Many children in preschool have speech and language disorders and a poor communication development, and the need for support is extensive. The aim was to find out if and how reading aloud and storytelling could enhance children’s communication development. The study was interactionistic. Eleven municipal preschools with 23 child units (573 children) participated. A questionnaire containing 15 questions with 54 sub items was answered on group level by the staff. The results showed that reading aloud and storytelling was used continuously, and the staff believed that the activity would help the children to develop their communication both regarding speech and development of concepts. But this is provided that the staff prioritize literacy in preschool settings and have knowledge about how to use reading aloud and storytelling to support children’s communication.

Research on play accelerated and had a breakthrough in the 1980s but during the last decades it has been a backlash in the interest for play research. If we take play in children with multiple disabilities into consideration it is even more obvious that the topic has, to a great extent, been neglected and not been highlighted equally often in research. This article focuses on play in children with multiple disabilities and takes an interdisciplinary perspective.  The main question is ‘What does play mean for children with the most multiple disabilities?’. The article is based on previous studies on play with a qualitative approach, where play observations and interviews with persons in the child’s immediate environment, i.e. parents and early childhood staff, have dominated. The theoretical approach is interactionistic and partly based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory of human development. In this article play and toys for enhancement of child development is discussed. The result shows that play can constitute a tool for development of a diversity of skills in these children, provided that the child has a good support from persons around. However joyful play also has a value per se for children with disabilities. The conclusion is that the role of adults as supporters and interaction partners in children’s play is extremely important, and it takes two to play for children with multiple disabilities.

Boken har sin utgångspunkt i den reviderade läroplanen för förskolan och handlar om kvalitet och systematiskt kvalitetsarbete i förskolan. Boken belyser utrifrån en interaktionistisk och utvecklingsekologisk teoretisk ansats olika perspektiv på förskolan. Utgångspunkten är samhällets, förskolechefers, förskollärares, sopecialpedagogers samt barns och föräldrars perspektiv.

The aim of this article is to highlight the concept ‘quality' with a special focus on preschool teachers' understanding and compare what preschool teachers in Austria, Bulgaria and Sweden regard as quality. Although quality is at high degree a subjective concept, some aspects are regarded decisive for good quality. A questionnaire was distributed to 45 preschools. Data have been stored, processed and compiled with the web-based programme ‘Netigate’. Totally 117 preschool teachers answered the questionnaire. The results among the three countries have been compiled, processed, ranked and compared and show a glace of different ways to interpret quality, although there are also similarities. Many differences are related to social, cultural and financial issues in the countries per se, but there are also organisational and structural differences. Further comparative research needs to focus on modes to improve the quality in preschool and on increasing children's influence.

Despite the long tradition in the social welfare field the number of children in Sweden who do not feel well has increased. This statement is based on reports from preschool teachers and includes young children (1-5 years old). The purpose of this article is to stress the present situation and what can be done to better work to raise healthy and secure children who also feel well. The aim is to discuss how the quality in preschool affects children’s wellbeing? Quality does not only mean happy children and satisfied parents but also competent staff with positive attitudes and systematic quality work. It appears from research that enough time for pedagogical planning and follow-up, small child groups, high teacher density and low staff turnover are also essential. The results also show that the most critical aspects for supporting children’s health and development are quality improvements based on equality, an efficient value system, a useful curriculum, scientifically based teacher training and a school/preschool for all.