DSL+: Writing seminar in Madeira

Our one week writing seminar in Madeira is over and we are all going back to our daily lives. We have appreciated the opportunity to be in a ”bubble” fully concentrating on the DSL+-project, and this week has past by really fast. To be able to go away and work together for a whole week is truly beneficial for the progress of the project. Being a part of a collaboration project between different educational institutions (University of Oslo, University College of Southeast Norway & University of Bristol) we as colleges in the DSL+-project are used to doing a lot of our work along side each other, collaborating via different web-solutions. Even though this way of collaborating usually is working out fine, gatherings of the group is always really much appreciated. Our writing seminars are especially valuable giving us the opportunity to collaborate more closely and enabling us to focus one-sided on the DSL+-project for a longer period of time.

During this week we have had collaboration meetings, a work shop regarding coding schemes in literature reviews and a talk regarding language interventions for children with Down syndrome. Alongside these collaboration sessions we have had time for individual work as well. We especially want to mention that we have had the pleasure of having several fruitful group discussions. The picture books has been in focus and we have had our first viewing of a finished picture book with animations! Here you can see one of the animations from the book Line and Stian builds a snow cave by Andrea Ødegård:

Although everyone has been absorbed with their work, we have also been able to enjoy the beautiful surroundings in the Island of Madeira. Casa do Lugarinho, a beautiful house in the small village Calheta, has been our home for the week. Here we have really enjoyed a peaceful and quiet atmosphere. The area is also great for walks in between the work sessions.

Now we are looking forward to the next couple of months which is going to be a very exiting period for all of us. Amongst other things we are doing a pilot of the intervention, working on recruitment of participants for the intervention, conducting a survey on tablet use in children with Down syndrome and a big group of students at the University Collage of Southeast Norway is finalizing their picture books as we speak.