This study aimed to examine the effect of teaching methods on word writing acquisition and increase in associative vocabulary number of children enrolled in special education classes. Five children participated in Study 1, and six participated in Study 2. We used a pre- post-design and a multiple baseline design across behaviors. We used printed materials, delayed recall tasks, and conditional discrimination procedures for teaching. The primary dependent variables were the accuracy of word writing using photographs as discriminative stimuli and the number of the associative vocabulary of class names, including “insect” and “fish” as discriminative stimuli. Results indicated that children acquired word writing, but it was challenging to maintain when learning was conducted for only one day using recall tasks. In contrast, using the delayed recall tasks and the conditional discrimination procedure together and relearning words learned one or two trials ago using printed material maintained the acquisition of word writing and increased associative vocabulary. In addition, we confirmed the transfer of learning to other behaviors such as vocal expressions of word names using photographs as discriminative stimuli.

The internet is a frequently accessed source of information for people with autism and parents of children with autism. Therefore, websites should contain accurate information to help such people and their parents make informed decisions on treatment options. However, autism-related information on the internet has quality problems, including in accuracy. Moreover, displayed information differed depending on the search engine and time passage. In November 2020, this study extracted 21 frequently accessed sites from 480 sites by searching for autism-related terms on major search engines and examined the quality of information on these sites using DISCERN tools. We also examined the consistency of the returned results in November 2018 and November 2020. The results indicated that websites’ information quality was lower than reported in previous studies, and accountability was a predictor of information quality. The results also showed that the consistency among search engines was moderate, and the consistency over time was low. We have discussed the dissemination of autismrelated information on the internet.

Total population surveys are necessary for developing support systems for people with intellectual disorders and severe challenging behaviors in the community. Recently, local governments in Japan have conducted surveys on severe challenging behaviors without statistical analysis by age, gender, support level, co-diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders, residential patterns, or types of challenging behaviors. This study analyzed data provided by Tottori Prefecture of an anonymous survey conducted in 2017 at all the welfare offices and special support schools in the prefecture. The number of people with a score of 10 or more in the Criteria for Determining Severe Problem Behavior（ CDSPB） and Behavior-Related Items was 182 and 144, respectively. This number was approximately 2.6 ％ of the population with intellectual disorders in the prefecture, more than double the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare estimate. Additionally, 14 （9.7％） subjects with a score of 10 or more in the CDSPB scored less than 10 points in Behavior-related Items. These 14 subjects had an average score of 12 points in the CDSPB and low scores for items such as “severe self-injury,”“severe injury to others,”“strong excretion-related disorders,”“significant hyperactivity,” and being “rough, fearful, and difficult to teach.” These findings highlight the risk of not providing such people behavioral support under the current support system. We used statistical methods to analyze data by age, gender, support category, comorbid diagnosis, type of residence, and type of behavioral problem to compare and discuss the results with international studies. This study highlighted the need for complete population and longitudinal surveys on severe behavioral disorders in different regions and the need for developing support policies at regional and national levels based on these surveys.

This study aimed to investigate teaching methods for comparing the area. Children with autism and intellectual disabilities enrolled in a special education class participated in the study. The training was conducted in a classroom by an elementary school teacher. We used a multiple baseline design across children. We placed a card with squares printed on it on the participant’s desk as a sample stimulus and six to eight cards of different sizes around it as comparison stimuli. The teacher pointed to the sample stimulus and said, “This is the size of N (the number of sample stimulus cells) cells. Then, which are the M (number of comparison stimulus cells) cells?”We asked the participants to point to one comparison stimulus card. Neither feedback nor reinforcement was provided in the baseline period, whereas feedback for correct answers and verbal reinforcers were provided after the participant selected a card during the intervention period. The results indicated that the correct response rate increased due to the intervention. Moreover, a different elementary school teacher positively evaluated a questionnaire assessing the social validity of the study. However, these findings are constrained by specific limitations of the study, including the research design.