This study followed 68 children aged 2 years at the start of the study until they reached 5-6 years（preschool years），focusing on differences in the relation between cognition and language development. The results of initial developmental tests and follow-up developmental or intelligent tests were compared, showing that: 1）74.1% of the children with a small difference between cognitive and language development on the first test achieved scores higher by 15 or more on the follow-up test, while 25.9% of the children had no significant change of score; 2）the scores of 41.5% of the children who had later language development than cognitive development increased by 15 points or more from the initial test to the follow-up test, those of 43.9% did not change, and those of 14.6% decreased by 15 points or more; and 3）the level of language development on the first test of children whose language development was later than their cognitive development was strongly associated with their intellectual development in preschool. This study suggests that the relationship between cognitive and language development in children aged two is predictive of their developmental transition.

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Selective mutism（SM）is identified as an anxiety disorder in DSM-5（Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed.）．According to previous studies, SM appears to represent an underlying heterogenic group of disorders. This study aimed to classify children with SM based on their background factors of mutism. The study participants included 22 children with SM aged 6-12 years. A cluster analysis was performed using scores of background factors, autism traits（SCQ）， communication（CCC-2），and anxiety（SCAS）．The results indicated that participants were classified into three groups. In the group with relatively high communicative competence（n=11），the participants showed separation anxiety and social anxiety, but had no noticeable comorbidities. Poor communication performance was confirmed in the groups with relatively high autism traits score（n=8）and higher anxiety（n=3）．

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Individuals with hearing impairment who communicate using sign language are known to present with‘sign language aphasia’．While aphasia tests for individuals with healthy hearing have been adapted for use by those who are hearing impaired and using sign language in the United States, such efforts have not yet been made in Japan. In this study, we administered the naming test from the Standard Language Test of Aphasia（SLTA）to seven individuals with hearing impairment who use sign language. We evaluated the differences in their responses and found that there was agreement among participants regarding the expressions in sign language dictionaries and the words that were difficult to express in sign language. There were only a few words in the dictionaries that correlated with consistent expressions among the participants. Importantly, participants used variable sign language expressions for many words in the naming test. Our findings suggest that there is an urgent need to develop a naming test appropriately designed for the linguistic nature of sign language in Japan.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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