The aim is to identify protective factors, measures and interventions to adopt in order to prevent students’ dropout, non-completion of education and unemployment among young people, in particular regarding young people with disabilities, as they are overrepresented among NEET. Despite resources and good intentions, the equity of the education system in Sweden has decreased over time, and stakeholders are looking for ways to improve the educational system and reduce school failure.

Theoretical frameworks employed are: bio-ecological development theory; Heckman’s theory; theories on developmental cascades and resilience. These theories explain how early interventions can promote positive development and prevent later difficulties.

Method. A broad scoping review was carried out, including systematic literature searches of peer-reviewed articles in SCOPUS, EBSCO, and ProQuest databases; relevant reports from authorities; and other sources.  The results builds on analyses of a selection of reviews and meta-analyses, and empirical studies, of which 18 from Sweden were reviewed in details.

Results. There is support for initiatives and reforms at different levels: education system, school organisation, teaching, professional development and individual level. More young people would be expected to complete their studies by reforming the education system and introducing adaptations in curriculum and in school organisation. Early evidence-based interventions for families and in preschool can be effective in preventing difficulties, reducing the negative effects of socio-economic factors and disabilities, and promoting good school outcomes later on. There is strong evidence from long-term follow-ups that a preschool of good educational quality has positive outcomes in adult life in terms of education, employment and health. Other follow-ups show positive effects on school-age outcomes, including reduced costs for special education provisions. However, early universal interventions, in term of extended preschool attendance, must have high educational quality and adopt methods supported by the science on child’s development. The literature overview finds support for: 1) reforms in the education system: for example, educational pathways that do not exclude young people; continuity of support for transitions, vocational training with more practical elements; support measures that facilitate the transition to work for students with disabilities. 2) Investments in early universal interventions, as early educational environments of high quality have a compensatory effect and should be introduced and evaluated in Sweden. 3) Evidence-based and multi-component systems for support throughout schooling, primarily in inclusive school settings. 4) Targeted and indicated interventions and alternative forms of support can fulfil a function for young people with the greatest support needs.  The study has relevance to the Nordic educational research field for various reasons:  it includes a comparison of types of peer-reviewed publications on this topic from the Nordic countries. The comparison shows that studies on prevention of NEET and promotion of students’ success are more common in Norway than in other Nordic countries.

The presentation describes background and results of a project applying practice-embedded educational research, building on collaboration between academics and practitioners when implementing a shared reading intervention in early childhood education.

The project adopted a technical-eclectic theoretical framework which is suitable in early childhood special education, evidence-based interventions and professional development: theories on child development through proximal processes, the role of vocabulary in language development, implementation science, and practice-based coaching. 

The intervention was based on the needs identified by practitioners that wanted to support effectively language development, and on knowledge from previous research. The method of dialogic book reading was selected, examined and piloted during a training period, over the course of several months. Then a cluster randomized controlled trial was carried out in nine preschools with 10 teachers and 85 children, of which 68 % were additional language learners. The trial was supported by interventionist preschool teachers with coaching by special educators. Reading session in small groups were carried out every day for five weeks. 

The results showed that systematic reading practices aiming to interactive engagement with each child positively impacted language development. Dialogic reading promoted vocabulary growth. Children from non-Swedish-speaking backgrounds demonstrated progress comparable to their peers. Special educators, teachers and principals regarded the method as effective in stimulating language development, relations between teachers and children, and between children. The project’s developed a three-step model, which has been implemented to strengthen practices within local organizations. The children’s progress, evidenced by increased vocabulary and storytelling abilities, underscores that a strong alliance between theory and practice may drive research to remain curious and attuned to practitioners’ relevant questions, leverage research outcomes, address methodological challenges, and collaboratively deliver culturally adapted interventions. Based on the positive evaluations from research, practice, and families, the method of dialogic book reading has been introduced in majority of units within the respective organizations, where expert teachers are mentoring unexperienced colleagues. Not only the children made progresses, but the teachers have been empowered in this process, becoming champions of rewarding pedagogical practices in their organizations. This project provides a model of how internationally established evidence-based practices may be tested in research, adapted and introduced in early childhood education in Nordic countries, in partnership with educational professionals. It is also a call for embracing intervention designs in early childhood education research. Previous research from the field of early intervention may offer knowledge to the field of practice in our context, which contributes to give answers to present societal challenges and may be a step towards more equitable educational systems.  

The research school towards early interventions is a multidisciplinary and multisite programme that received funding from the Swedish Research Council with the aim to develop courses and supervise students working on early interventions projects in early childhood education. It was the first time that the discipline of Special Education received a grant of this type in Sweden; early intervention in early childhood education was underdeveloped and the grant was a great opportunity to make the field grow. Eleven PhD students have been enrolled in the programme and several other have been involved in the courses.  The aim of the poster is to describe the implementation of the PhD programme, the curriculum developed, and to report quantitative and qualitative analyses of achievements in terms of theses, published articles, and some preliminary evaluations of the impact of the school  both in research and professional training. Based on these experiences recommendations for future efforts are provided. 

Aim: To determine whether a strength-based home-visiting program enhances parent–child interaction during the first year at home for children born extremely preterm (gestational age < 28).

Methods: A randomised controlled trial of 130 infants born extremely preterm 2018–2021 in Stockholm, allocated to either the Stockholm preterm interaction-based intervention (SPIBI) (n = 66) or an extended follow-up program (n = 64). The intervention group received ten home visits during the first year by a trained interventionist following SPIBI guidelines: an interaction-based intervention supporting sensitive parental responses to infants' signals. The primary outcome of emotional availability was assessed at 12 months corrected age (CA) using the emotional availability scales (EAS).

Results: At 1-year CA, data were collected from 115/130 (89%) of the included children. There were no significant group differences in emotional availability at 12 months CA. A secondary analysis showed an effect modifier in families with mothers self-rated as depressed at discharge, with the outcome favouring intervention in the EAS dimension of child involvement.

Conclusion: The SPIBI had no significant main effect on emotional availability at 12 months CA. Children of self-reported depressed mothers displayed superior involvement behaviour in the intervention group, prompting further research on risk groups and potential modifications of post-discharge interventions.

The Determinants of Implementation Behavior Questionnaire for school settings (DIBQ-S) was administered to examine questionnaire internal structure evidence and ascertain 127 Swedish school staff’s perceived barriers to and facilitators of implementing the Inclusive Behavioral Support in Schools program. Using confirmatory factor analysis, we tested a 3-factor model (capability, opportunity, motivation) corresponding to the Theoretical Domain Framework and the COM-B system. Measurement of motivation was suboptimal, but a 2-factor model exclusively retaining capability and opportunity had fair fit. The questionnaire showed overall fair internal structure evidence. Facilitators related primarily to motivation, whereas potential barriers related to capability, opportunity, and motivation. Teachers working in early school years perceived higher opportunity and capability than teachers working in later school years. School staff in the implementation team perceived higher opportunity than other school staff. The DIBQ-S could support school implementations by ensuring that the process feels coherent, manageable, and meaningful for frontline implementers. 

Antologin Specialpedagogisk forskning och tidiga insatser innehåller tjugo kapitel som belyser det specialpedagogiska kunskapsområdet, med tonvikt på dess inkluderande praktiker och didaktiska tillämpningar. Kapitlen i denna antologi förklarar teoretiska ramverk, analyserar behov och tendenser, sammanfattar forskning och beskriver empiriska studier, där ett gemensamt tema är vad som stödjer barns utveckling och lärande. Ett särskilt fokus är på stimulerande aktiviteter för yngre barn, och för barn med funktionsnedsättning, oavsett deras ålder. De flesta av de fyrtiofyra medverkande författarna är forskare verksamma på olika lärosäten i Sverige och i USA. Två av de internationella medverkande är samarbetspartners som har bidragit att utveckla detta forskningsfält i vår kontext. Flera bidrag i antologin är knutna till Forskarskolan i specialpedagogik med inriktning tidiga insatser som finansieras av Vetenskapsrådet, där Stockholms universitet, Jönköping University, Linköpings universitet och Karolinska Institutet ingår. De specialpedagogiska insatserna som illustreras i antologin sträcker sig över ett brett spektrum av insatser med syfte att förändra, utveckla förmågor och förebygga svårigheter.  I den första delen finns texter som ger definitioner av begrepp, presenterar teorier och sammanfattar forskningsresultat på ett övergripande sätt. Den andra delen av antologin innehåller femton kapitel med tillämpade studier, ibland med experimentell design, där olika program, verktyg och interventioner har testats. Gemensamt för dessa kapitel är att de utgår från avhandlingsstudier och andra empiriska studier med syfte att främja utveckling, lärande och delaktighet för olika grupper av barn och elever. Bidragen visar vilka innehåll som tidiga specialpedagogiska insatser, stöd och särskilt stöd kan ha i vår kontext och de är exempel på det växande forskningsfältet tillämpad specialpedagogik. 

Högläsning med mer dialog är baserad på språkutvecklande principer som skapar engagemang och delaktighet från barnen under läsningen. Denna evidensbaserade högläsningsmetod ger barn möjlighet att utveckla sitt språk både genom att möta ett rikt språk och själva få tillfälle att öva sina muntliga förmågor. Eftersom stärkt språk inom barngruppen gynnar alla barn kan bokläsningen ses som en pedagogisk insats som vänder sig till alla barn. Högläsning med mer dialog har testats i flera studier och har visat goda resultat för att utveckla barnens ordförråd och ordförståelse. Därmed är högläsning särskilt lämplig för barn som ska lära sig majoritetsspråket, dvs. språket som talas i förskola och skola. I det här kapitlet presenteras hur Högläsning med mer dialog introducerades i svensk förskola och delar av resultaten.

Enabling peer play for preschool children with low social skills requires targeted measures for their social development and learning and interactions between them and their peers. Play Time/Social Time (PT/ST) is a peer-mediated instruction and intervention (PMII) with that purpose. This case study explored how four preschool teachers perceived the opportunities and obstacles of PT/ST, and how PMII compared to their current practices in inclusive Swedish preschools. Multiple data were collected: an intervention rating profile (IRP), audio-recorded coaching sessions, logbooks, checklists, and a group interview. The IRP revealed that the teachers rated PT/ST as highly feasible. Through qualitative analysis, we interpreted three themes demonstrating their perceptions: Special educational situations, Conditions for applications, and Professional reflections and learning. Concerning opportunities, the teachers perceived that PT/ST contributed to social skills progress and increased peer play for the target children. They also perceived that PT/ST contributed to their current practices when used regularly and responsively by clarifying learning content, procedures, and goals for social skills and play. Obstacles to PT/ST reflected situational thresholds for simultaneous play between the target children and peers and organisational conditions that complicated applications of PT/ST. Implications for inclusive preschool practice and research are discussed.

Positive educational climate in the classroom is related to various positive outcomes, such as psychological wellbeing, academic motivation, and academic performances. Reliable and validated instruments to assess the quality of the classroom educational climate would be useful both for research and practice. The hypothesis is that the educational climate in the classroom is a construct that can be identified and assessed beyond individual differences among students and temporal variations. The construct should also be sensitive to interventions aimed at improving the quality of educational climate in the classroom. Theories compatible with the model proposed are self-determination theory, theory of basic values and the CASEL framework. The aim of the study presented is twofold: to test the psychometric properties of the student questionnaire Edu-CAT; to test the psychometric properties of the observation protocol (EduCAT- observation) where an external observer rates the educational climate in the classroom. The student questionnaire EduCAT- Student includes 10 scales with 40 items rated on 4-point Likert scale which cover both aspects related to group functioning as cohesiveness, solidarity, structure and rules that allow a purposeful learning environment, and aspects related to an educational climate that allows and enhances individual expression, growth, competence, initiative, as well as persistence in efforts. The respondents were about 900 students from 38 middle school classes in eight schools situated in different locations in Sweden. The data was analyzed with CFA with Mplus and the model structure was confirmed with the items loading significantly to ten latent variables. Since there were high intra-class correlations for nine of the ten scales, two-level models were tested. The two-level model required a reduction of the number of latent variables. The model with the best fit retained one factor at the individual level and one factor at the class level.   The protocol, EduCAT- Observation, contains 20 items rated by an observer in a 4-point Likert scale, related to five dimensions (improvement, structure, relationship, influence) similar to those of the student questionnaire and expected to cover in a comprehensive way significant and visible aspect of the educational climate. Six trained observers conducted the observations in 106 elementary classes in 12 schools located in various municipalities Middle Sweden. Inter-rater agreement was calculated. The observations lasted between two to three hours. The data was analyzed with CFA in Mplus. The items have significant factor loadings on the corresponding five latent variables. A second-order factor (Clim) was introduced in the model loading significantly on these variables. The analyses show that the instruments’ structure correspond to the hypothesised contents.  Their anchoring in a solid theoretical frame may contribute to their empirical validation. The instruments could be used in future research to investigate organisational features in school and classrooms even if more research is needed. In ongoing research, we explore the instruments’ convergent validity (students’ wellbeing) and concurrent validity (another classroom assessment scale). The student questionnaire EduCAT could tentatively be used in practice, where the sum of scores at the class level could give indication of comprehensive educational climate features.