Action Research on Education for Children with Severe and Profound Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract

This paper presents educational action research for children with severe and profound intellectual disabilities in Japan. Many educational practices focus on the acquisition of specific skills and concepts. Action research has developed as well focusing on capturing and extending children’s active interactions with the environment, that is, their exploratory activities. Exploratory activities are one theme of educational practice for children with severe and profound intellectual disabilities. Action research conducted in Japan has highlighted the need to (1) explore a child’s attention and interest, (2) attune the partner’s action to the child’s attention, (3) promote exploratory activities as joint activities between the child and the partner, and (4) build a relationship of mutual trust based on attachment to promote the exploratory activity of children with severe and profound intellectual disabilities. This paper reviews several educational practices for children with severe intellectual disabilities, including the author’s own work, and discusses the contemporary significance of educational practices that focus on exploratory activities.