Opportunities for children with disabilities to participate in school on equal conditions as others are often stressed, while reality shows that many children with disabilities are still segregated. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been highlighted as a tool for communication and inclusion for children with disabilities but from research it appears that implementation of technology in children’s everyday life (e.g. in school) is difficult. The positive expectations of ICT are thus not met. This article is based on a study aimed at ascertaining whether ICT can promote inclusion of children with motor disabilities and contribute to equal opportunities in school. Focus was on parents’ views. The study was based on a questionnaire with 16 parents and interviews with the children. In this article the results of the parental questionnaire and one of the interviews with a 15-year-old pupil, Adam, is reported. Two schools where ICT and computers were used as pedagogical tools to promote inclusion were involved. Both schools had and still have the intention to be considered a school for all children. One conclusion is that there is a need for both technical and social support in school if ICT should function as a bridge for inclusion of all pupils.

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Osteogenesis imperfecta or brittle bone disease (BBD) is a most unusual disease and a limited number of people in the world are suffering from it. Most studies focus on the medical aspects of the disease and very little has been done with regard to the pedagogical and psycho-social aspects of the disease. This article is based on a questionnaire answered by 30 families, and interviews with 10 families with children and adolescents with BBD, and the purpose is to survey the consequences of the disease in daily life. Although medical treatment is of utmost importance, it is necessary to regard also other aspects, as it is significant to have a holistic view of the child in his/her environment.

The focus in this study is special educators working with children with disabilities and in need of special support and their relation to information and communication technology (ICT). The study is an evaluation of a National State Programme intended to train special educators in the field of ICT. The study is based on a questionnaire answered by 618 special educators, and interviews with 20 educators and 10 headteachers. The results from the study show that there is a great need of education in the ICT field and that the lack of time and financial resources affect the work in the school. The training programme focused on difficulties in reading and writing, although most of the teachers desired a more general knowledge about children with disabilities. It also appears that the knowledge within this area of special education is mainly based on how these practitioners understand their own work. New thinking and innovations in the area are judged, accepted or rejected on the same basis. The headteachers lacked knowledge about the training and were not engaged in this special effort, although they are responsible for the development of the school. One conclusion is that technology was stressed more than the pedagogy. Downloaded by [Uppsala universitetsbibliotek] at 16:16 18 November 2014

There is today an increasing global interest in early childhood education, especially with regard to curriculum and quality work. The aim of this article is to study preschool teachers' and child care workers' views on the revised national curriculum for preschool in Sweden (Lpfö 98, rev. 2010), and if the educators perceive that they can conduct quality work based on the curriculum. This article is based on a web-based questionnaire distributed to all municipal preschool teachers and child care workers (in this study called educators) employed in a small municipality (n = 111). The questionnaire consisted of eight questions with 54 sub-items with five reply alternatives, including 'don't know'. The reply frequency was 58.6 % (n = 65). Data were compiled and processed in a computer based program. The results showed that the preschool educators were positive to the curriculum and regarded it as a tool for improving the quality in preschool. The most important factors for increasing the quality were, according to the results, the educators' attitudes, the number of children in the group and the teacher-to-child ratio.