Understanding of developmental disorders is important in the field of education and also is required for persons to support them. With the spread of the recognition of the public, lectures and workshops on their characteristics has been held in various regions. Some study reported on the effects of workshop for teachers related to students with developmental disorders, however, these studies have limitations as the using unstandarized measures of knowledge of characteristics and supports. Therefore, LS-ASD （Literacy Scale of Characteristics of Autistic Spectrum Disorder） was developed to measure Japanese people’s knowledge of characteristics of autistic spectrum disorder （ASD）. Because, ASD is a disorder with the most number of consultations of related developmental disorders in higher education institutions, and people with ASD have high risk of the comorbid association with mood disorder and anxiety disorders. LS-ASD was completed by 825 individuals （students, medical and welfare professionals and teachers）. Analysis of the data showed content and criterion-related validity was enough, and reliability was high on 44 items. LS-ASD is possible to measure people’s knowledge by using excerpted items that match the personal latent trait, and to use as a computer adaptive test why LS-ASD was developed on the basis of item response theory.

Abstract: In order to investigate support for sensory characteristics of children and adults with autism spectrum disorder （ASD）, we reviewed Japanese studies over the last 30 years. Searching the Ichushi-Web with the keywords‘ autism spectrum disorder’ and‘ sensory’ and excluding studies with irrelevant subjects or contents resulted in 52 matches. This small number may be a result of the previous exclusion of sensory characteristics （over- and under-responsivity; below, “characteristics”） in the medical diagnostic criteria, and this is expected to rise in the future. The field of occupational therapy had the most publications and sensory types handled among studies on sensory characteristics, suggesting that it is the main field involved in the topic. Over half of children and adults with ASD have sensory characteristics that are highly varied in type and degree and interfere with their daily lives. Although individual assessment is needed, a future challenge will be to determine how and when they will be performed and who will perform them. Many mothers of children with ASD noticed sensory characteristics from an early age; these characteristics may lead to a feeling of difficulty in child-rearing. Assisting mothers with difficulties they experience in child-rearing may therefore lead to early diagnosis and support for children with ASD.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the characteristics of food-capturing motion of young children with pervasive developmental disorders （PDD）. The participants consisted of four young children with PDD （three boys and one girl; from 57 to 73 months of age at first observation）. They were videotaped while eating twice. They ate three kinds of food with spoon or fork. The feeding tasks were measured three-dimensionally; the distance when visual tracking was finished, maximum mouth-opening, and position of spoon or fork. Additionally, Binet’s intelligence test was implemented. The control group consisted of five typically developing children （three boys and two girls; age range, from 49 to 70 months）. Their feeding tasks were videotaped under the same conditions as those for young children with PDD. In the PDD group, all measurement indicated little differences among using spoon and folk, or among food, little relations with developmental age and little alteration. Maximum mouth-opening in PDD group was greater than control group. The position of spoon was shorter in PDD group than control group, and the position of fork was farther. On the developmental age of these groups, young children with PDD may have some trait of cognition that they pay attention to feeding itself, rather than the characteristics of tableware or food. This study suggests that we support young children with PDD in response to their developmental age, and have to develop the method of support corresponded to their specific cognition.