PhD-students and post.docs in SpedAims

Language skills are important for learning and development, and they have a lasting impact on several aspects of life, such as academic and social participation in society. Furthermore, approximately one in five four-year-olds experience delayed language development, and around one in fourteen have a developmental language disorder. These aspects make language an important area of research and highlight the importance of identifying children who struggle with language as early as possible, in order to provide early intervention and support.

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) teachers are in a unique position to identify these children and often serve as gatekeepers to further support. It is therefore important to investigate how well ECEC teachers are able to judge or evaluate children’s language skills accurately, so that children with language difficulties can be identified as early and precisely as possible.

Research has already examined how accurate school teachers’ judgments of children’s academic skills are, but there is a need for more research on ECEC teachers’ judgments of language skills in early childhood education and care settings. The goal of my project is to investigate how ECEC teachers judge young children's language skills.

Pragmatic language skills refer to the use of language in different situations and are closely linked to social norms and context. Pragmatic difficulties, also known as Pragmatic Language Impairment (PLI), describe challenges related to the use of language in various social settings. The diagnostic manuals ICD-11 and DSM-5, as well as the research literature, use varying terms to describe such difficulties.
 
My Phd project, part of the SpedAims Kohort project, examines the characteristics of children with pragmatic difficulties and how the research literature has addressed this challenge. I will also examine the boundaries between PLI, autism, and developmental language disorders, as these conditions share many overlapping difficulties.

Prior research has established that students’ language and mathematical skills are crucial for later academic success and career development. Moreover, those skills are interrelated, meaning there is a correlation between student’s language skills and their mathematics. However, it remains unclear whether improving students’ language skills will enhance their mathematics. This research gap will be addressed in my first study; a meta-analysis synthesizing language intervention reporting mathematical outcomes. 

The second study will build on the studies included in the meta-analysis by conducting an in depth qualitatively systematic review evaluating the interventions. Key factors, such as duration, instructional method, age of participants, targeted language skills, mathematical outcome, presence of learning difficulties, and study quality will be analyzed. The aim is to identify conditions under which language interventions effectively support mathematical learning - insights that are essential for informing future educational practices and research.

In the third study, data from SpedAimsABC123 will be utilized to explore to what extent language skills predict mathematical achievement. The study aims to assess whether language proficiency can serve as an early indicator of mathematical performance. The findings may guide early interventions and support efforts by educators and/or parents to prevent later difficulties in mathematics.

Educational Psychological Services (EPS) play a critical role in the assessment and follow-up of children and pupils with special needs. To ensure that children and young people receive timely and appropriate support, the surrounding support system must function effectively. Interprofessional collaboration is widely recognized as a prerequisite for inclusive practice for children with special needs.

The primary aim of this doctoral project is to investigate the characteristics of interprofessional work involving EPS, presented through three articles. To gain insights into EPS’s interprofessional collaboration practices, a national questionnaire was distributed to all EPS offices across Norway.

The first article will present a scoping review exploring the key characteristics of interprofessional collaboration between EPS and schools. The second and third articles will draw on data collected from the national survey. Article two will examine how EPS counselors assess their own knowledge about collaboration and explore the relationship between perceived knowledge about collaboration and the quality of collaboration with external partners such as health services, schools, kindergartens, child welfare services, parents, and children. The third article will investigate the factors that predict the quality of collaboration between EPS and these external partners.

Today, we know a great deal about the consequences of bullying and about what schools can do to stop it. For decades, research has shown that bullying is a serious issue that can leave deep and long-lasting marks on individual students and entire classrooms. We also know that there is a high risk that bullying may recur, or that its consequences may persist, even after schools have managed to stop the bullying itself. What we know less about is how schools can systematically follow up with students and classes after bullying has ended, in order to prevent negative consequences and stop new incidents from arising. This PhD project therefore explores how we can support individual students and entire classes after bullying has ceased.

The first study is a systematic review of the characteristics of existing research on post-bullying follow-up measures for students. In the next two studies, I will examine the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at follow-up after bullying. In these studies, schools will implement measures directed both at the student who has been exposed to bullying and the class that was involved. To assess the effects of this intervention, I will observe the interaction patterns of previously bullied students and analyze how classroom reflections on the learning environment develop during the intervention period.

Research on the characteristics of children receiving special education in Norway reveals significant gaps in our understanding. More boys than girls are currently receiving these services, often due to challenges like general learning difficulties and ADHD. However, it’s puzzling why some children with similar struggles are not getting the help they need. Factors such as children's behavior, their emotional well-being, and influences from their environment—including differences between schools, parental education and income, and collaboration with Educational and Psychological Counselling Service—can all impact who qualifies for special education. Additionally, we know little about the effectiveness of special education in addressing previous gaps in learning. Although there is a strong push for early intervention, the reality often falls short. By discovering early risk factors, we can better pinpoint who might need support and how to implement preventive measures.

My postdoc project, part of the SpedAims SOS project, directly tackles these issues by utilizing data from the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). This study gathers insights from mothers and teachers about children from the time they are in the womb through adolescence. By doing so, my project aims to uncover what parents and teachers need to identify kids who are struggling. The research will focus on understanding how parental and teacher perceptions of children's difficulties predict the need for help. Ultimately, this project seeks to shed light on early identification and intervention strategies, helping ensure that children get the support they need when it matters most.