This study conducted a questionnaire survey on teachers’ knowledge and experiences pertaining to stuttering of preschooler. A total of 48 nursery teachers working at 3 institutions and 36 kindergarten teachers working at 16 institutions were included in the survey. The following results were obtained: (1) both nursery and　kindergarten teachers had insufficient knowledge of stuttering, (2) both nursery　and kindergarten teachers exhibited little confidence when dealing with children who stuttered or other children who reacted to their stuttering, (3) most of the kindergarten teachers were approached by parents seeking advice for their children who stuttered, and (4) most of the nursery and kindergarten teachers felt the need for knowledge of stuttering. Thus, it would be useful for them to have more readily available information on the following points: (1)　stuttering symptoms and normal dysfluencies, (2) how to manage a child who stutters, (3) how to explain stuttering to other children, (4) criteria for the referral to a speech therapist and contact information for nearby therapists, and (5) knowledge about the causes and progress of stuttering.

View full abstract

Children with autism spectrum disorders are reported to have difficulties in communication, especially in pragmatics. In Japan, there are few scales available to assess pragmatic ability directly. In the present research, we developed a scale to measure the ability to use Japanese and investigated the reliability and validity of the scale. The factor analysis revealed a single structure. Cronbach’s α and ω values were both .94, which indicated adequate internal consistency. It is suggested that discriminative and concurrent validity were supported in this study. From the distribution of the number of correct answers, it can be concluded that children’s pragmatic abilities develop from approximately 5 years, and by the age of approximately 11 years, they have reached a level comparable to that of adult caregivers, which is consistent with previous findings. We hoped that this scale will be used to clarify the trend of children’s pragmatic development and provide more accurate and detailed support.

View full abstract

We examined the discrimination performance of the Test of Pragmatic of Japanese for Children（TOPJC），which directly assesses pragmatic ability, and the relationship of cognitive development and pragmatic ability in preschool to school-aged children with autism spectrum disorder（ASD）and age-matched children with typical development（TD）．The combination of the TOPJC and the Children’s Communication Checklist-2 improved discrimination performance compared with individual test. Further, the development of pragmatic ability was delayed in children with ASD compared with that in children with TD, whereas there was no difference between both these group in terms of cognitive development. In conclusion, children with ASD may develop pragmatic skills with the help of various abilities such as cognitive skills and vocabulary.

View full abstract

In the present study, typically developing（TD）adults and adults with autism spectrum disorder（ASD）were compared in terms of their evaluation of 25 collocation errors made by other adults with ASD. Additionally, correlations were calculated between AQ scores of the adults and their evaluation scores of the collocation errors. The results indicated no difference between the TD adults and the adults with ASD in terms of evaluation scores and did not replicate the result of a previous study on this issue. TD women showed lower evaluation scores than TD men. Among the TD adults, AQ scores and evaluation scores were positively and significantly correlated. Sex difference was also seen in terms of the evaluation scores. Among the adults with ASD, AQ scores and evaluation scores were not correlated significantly. The clinical implication of the results was discussed, suggesting the need to support communication between individuals with ASD who show collocation errors and TD adults.

View full abstract