The aim of this study (23) was to explore the experiences and the meaning of using MyTime from the perspective of children in need of support, 5-6 years of age in the preschool context. Video-recorded interviews of 21 children revealed that, when children are given the opportunity to use concrete tools to understand and measure time, they experience themselves as active participants involved and engaged in the intervention.
When children are given the opportunity to use concrete tools to understand and measure time, they experience themselves as active participants involved and engaged in the intervention. They reveal meaningful experiences to be able to manage time that facilitate their everyday functioning and participation in the preschool context.
Children in need of special support often display delays in time-processing ability affecting everyday functioning. MyTime is an intervention program for systematic training of Time Processing Ability.
To support preschool children´s development of Time Processing Ability and everyday functioning it is necessary to include their perspectives of the MyTime intervention program. A previous study shows that MyTime is feasible with children in the preschool setting and shows positive effects on Time Processing Ability for older children in special schools. Yet, there is a lack of knowledge regarding how preschool children experience the intervention program and how they understand its meaning.
The aim of this study was to explore the experiences and the meaning of using MyTime from the perspective of children INS 5-6 years of age in the preschool context.
Methods: To explore the children´s perspectives video recorded interviews with 21 children were analysed hermeneutically. To facilitate the interview situation with the children in need of special support the Talking Mats© was used. Both body and spoken language were analysed.
Results: The results reveal children as active participants, willing to share their experiences of using the intervention MyTime in the preschool context. The conceptualisation of the children’s experiences and expressions uncover their meaning of using the intervention MyTime as: To know and to understand time by doing.
Reference
Wallin Ahlström, S., Almqvist, L., Gunnel, J., Gustavsson, C., & Harder, M. (2023). The experiences and the meaning of using MyTime in the preschool context from the perspective of children in need of special support, 5-6 years of age. Child: Care, Health & Development.