Steinerskolen og hvordan lese- og skriveopplæringen gis til elever med dysleksi : et kvalitativt studie av tre lærere på tre forskjellige steinerskoler om kartlegging, tiltak, opplæringsmetoder og samarbeid i forhold til lese- og skriveopplæringen av elever med dysleksi

Denne masteroppgaven har som målsetting å beskrive hvordan steinerskolen gir lese- og skriveopplæring til elever med dysleksi. Bakgrunnen for valg av temaet var tilfeldig, men også av nysgjerrighet etter at jeg oppdaget at steinerskoleforbundet hadde lagt ut en prosjektbeskrivelse på vitenskapsbutikkens internettsider på Universitetet i Oslo. I denne masteroppgaven har jeg hatt som mål å gi en indikasjon på hvordan steinerskolen gir lese- og skriveopplæring til elever med dysleksi. Hovedproblemstillingen blir besvart gjennom de ulike underproblemstillingene, som jeg anser som hensiktmessig for å kunne besvare den overordnede problemstillingen. Oppgavens teoridel er delt i to deler. Den ene delen omhandler steinerpedagogikken, steinerskolen og antroposofisk menneskesyn. Andre del omhandler områder som blant annet lesing, lese og skriveutvikling, ulike opplæringsmetoder (analytiske og syntetiske metoder), dysleksi og dets årsaker og symptomer. Til slutt omtales kort om tiltak som kan ha betydning for elever med dysleksi. Oppgavens problemstilling: Hvordan gir steinerskolen skrive- og leseopplæring til elever med dysleksi? For å kunne svare på den overordnede problemstillingen kom jeg frem til følgende underproblemstillinger: Hva slags kunnskap har de ulike informantene om dysleksi og hvordan kartlegger steinerskolen elever med dysleksi? Hvilke tiltak gis til barn med dysleksi på en steinerskole og hvordan samsvarer disse tiltakene med steinerskolens pedagogiske ide? Hvordan fungerer eurytmi som tiltak for elever med dysleksi? Hvilken plass har den syntetiske og analytiske metoden i lese- og skriveopplæringen i forhold til lese- og skriveopplæringen på steinerskolen? Hvilken betydning kan den fortellende undervisningsmetoden ha i barns leseopplæring på steinerskolen? Hvordan fungerer steinerskolens samarbeid med foreldre, tverrfaglig samarbeid og samarbeid med de ulike instanser i forhold til elever med dysleksi? Hvilke fordeler og ulemper kan steinerpedagogikken ha for elever med dysleksi? Valg av metode: I masteroppgaven har jeg utført et kvalitativ studie. Jeg har tatt for meg tre case. Jeg intervjuet tre lærerer fra tre forskjellige steinerskoler ved bruk av semistrukturert intervju. Intervjuguiden inneholder en rekke spørsmål og utsagn som er satt opp i ulike kategorier. Kategoriene har som hensikt å gjøre oppgaven mer ryddig og oversiktlig, i forhold til oppgavens besvarelser av problemstillingene. Analysen: I analysen har jeg valgt å bruke ”analyse av meningsinnhold” som har som mål å identifisere mønstre, sammenhenger, fellestrekk og forskjeller (Johannesen og Tufte 2002, Larsen 2007). De ulike underproblemstillingene blir satt opp som overskrifter, drøftet og analysert i forhold til oppgavens teorigrunnlag, informantenes uttalelser og relevant empiri fra forskningen. Som har som mål å besvare oppgavens overordnede problemstilling. En oppsummering av hovedfunn: Hovedproblemstillingen i denne oppgaven var å gi en indikasjon på hvordan steinerskolen gir lese- og skriveopplæring til elever med dysleksi. Analysen viser at informantene som alle er spesialpedagoger har god kunnskap og kompetanse om hva dysleksi innbærer og hvordan man kartlegger disse elevene. Funn tilsier at steinerskolelærere muligens har mindre kunnskap på dette området og at det kan oppstå en konflikt eller være lite forståelse fra klasselærer om å ta eleven ut av klassen, slik at eleven får en tilpasset, eksplisitt og systematisk lese- og skriveopplæring. Videre sier funn at Carlstens lesetest ikke blir brukt før i fjerde klasse, selv om andre tester som Ringeriksmateriellet og Stas kan bli tatt i bruk før. Funn tilsier at det kan være vanskelig å gi en systematisk og grundig kartlegging av elevens lese- og skriveferdigheter på et tidlig tidspunkt i steinerskolen. Årsaker kan være at man ifølge steinerpedagogikk ikke skal presse med lesingen. Man forventer ikke at eleven skal kunne lese før i fjerde klasse, i tillegg har man en tendens til å la eleven få modnes i sitt tempo. Leseopplæringen beskrives også som en lang prosess, noe som kan føre til at vansker hoper seg opp for elevene. Kravene avanseres plutselig og det kan komme som et sjokk på noen elever. Funn tilsier at klasselærer observerer eleven på mange ulike måter, men det betyr ikke at eleven nødvendigvis får en tidlig grundig kartlegging av sine lese- og skriveferdigheter. Steinerskolen utfører mange ulike tiltak for elever med dysleksi. Disse tiltakene omfatter blant annet en systematisk, eksplisitt lese- og skriveopplæring i undervisningen sammen med spesialpedagog, hvor ulike oppgaver blir gjennomført. Elevene får bruke pc på høyere klassetrinn, men ikke på lavere trinn. Eurytmi og helseeurytmi blir også brukt som tiltak, selv om man kan stille spørsmål ved virkningen av denne formen for terapi i forhold til lese- og skriveferdighetene til dyslektiske elever. Hvordan tiltakene samsvarer med steinerskolens pedagogiske ide var det bare en informant som kunne redegjøre for med et konkret eksempel, og det var bruk av Witting metoden. En metode som fokuserer både på det tekniske og det skapende, fantasien og det kunstneriske. Videre viser det seg at tiltak ikke bestandig lar seg gjennomføre, grunnen kan muligens ligge i at steinerskolen har et rytmisk prinsipp; fast rytme og fast program som gjør det vanskelig å gjennomføre tiltak som er lærebok-basert. Det finnes heller ikke et konkret fag hvor eleven kan gå direkte inn og arbeide med tiltakene, selv om det blir fortalt at man forsøker å hjelpe eleven i arbeidsstunden. Videre tyder funn på at det er lite vektlegging av fonologien i lese- og skriveopplæringen i steinerpedagogikken den er mer tilnærmet LTG metoden. Funn indikerer også på at den muntlige undervisningen kan gå på bekostning av lesetrening, men ikke på bekostning av den faglige kunnskapen, samtidig som elevene skriver mer enn de leser de første årene på steinerskolen. Videre viser funn at steinerpedagogikken vektlegger å se på hele mennesket i læringsprosessen (Lindenberg 1996) og at læringen blir sett på som en kunstnerisk prosess ved at barnet kan bearbeide stoffet gjennom tegning, maling, modellering, bevegelse, samtale, eller skriving av egne tekster (Bøhn 1997). Det tyder på at steinerskolen ønsker å styrke elevens selvtillitt, egenverd, læringsutbytte, og å fremheve barnets individualitet, og dette er de gode til. Videre viser det seg at samarbeidet med foreldre, tverrfaglig samarbeid, og samarbeid med ulike instanser fungerer bra, selv om det finnes variasjoner i de ulike skolene

Oppussing i eierseksjonssameier : Hvor langt strekker seksjonseierens rådighet seg?

Temaet for avhandlingen er seksjonseierens rett til oppussing i eierseksjonssameier. Oppgaven redegjør for omfanget av denne retten, herunder hvilke avgrensninger som må foretas når det skal fastsettes hvor langt seksjonseierens faktiske rådighet strekker seg. Gjennom flere praktiske eksempler vil jeg søke å avklare hvilke begrensninger som gjør seg gjeldende ved ulike former for oppussing. Et særlig fokus rettes mot den uklare grensen mellom oppussing og ombygging. For å kunne iverksette sistnevnte tiltak kreves det to tredjedels flertall i sameiermøtet. Videre tar oppgaven for seg betydningen av at sameieren overtrer grensene for sin adgang til å pusse opp, og hvilke konsekvenser som da kan inntre

American Gastroenterological Association Institute Technical Review on the Role of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring in the Management of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM), which involves measurement of drug or active metabolite levels and anti-drug antibodies, is a promising strategy that can be used to optimize inflammatory bowel disease therapeutics. It is based on the premise that there is a relationship between drug exposure and outcomes, and that considerable inter-individual variability exists in how patients metabolize the drug (pharmacokinetics) and the magnitude and duration of response to therapy (pharmacodynamics). Therefore, the American Gastroenterological Association has prioritized clinical guidelines on the role of TDM in the management of inflammatory bowel disease. To inform these clinical guidelines, this technical review was developed in accordance with the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) framework for interventional and prognostic studies, and focused on the application of TDM for biologic therapy, specifically anti-tumor necrosis factor-α agents, and for thiopurines. Focused questions address the benefits and risks of a strategy of reactive TDM (in patients with active inflammatory bowel disease) to guide treatment changes compared with empiric treatment changes, and the benefits and risks of a strategy of routine proactive TDM (during routine clinical care in patients with quiescent disease) compared with no routine TDM. Additionally, the review addresses the benefits and risks of routine measurement of thiopurine methyltransferase enzyme activity or genotype before starting thiopurine therapy compared with empiric weight-based dosing and explores the performance of different trough drug concentrations for anti-tumor necrosis factor agents and thiopurines to inform clinical decision making when applying TDM in a reactive setting. Due to a paucity of data, this review does not address the role of TDM for more recently approved biologic agents, such as vedolizumab or ustekinumab

How infants arousal influences their visual search

The influence of arousal on visual attention was examined in 6.5‐month‐old infants (N = 42) in the context of a visual search task. Phasic increases in arousal were induced with brief sounds and measured with pupil dilation. Evidence was found for an inverted U‐shaped relation between pupil dilation amplitude and visual orienting, with highest likelihood of a target fixation at intermediate levels of arousal. Effects were similar for facial stimuli and simple objects. Together, these results contribute to our understanding of the relation between arousal and attention in infancy. The study also demonstrates that infants have a bias to orient to human eyes, even when presented in isolation

Reduced orienting to audiovisual synchrony in infancy predicts autism diagnosis at 3 years of age

Background: Effective multisensory processing develops in infancy and is thought to be important for the perception of unified and multimodal objects and events. Previous research suggests impaired multisensory processing in autism, but its role in the early development of the disorder is yet uncertain. Here, using a prospective longitudinal design, we tested whether reduced visual attention to audiovisual synchrony is an infant marker of later-emerging autism diagnosis. Methods: We studied 10-month-old siblings of children with autism using an eye tracking task previously used in studies of preschoolers. The task assessed the effect of manipulations of audiovisual synchrony on viewing patterns while the infants were observing point light displays of biological motion. We analyzed the gaze data recorded in infancy according to diagnostic status at 3 years of age (DSM-5). Results: Ten-month-old infants who later received an autism diagnosis did not orient to audiovisual synchrony expressed within biological motion. In contrast, both infants at low-risk and high-risk siblings without autism at follow-up had a strong preference for this type of information. No group differences were observed in terms of orienting to upright biological motion. Conclusions: This study suggests that reduced orienting to audiovisual synchrony within biological motion is an early sign of autism. The findings support the view that poor multisensory processing could be an important antecedent marker of this neurodevelopmental condition. Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; infancy; multisensory processing; biological motion; biomarker; scientific replication

Reduced Alternating Gaze During Social Interaction in Infancy is Associated with Elevated Symptoms of Autism in Toddlerhood

In typical development, infants often alternate their gaze between their interaction partners and interesting stimuli, increasing the probability of joint attention toward surrounding objects and creating opportunities for communication and learning. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have been found to engage less in behaviors that can initiate joint attention compared to typically developing children, but the role of such atypicalities in the development of ASD during infancy is not fully understood. Here, using eye tracking technology in a live setting, we show that 10-month-olds at high familial risk for ASD engage less in alternating gaze during interaction with an adult compared to low risk infants. These differences could not be explained by low general social preference or slow visual disengagement, as the groups performed similarly in these respects. We also found that less alternating gaze at 10 months was associated with more social ASD symptoms and less showing and pointing at 18 months. These relations were similar in both the high risk and the low risk groups, and remained when controlling for general social preference and disengagement latencies. This study shows that atypicalities in alternating gaze in infants at high risk for ASD emerge already during the first 10 months of life - a finding with theoretical as well as potential practical implications

The developmental origins of gaze-following in human infants

During the first year of life, infants develop the capacity to follow the gaze of others. This behavior allows sharing attention and facilitates language acquisition and cognitive development. This article reviews studies that investigated gaze-following before 12 months of age in typically developing infants and discusses current theoretical perspectives on early GF. Recent research has revealed that early GF is highly dependent on situational constraints and individual characteristics, but theories that describe the underlying mechanisms have partly failed to consider this complexity. We propose a novel framework termed the perceptual narrowing account of GF that may have the potential to integrate existing theoretical accounts

High autistic trait individuals do not modulate gaze behaviour in response to social presence but look away more when actively engaged in an interaction

Autism is characterised by difficulties in social functioning, notably in interactions with other people. Yet, most studies addressing social difficulties have used static images or, at best, videos of social stimuli, with no scope for real interaction. Here, we study one crucial aspect of social interactions—gaze behaviour—in an interactive setting. First, typical individuals were shown videos of an experimenter and, by means of a deception procedure, were either led to believe that the experimenter was present via a live video-feed or was pre-recorded. Participants' eye movements revealed that when passively viewing an experimenter they believed to be “live,” they looked less at that person than when they believed the experimenter video was pre-recorded. Interestingly, this reduction in viewing behaviour in response to the believed “live” presence of the experimenter was absent in individuals high in autistic traits, suggesting a relative insensitivity to social presence alone. When participants were asked to actively engage in a real-time interaction with the experimenter, however, high autistic trait individuals looked significantly less at the experimenter relative to low autistic trait individuals. The results reinforce findings of atypical gaze behaviour in individuals high in autistic traits, but suggest that active engagement in a social interaction may be important in eliciting reduced looking. We propose that difficulties with the spatio-temporal dynamics associated with real social interactions rather than underlying difficulties processing the social stimulus itself may drive these effects. The results underline the importance of developing ecologically valid methods to investigate social cognition

Enhanced pupillary light reflex in infancy is associated with autism diagnosis in toddlerhood.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition affecting around 1% of the population. We previously discovered that infant siblings of children with ASD had stronger pupillary light reflexes compared to low-risk infants, a result which contrasts sharply with the weak pupillary light reflex typically seen in both children and adults with ASD. Here, we show that on average the relative constriction of the pupillary light reflex is larger in 9-10-month-old high risk infant siblings who receive an ASD diagnosis at 36 months, compared both to those who do not and to low-risk controls. We also found that the magnitude of the pupillary light reflex in infancy is associated with symptom severity at follow-up. This study indicates an important role of sensory atypicalities in the etiology of ASD, and suggests that pupillometry, if further developed and refined, could facilitate risk assessment in infants

Reindeer lichen (Cladonia stellaris) from a Norwegian mountain region as a sustainable source of usnic acid

This is an open access article. You can find it online by following this link: http://www.ijarnp.org/index.php/ijarnp/article/view/302 The article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported licens (CC BY 3.0) : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Summary. Usnic acid (UA) was extracted at 1.5-1.9 % dry weight from samples of Cladonia stellaris, a carpet-forming lichen growing abundantly in mountain areas in southeastern Norway. UA is known for its antibiotic activity as well as other bio-inhibitory functions, and is currently used in a number of formulations. Thus, the objective was to isolate and analyze UA to assess its availability. Preparations, made from lichen: acetone extraction (1:15) and from refining by recrystallization, were analyzed by one- and two-dimensional thin layer chromatography, gas chromatography, melting point, polarimetry and NMR. Only minor contaminants were observed, and both crude and refined preparations demonstrated properties (Rf-value, retention time, melting point and optical rotation) similar to the reference compound. However, polarimetry showed that C. stellaris contained the (-) enantiomer (>97 %) as opposed to Usnea-species where (+) UA is dominant. Both proton and 13C NMR confirmed structure identity to UA. Samples from four locations at different altitudes (250-650 m) around 62o north did not differ significantly (p< 0.05) in UA content. The study area has for a long time been carefully managed commercially for ornamental lichen harvesting to sustain regrowth. Thus applying the same practice, harvesting the lichen for recovering UA at high purity is highly feasible. Industrial relevance. Usnic acid has for a long time been subject to research for its biological activities, especially as a broad-sceptered antibiotic and more recently for its anti-cancerous effects in vitro. Considering the alarming spread of antibiotic resistance, UA can be a progressive alternative for those antibiotics, and to improve cancer treatment. Accumulating research data point to different biological effects of the two enantiomers. While the toxicity of the compound is still debated, UA is frequently used in health product formulations. The main commercial source Usnea barbata producing (+) UA is ubiquitous but limited to old-growth vegetation. C. stellaris remain a widespread, high-yielding producer of (-) UA in the boreal north, Fenno-scandinavia in particular. Under careful management, it can be efficiently harvested as already demonstrated in areas of Norway, and thereby become a valuable and sustainable source for large-scale production of UA