Abstract
This study aimed to develop an e-mail system employing pictograms to support the mentally retarded in exchanging e-mails without using Japanese characters, and to reveal the validity of the system through practical learning by mentally retarded subjects. The system included some more easily identifiable functions for sender and receiver, and categorical retrievals with pictograms etc. Furthermore, a sentence improvement function was added so that the user could insert necessary particles and characters according to ability. The practical learning by six subjects with mental retardation showed that the system proved to be useful in e-mail exchanges for three of them. However, the system required improvement to assist those people with limited ability in generating grammatical sentences.
