| Summary: | The purpose of this study is to shed light on how teachers in compulsory school for students with severe intellectual disabilities promote the students' sense of participation and enable their right to influence. Our subject words are compulsory school for students with severe intellectual disabilities, participation, influence, structured pedagogy and AAC. The study is based on qualitative observations and interviews of four teachers who are active in different special schools for students with intellectual disability in southern Sweden. The result is interpreted using the participation model. The questions in the study that we want to get answers to are; How do the teachers see the concepts of participation and influence? How do the teachers enable the students to participate? In what situations do teachers give students influence over education? Which materials do teachers use to enable participation and influence? What response does the teachers get from the students when they get the opportunity to participate and gain influence? The study shows that students gain influence over their school day, primarily by making choices, either during the lesson / activity or afterwards. The students’ opportunities to influence the frameworks in their education are visible in various ways. The study shows that all teachers work with AAC and they use body language and signs AAC. All the four teachers use schedules with pictures, but it is limited to three out of four schools to use the schedules in connection with the students' workplaces. The teachers in the study experience challenges in that certain parts of the day can be more difficult for the students to influence or that communication can be an obstacle because the teachers may offer choices that are chosen by the teacher, so called guided choices.
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