May 7, 2025
Signe Tonér holds a PhD in linguistics from Stockholm University and is a certified speech therapist. As a speech therapist, she has worked at a language preschool, among other places, and as a researcher, she presented her thesis on the connection between linguistic and executive abilities in 2021. She is currently working on a study of children's language skills when they start preschool. Modern Barndom became curious and contacted Signe to find out more.
Text: Elin Mellerstedt, editor and publisher, Photo: Pierre Martin
I started working as a speech therapist 20 years ago, first at a speech therapy clinic in a hospital and then in habilitation with a focus on children and young people. In 2008, I moved to Stockholm and started working at a language preschool with children with severe language disorders. As a speech therapist, I was part of the team and worked with the children on a treatment basis, but I also integrated language stimulation into the preschool's daily routine. This gave me an insight into the preschool's activities and familiarized me with the curriculum.
I got into research almost ten years ago when I was offered a doctoral position at the Department of Linguistics at Stockholm University, and in 2021 I presented my thesis, "Language and executive functions in Swedish preschoolers."
Since completing my doctorate, I have worked as a lecturer in preschool teacher education at Stockholm University, where I have taught subjects related to language development and preschool didactics with a focus on language and communication. However, I have also taught aesthetics. That was a bit of a stretch, but it fits in well with my other activities, where "communication" can be seen as an umbrella term. Through aesthetics, I have also come into closer contact with the Reggio Emilia approach.
My dissertation project focused on describing the connections between linguistic abilities and executive abilities, i.e., abilities related to working memory, impulse control, and cognitive flexibility. There are a number of international studies on the subject, but it had never before been done on a representative sample of children in Swedish preschools.
Overall, the thesis confirmed findings from other contexts—namely, that there is a correlation between linguistic and executive abilities. This may not be a particularly groundbreaking finding, but it is reassuring to see that this also applies to Swedish children. The thesis also highlighted differences in children's abilities that can be explained by their socioeconomic background. The difference remained regardless of whether the children were multilingual or monolingual, which means that the cause can be linked to the parents' educational background and, to some extent, their income.
In addition, the results showed differences between girls and boys. Here, it turned out that girls had a head start in terms of both language and executive abilities—factors that we know have a strong preventive value for how life works later on, such as school success and social contacts.
From time to time, questions arise in society about why boys perform worse in school and whether preschool and school are adapted to them. I believe that the results of this thesis are a strong candidate for a possible answer to these questions, particularly based on the current curriculum, which emphasizes both linguistic functions, such as reasoning and discussing, and aspects such as being able to plan and work independently.
– When it comes to language, it has been clearly documented that girls have a head start early in life. As early as 1.5 years of age, it is possible to see that they are more communicative, and their lead increases thereafter.
Since the differences appear early on, it is natural to think that there may be some genetic explanation and biological gender difference. However, it has also been documented that there are different expectations of girls and boys when it comes to things like conversation and behavior.
As an example, I can mention a study I am currently involved in that follows parents and children. The children are now twelve years old and have been followed since they were three months old, which means we have comparable interaction data between parents and children. We will see what our results show further down the line, but similar studies have shown that parents may have different communication styles with boys compared to girls at an early age.
I am also the project manager for a study, which is still in its early stages, where the basic idea is to map children's language skills when they start preschool. The idea is to recruit a total of 500 children, and since it is reasonable to fear that children are already lagging behind when they start preschool – that this is not something that arises out of nowhere – the sample will include an overrepresentation of children from disadvantaged areas.
In this study, we will examine questions such as: How much variation is there in language skills at the start of school? Is there a difference between children who have attended preschool and those who have not? Between those who have attended preschool in mixed or segregated areas?
– Lena Aronsson (university lecturer and PhD in preschool education, editor's note) and I have put our heads together on this. As a teacher, I have long been frustrated that there is no go-to book to include in my course lists, and the book will therefore primarily be aimed at preschool teacher students. It is intended as a main textbook on how language works, how language development occurs, and language development work.
It has been a long process, but now we are in the final stages. Our work will be completed in March/April, and the plan is for the book to be published this year.
