Children with Reading Disabilities and Outdoor Education

This study explore if children with reading disabilities have differences in experiences and show different behaviors during indoor school and outdoor education in Norway. In the first study children with reading disabilities are compared with the rest of the classes in how they report wellbeing in different school settings. Thirty children participated in this study. In the second study the answers from the six children with various degrees of reading disabilities were analyzed further, and qualitative observations of their behavior, both indoor and outdoor, were analyzed. The studies reveal that outdoor education can reduce the amount of unpleasant elevated arousal. Unpleasant elevated arousal can lead to internalized and externalized problem behavior for the group of children with reading disabilities.