Professor Juan Bornman, from the University of Pretoria (UP)'s Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC), recently visited the CHILD research unit at Jönköping University in Sweden for ten days to lecture and to plan upcoming joint research projects.

Over the past twelve years, CHILD has had the privilege of working with researchers from UP’s CAAC.

Ever since the start of the collaboration, researchers from both institutions have been travelling to and fro to work together. Professor Bornman is the director of the CAAC and her recent visit to Sweden was her sixth.

On this visit Prof Bornman gave a master class on interventions in childhood. It dealt with assessment and intervention when working with children who show challenging behaviour. An intervention and prevention model was discussed. According to Prof Bornman they are planning a joint project, ‘Participation as an outcome of spending time in pre-school’, for children with and without need of special support, as well as a project that concerns human rights.

To date the research projects were financed mainly by the Swedish VR-Research Link. As part of the planning of upcoming research projects, the researchers are applying for new funding. Professor Bornman has returned home, but on 8 June another researcher from the CAAC arrived at Jönköping University to continue the collaboration.

View Prof Bornman's lecture, ‘Assessment and intervention of children with challenging behaviour’ (60 minutes)

Read more about the joint preschool research project.