group home. The results showed that the adults often reached the first three levels of Shier's ladder, one adult reached the fourth level once, and no one reached the fifth level. Participation on a higher level, therefore, seems hard to reach for adults. Staff members' attitudes toward the adults' capability can also be a barrier to participation. Applying Shier's ladder of participation can provide valuable information that might lead to increased participation in daily life for adults with PI(M)D.

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• Collaboration in Transitions from Preschool

  2017. Jenny Wilder, Anne Lillvist. Pedagogies of Educational Transitions, 59-74

  Chapter

  Diversity can be defined as the qualities of having variety and catering for a wide range of different people. The concept of diversity is often thought of as the integration and inclusion of all ethnic/cultural groups, genders and ages in the community. Children with disabilities are part of the variety of society and disabilities can be considered as a diversity category alongside others. This chapter explores the educational transitions of young children with intellectual disabilities, especially focusing on collaboration between educational settings. The chapter describes an ongoing research project on the educational transitions of young children with intellectual disabilities in Sweden and its preliminary results. It also aims to widen the appraisal of diversity and inclusion in the discourses and practice of professionals who work with children in times of educational transition.

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• Sweden

  2017. Jenny Wilder, Nina Klang. The Praeger International Handbook of Special Education, 104-118

  Chapter

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• Hope, Despair and Everything in Between – Parental Expectations of Educational Transition for Young Children with Intellectual Disability

  2017. Jenny Wilder, Anne Lillvist. Families and Transition to School, 51-66

  Chapter

  The transition from preschool into school for children with disabilities is an important passage in the development of the child and in the family. Although children’s transitions from one educational practice to another is a growing field of research, there is limited knowledge of how the transitions from preschool to schools for children with intellectual disability (ID) are formed and experienced by families. Taking a theoretical stand point from Griebel and Niesel’s model of changes at the individual, relationships and contextual levels, and ecocultural theory on family life, the expectations of 8 parents of children with ID are analysed and discussed. The chapter presents results from an ongoing Swedish research project on understanding the learning journey in educational transitions of children with ID aged 6–7 years.

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Show all publications by Jenny Wilder at Stockholm University