Fritidspersonals upplevelser och erfarenheter av arbete med elever i behov av särskilt stöd

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study was to understand after-school care stuffs experience supporting special needs children in the classroom and during after school activities. What kind of help do children with special needs need in the classroom and after school? And what role do after-school stuff have in meeting these needs? I attempted to answer these questions using a qualitative study. I conducted several interviews with five participants from an after-school care center in Stockholm. My research focused on how staff support the inclusion of children with special needs, from a theoretical and practical perspective. Staff discuss their role both in the classroom and after school, the intensive and specialized support children with special needs require, and how they attempt to provide this support. My analysis of the experiences and thoughts participants described is guided by Per-John Ödman hermeneutics theory. Themes that emerged from my research was that participants/the staff felt more specialized information and education was needed regarding the different diagnoses. Participants/staff also expressed that they provided the majority of the support to special needs children in the classroom. Because of this additional support participants felt they had less energy to meet the high needs of these children during after school care activities. Although afterschool staff/participants described a willingness to continue providing this support in the classroom, they felt access to more information and specialized training for meeting these students needs would create greater confidence about their capacity to help thing for who need a special help. Finally, staff/participants felt that the main support children with special needs required is social integration. Staff planned various games and activities that everyone could participate in to help children with special needs to feel included.