Challenges Faced by Youth with Intellectual Disabilities in a Welfare-based Advanced Course and Characteristics of Supporting Them: A Field Study of the Y Welfare-based Advanced Course

Abstract

  This study elucidates the difficulties that are encountered by youth with intellectual disabilities (ID) who are enrolled in a welfare-based advanced course, identifying characteristics of their support. To this end, a field study was conducted at the Y Advanced Course. The caregivers in question recognized that youth with ID lacked skills of daily living skills and were marginalized from society. In response, the caregivers provided support that had three key characteristics: first, it encouraged youth with ID to gradually participate in social life; second, it provided opportunities for youth with ID to make their own decisions; and third, it provided awareness raising among youth with ID of their responsibilities as responsible subjects.

  These results yielded two key findings. The first finding was that the educational content of the special support high schools was biased toward vocational education, which led the users of the Y advanced course to have insufficient opportunities to acquire the skills of daily living. This led the caregivers into conflict, as they sought to provide adolescent education that could foster autonomy, and a significant amount of time was dedicated to improvements in skills of daily living. The second finding was the necessity of provisioning support that incorporates an education welfare perspective into a welfare-based advanced course as a setting for lifelong learning.